A LEADERSHIP QUIZ FOR TOMORROW
by Mike Manes
The responsibilities of a leader include:
A. Comforting the afflicted
B. Afflicting the comfortable
C. Both A and B
D. None of the above
Based on the wisdom below, I’d suggest the correct answer is C.
“In all life, one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
The Guardian, London, (July 28, 1989)
Consider this: Most people like being in their comfort zone – that’s why it’s called that! Unfortunately, we’re not in charge of the world. When one thing is different in the world, it’s change. When everything is different, it’s chaos. I’d suggest our world and our industry today are near chaos.
We have based our industry on the alignment of people, processes, and products. In recent years, we have chosen to – or competition has demanded that we – “commoditize” what we offer. Technology has created processes to support this commoditization (think BOP and an extended soft market).
Now, we’re cannibalizing ourselves by the advances we’ve made.
Most people in our business protect themselves from the change that’s coming by wrapping themselves in the security blanket of relationships. This is the safe-harbor delusion we’ve relied on for decades.
Unfortunately, if you study demographics, you’ll discover that we’re no longer a clearly defined population, organized to transition relationships from father to sons and daughters based on the time needs and preferences of those in charge.
Today, our workplace and the marketplace we serve are far different. Four generations are in transition. A rainbow of colors, ethnicities, genders, and cultures is shaping who we are and what we do – not the other way around. We’re not our ‘“Father’s Oldsmobile.”
To make matters more chaotic, parents used to teach children how to “shop” in the market. Now, our children are running the markets and teaching us how to shop in them.
Other signs of change include the Internet and the virtual market it created, which ensures that everything we do someone else can do better – “fast, hot, and cheap, or even free.” All of us have access to all the information we need and unlimited options for where and how we buy.
We’ve seen dictators who controlled wealth, power, and the machines of war turned out by peaceful street protestors in the Arab world. Might no longer makes right.
Who is right? For a possible answer, read this quote from best-selling author Daniel Pink in A Whole New Mind:
'The past few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind – computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. However, the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a far different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers –will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.'
If you accept this paradigm shift in our world, you’ll agree that we need leadership and that new leaders must comfort those afflicted with all this change – but more importantly, must afflict those 'comfortably, contently and even happily wrong.'
Here’s my best guess on tomorrow: You won’t be able to get there from here. It’s impossible to bring the folks who form your organization (where they are and as they are), the products you offer, the prices you charge, and the processes you use in this delivery to where they need to be.
Tomorrow’s leaders must venture into the future. They must determine what they’ll need to play in this arena and then come back and disassemble what exists, discard what no longer provides value, engage and provide incentives for those who can become part of the future, and build what does not yet exist. Don’t try to drag the status quo into tomorrow!
Although I don’t have the answers, here are the key questions:
- Who will be your customers tomorrow?
- What will they want and need?
- What price will they willingly pay?
- How will you deliver this at a profit?
- How can you leverage technology to eliminate unnecessary processes, costs, and friction?
- Who is ready, willing and able to get this done?
- Who can change?
- Who can't?
- How can you integrate innovation into all of your systems and make it permeate your new culture?
Michael G. Manes can be reached at Square One Consulting, 625 Weeks Street, New Iberia, LA 70560; (Cell) 337-577-3885; e-mail: [email protected]; Web Site: www.squareoneconsulting.com. Reproduced, with permission, from Michael Manes “Brokerage” column on http://www.riskandinsurancecom.