THE POWER OF CHANGE AND THE CHANGE OF POWER
by Mike Manes
In the new world where everyone has options, success rests in your ability to adapt to change and attract the brightest employees, the best policyholders, and the most reliable carriers.
On Jan. 4, 1988, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year. On Jan. 1, 1990, he was again on Time’s cover, but this time as the magazine’s Man of the Decade. On that date, he was the most powerful man in the second-most powerful country in the history of the world. Less than a year later, he and his country were gone. This is the power of change.
In recent months, we’ve witnessed the Arab Spring. Powerful leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen were deposed by their minions. This is the change of power. These are the two sides of the same coin. The currency is power.
In yesterday’s world, power was autocratic. It rested in the hands of the few who enjoyed control over capital, land, military force, jobs, or contacts. Leaders chose their followers. Today power is more democratic -- it rests in the heart and souls of the people. The desire for human freedom is proving its power every day. Today, followers make or break their leaders.
It’s still unclear what changes the Occupy Wall Street movement might bring, but it certainly exemplifies yet another contemporary power struggle.
Changes in power can also occur in organizations. Established professional partnerships of CPAs, attorneys, and MDs are dissolving. More often than not when I ask why, I’m told that the young professionals are tired of carrying the “old” partners on their backs. In basic terms, to attract and retain the best people, you must earn their respect, trust, and power, and work to sustain these. Just being the “oldest guy in the room” no longer assures control.
Today the Independent Agency System finds itself in the same sort of power struggle. Carrier contracts now have limited franchise value – almost any agency and any producer can access any carrier as needed. A “noncompete” contract might make the agency principal feel better, but in reality has limited value because the only individual with the absolute power to dictate control of a renewal is the buyer of coverage: The policyholder. Consumers are going to buy where and what they want regardless of your non-compete contracts.
In this new world where everyone has options, your success will depend on your ability to attract and retain the best and the brightest employees, policyholders and carriers. You’re no longer in charge as an autocrat. Your followers no longer serve you – you must serve them.
“The servant-leader is a servant first,” according to The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. “It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. This person is sharply different from one who is a leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them lie shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”
The future belongs to the agency principal who knows that the nature of power has changed and respects the diversity of the followers. He or she must clearly articulate a vision based on shared values that earns the commitment of these “followers.” The principal must then align the interests of stakeholders, balance conflicts and orchestrate harmony.
Feudal systems have been overthrown – in today’s world, we need “talent magnets” that can and do attract and retain the best talent and assure sustainability by their humility, not by coercion. The future is not about young or old, black or white, male or female. It is about diversity, contributions, responsibilities, results, teamwork, commitment, and wisdom. Collaborative change is good. A positive, sustainable, enthusiastic culture is critical to the future! Great leaders will innovate, not evaporate!
Steve Jobs said “Death is life’s change agent. It gets rid of the old to make room for the new.”
I hope all of you live long and productive lives. I hope when your time is past you can step aside graciously and gracefully for new-power successors to lead in new ways. Rest in peace!
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. He serves as the Planning Key Consultant for IMMS.com. Reproduced, with permission, from his “Brokerage” column in Risk and Insurance Magazine.