,

“Talk doesn’t cook rice.”.

CHINESE PROVERB

The last two chapters covered a great deal of ground and we are now up to speed on the Think Holistic part of our THAP framework. We have also seen that success hinges on the ability to carefully construct and consider the big picture and to look at things in different ways. While these have certainly given us much to work with, don’t be fooled – we are not done yet! It is time to put all of this together and act. As the Chinese proverb says, “Talk doesn’t cook rice.”

“WHATEVER YOU CAN DO OR DREAM YOU CAN, BEGIN IT. BOLDNESS HAS GENIUS, POWER AND MAGIC IN IT!”

W. H. Murray, The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951

As we embark on this chapter, the important thing to keep in mind is that the art of execution depends on the quality of our thinking and taking a holistic approach when we use the six Rs. Be warned though, the adjournment is over, things need to be done. It is time to Act.

MAKING IT HAPPEN

Overcoming the first hurdle: deciding to act

Despite this rallying call and the need to pick up the pace and step lively, we have to address a common problem that often happens at this stage: the problem of staying in the thinking and talking zone. It’s human nature to enjoy musing about what will and can be. Thinking about an issue is gratifying. Talking about it can also be equally satisfying, assuring and even ego boosting. This is a nice, safe, fulfilling space to occupy but it is also a deceptive place and can lull us into a false sense of progress. Have you ever had the experience of not quite knowing at first glance whether an event, activity, or occurrence actually took place? This may sound a little odd, here, in black and white text, but for the many business leaders I have talked with it is a surprisingly common phenomenon. What makes it particularly pernicious is that you are barely aware of it at the time. Reality appears to blur ever so slightly when it happens. That’s because thinking, talking, recommending, even dreaming about something can deliver a vivid impression as if it had actually transpired. It lulls us into feeling that all the discussing, presenting, lecturing and suggesting to Act are enough. Ideas, solutions and plans must all cross into the Act column, and we need to rally around the mantra of ‘make things happen.’

You may be thinking ‘surely, that goes without saying, we all instinctively know that we have to make things happen.’ Well, that may be true, but what we don’t know quite so instinctively is how and when to Act. In business, this has frustrated most of us at one time or another. Yet, we do this countless times on a personal level. In fact, we can learn a simple and important technique from our personal lives that is equally applicable in our working lives: the principle of testing. This will help us to know how and when to act.

The next hurdle: where exactly is the tipping point?

Product testing and customer participation is such an important aspect of business strategy that it is the subject of intense interest. The power a few people wield was explored by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Little Brown, 2000). The tipping point is the defining moment when it is inevitable that an event will happen. Malcolm Gladwell describes it as, “The moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” It’s when momentum builds to such an extent that it pushes past the place of no return into a new state. It is when change occurs en masse.

The premise of The Tipping Point is that some “ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses.” They just take off. This sounds rather haphazard. Is it really as random as that? Not according to Gladwell. He believes that there are scientific principles at work:

•  The Law of the Few is where an idea or behavior spreads because of the unusual qualities of a small group of key individuals. These include “connectors” – people who are supreme networkers with outstanding people and relationship skills. They excel at bringing people together, appear to know everyone, and are influential. Mavens – a Yiddish term, meaning trusted experts, these are people who possess indepth knowledge in a field or discipline, who want to, and know how to, share information. They serve as the go-to points for any inquiries. “Salesmen” – superlative influencers, they have the gifts of persuasion and negotiation and are able to get others to follow. Their enthusiasm for a product can set it into a consumption orbit.

“PLANS ARE ONLY GOOD INTENTIONS UNLESS THEY IMMEDIATELY DEGENERATE INTO HARD WORK.”

Peter Drucker, The Man Who Invented Management, Businessweek

•  The Stickiness Factor is when carefully crafted content and images stay with you, like a tune that keeps playing in your head. These messages pique curiosity and inspire action, for example: watch it, consider it, read it and the ultimate – buy it.

 

•  The Power of Context which emphasizes the impact of the environment and reigning conditions and issues that create a trend and influence behavior.

To understand why certain products and services achieve spontaneous exponential growth we need to appreciate that the underlying processes and players are interdependent. In other words, we need to think holistically. When the processes and players work in sync, they ignite infectious interest and a don’t-block-the-door (or the keyboard) buying bonanza.

“AN ORGANIZATION’s ABILITY TO LEARN, AND TRANSLATE THAT LEARNING INTO ACTION RAPIDLY, IS THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.”

Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO, General Electric

It’s a marketer’s dreamscape, isn’t it? The winners in this situation are those who keep their eyes open, watching for (or creating) new trends and opportunities. Do this and you are on the road to understanding and exploiting the evolution of trends and fads. Tipping points can occur naturally, without manipulation and intervention. Significantly, though, with knowledge of the players involved and the forces at play, you can engineer tipping points for your own products and services. This is the leap that takes us from Think Holistic to Act Personal – that is, knowing and planning the ‘how to’ and then swinging into ‘to do’ mode (or a ‘do too’ mode, if you are following others).

Figure 13.1: From ‘How To’ into ‘To Do’ or ‘Do Too’

To create a tipping point, you need to start with the premise that under the right circumstances, people can rapidly and fundamentally change their behavior, even their beliefs. Second, you should tap into the fact that we learn from what we see around us; to do this, you should create the right environment for your potential customers. As Malcolm Gladwell says, “If you want to bring a fundamental change in people’s belief and behavior … you need to create a community around them, where those new beliefs can be practiced and expressed and nurtured.” He adds, “In order to create one contagious movement, you often have to create many small movements first.” If all this sounds familiar it’s because it is. Terms like the ‘Ripple Effect,’ ‘Domino Effect,’ ‘Butterfly Effect,’ or Chain Reaction are already well-known in the field of global commerce. Whatever you call it, the upshot is the same: profitable growth.

“THE PROFIT OF GREAT IDEAS COMES WHEN YOU TURN THEM INTO REALITY.”

Tom Hopkins, consultant

Finally, to achieve a tipping point, it is essential that our actions are capable of delivering results. For this, we need to understand the triggers, the causes and effects, and other elements that cause tipping points. And to understand this, we now need to turn to behavioral economics for further insights.

Understanding the power of behavioral economics

This relatively new discipline explores how stakeholders make financial decisions. What roles do social, cognitive and emotional factors play in buying behavior? Are our spending patterns reasonable or logical? Or do certain influences cause us to act in other ways? Dan Ariely, behavioral economist and academic, has focused on these issues, and he sets out his conclusions in his landmark book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Harper/HarperCollins Publishers, 2008). His aim was two-fold: to combine psychology and economics to reveal behavior, and then to understand the decision making that led to those behaviors.

With regard to the decision making processes, Dan Ariely says, “We are really far less rational than standard economic theory assumes. Moreover, these irrational behaviors of ours are neither random nor senseless. They are systematic, and since we repeat them again and again, predictable.”

He concludes that there are traps that trigger predictably irrational economic behavior. These include:

•  Relativity – this exposes the tendency for people to compare things. Understandably, people like to do this, as it indicates the value of one thing over another. Interestingly, though, people lean toward products and services that are easily comparable, while ignoring those that are not. This means that companies can use ‘decoy’ products to sway decisions in a predictably irrational way – as this provides customers a point of comparison for the ‘real’ product and consequently, draws them in.

 

•  The Fallacy of Supply and Demand – although the theory of supply and demand prevails in traditional economics, in reality, certain factors may transcend these market forces. These factors include ‘Arbitrary Coherence” – a phenomenon with a long reach. When a price becomes fixed in our perception, no matter how arbitrary the setting of the price was, it can be very difficult to change that perception. All future pricing can then be constrained by the fact that customers now associate your product with a definite price. This coherence between present and future pricing happens because of the Anchoring Trap (explained in Chapter 11), where people can anchor their thinking to the first price that will then stay with them, influencing all future decisions to buy. Clearly, it is important to consider pricing carefully before launching a product.

Another factor that can undermine the theory of supply and demand is ‘Herding.’. This happens because people tend to follow others. Seeing others ‘doing this’ or ‘owning that’ triggers a belief that the products or services being used must be good. Conversely, if they don’t see others using it, the assumption is often made that the product must not be all that great. Therefore, getting a lot of people (or the right people) to use a product or service is critical to creating a buzz and turning your product into a ‘gotta have it’ amongst customers.

“ACTION IS THE FOUNDATIONAL KEY TO ALL SUCCESS.”

Pablo Picasso

Similarly, ‘Self-Herding’ can also negate theories of supply and demand. In addition to following others, we also make decisions based on our own past behaviors. These attitudes and actions lead us to buying decisions that reflect what applied in the past rather than reflecting the opportunities in the present. For example, when we are faced with buying something, we tend to fall back on past purchasing decisions we made or on an act that is memorable in some way. This behavior can blind customers to alternative products, so companies either need to counter this or tap into it.

•  The High Price of Ownership – owning something is not as straightforward as it may appear. Deciding whether to buy a product or get rid of something is affected by our perception of what it means to own it – that is, what that product will make us feel about ourselves and what we think others will think of us. There are three, irrational reasons why this happens: we tend to be attached to the things we already own; we are afraid of what we may lose, should we get rid of something; we believe that a purchase will be seen by others in the same way that we perceive it.

The library of literature on behavioral economics continues to grow and as a result, there’s much for us to take into account in the ‘Act’ and ‘Act Personal’ realms. What we have learned, so far, about tipping points and behavioral economics leads us to an important question: How can we create an environment that scouts for such ideas and translates them into actions? The first thing we should do is establish a culture of innovation within our organizations.

CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR ACTION

Building a culture of innovation

In The Starfish and the Spider (Portfolio/Penguin, 2006), Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom show us how to construct a culture of innovation. The title alludes to two different business approaches; one that resembles a starfish and the other, a spider. While the starfish and spider have similar shapes – a central core from which tentacles radiate – their internal structures are considerably different. Attack a spider’s head and it dies. A starfish has no head; chop a leg off and a new one forms. Cut a starfish in half and two grow in its place. What’s more, a severed leg alone can generate a new starfish.

Moving from nature to the business world, it is clear that the spider represents the traditional, centralized command-and-control hierarchical organizations. At the other end are the starfish, with their decentralized, flatter, open systems. (The advent of the Internet has certainly fostered this latter model.) Here, power and knowledge are distributed throughout the organization. As a result, starfish organizations can mutate more quickly, that is, grow, take shape, make changes, invent, and reinvent – all at accelerated speed.

Organizations are not stuck in these categories. A spider can become a starfish by adapting and restructuring. To grow a resilient, innovative organization, we need to mimic the starfish. Just as a starfish has five legs, we need to make sure that the following five attributes are firmly embedded in our organizations:

1.  Circles. Decentralized businesses resemble circles. They function autonomously and independently, yet are fluid, flexible, mutually supportive and revolve around norms which over time, breed trust and cooperation. Essentially, this helps to build the R for Resilience.

 

2.  Catalyst. Decentralized organizations are not without leaders. However, those in leadership roles act as a catalyst: they generate and advocate ideas, inspire and lead by example. If this reminds you of something, think back to Chapter 6. It is one of our six Rs: R for Rouser.

 

3.  Ideology. The corporate philosophy, its values and mission, all bind the organization and move it forward. A shared vision and set of ethics drive mutual support and achievement of goals. This is yet another place where our R for Reason comes in useful.

 

4.  Pre-existing network. A building and by inference, an organization, need a platform. The Internet represents an open platform for decentralized companies and in itself, has been (and continues to be) the launching pad for numerous pursuits and businesses. A platform can take many forms, such as a company’s customers or its reputation, that act as platforms from which to operate or launch initiatives. Here, two Rs come to the fore: Relationships and Reputation.

 

5.  Champion. It’s all well and good to talk about what needs to happen, but organizations need resources to make plans a reality. An implementer focuses on action and dedicates efforts to mobilize groups and troops. This is exactly what a Rouser does.

Most importantly, when all five attributes align accordingly, the organization is primed to ‘Act.’

Following on from this, it is important to keep in mind the example of Google Labs, which engages the brainpower of those outside its organization to test and comment on a stream of potential ideas and products. This begs a vital question: are there other sources and applications of mass brainpower that can foster innovation and better inform our actions?

To explore this possibility consider the successful television game show called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Contestants have three lifelines should they need help answering questions. One lifeline is to ‘ask the audience’ and another is ‘phone a friend.’ Imagine that you are in the hot seat. Which one would you rely on more? You may wish to go with the friend, who you probably chose because you consider them intelligent. Statistically, you have just made a mistake. You should have gone with the audience, because the group is much more likely to choose the right answer. The difference is quite marked. While the studio audience reaches the right answer 91 percent of the time, the friend (the supposed expert) deliberating in isolation, only gets it right 65 percent of the time.

You would be in good company if you find this surprising. It also captured the attention of James Surowiecki, a journalist, who describes it and similar accounts in The Wisdom of Crowds (Doubleday, 2004). This is an interesting addition to the bookshelf in the behavioral economics section, because it illustrates a seemingly counterintuitive effect. Its message is astonishingly accurate; a group is smarter than the smart people who comprise it. Just as crowds are smarter, as a whole, than their individual members, this really shows just how important it is to take a holistic view of business.

However, there is an important caveat to be aware of: there are exceptions. Success, as James Surowiecki tells us, relies on certain criteria that must be in place: diversity of opinion, independence, decentralization and an ability to aggregate results accurately and effectively. In essence, group members have some sense of the subject and they form their own judgments. The process takes all the responses and then balances the different opinions so that the group’s decision tends to weigh heavily toward the correct answer. Recently, this phenomenon has evolved into a new concept: Crowdsourcing.

“ACTION MAY NOT ALWAYS BRING HAPPINESS, BUT THERE IS NO HAPPINESS WITHOUT ACTION.”

Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881

Crowdsourcing

As the potential power of groups gained greater awareness and influence, the concept of ‘crowdsourcing’ entered the business lexicon. Quite simply, crowdsourcing is a variation of outsourcing. Both invite external resources to perform functions traditionally done by those within an organization.

As its name suggests, crowdsourcing casts a wider net and outsources actions to the crowd. It issues a call-to-action to large groups, also known as communities, and to the global public at large. It’s similar to an open-casting call, but staged on the Internet through the collaborative opportunities provided by Web 2.0.

The advantages of crowdsourcing are immense. The organization expands its talent pool and by extension, its pipeline of innovations. In fact, crowdsourcing is also referred to as open innovation. Problem solving occurs more rapidly and more successfully, with a consortium of minds focused on an issue. Ultimately, production and commercialization also proceed more rapidly. Costs are likely to fall given the voluntary nature of participation – and even when payments are made, these are usually minimal. What’s more, crowdsourcing piques the interest of the informed and potentially influential public, and those engaged have a vested interest in the outcome.

Crowdsourcing has become an indispensable tool for organizations of all sizes as well as being useful to us on a personal level. Facebook, Dell, Kraft, Netflix, Peugeot, Unilever and Vodafone and countless others all use it for a variety of purposes. Wikipedia is another example of what crowdsourcing can achieve. The tributes for crowdsourcing are abundant and mounting. One accolade comes from MIT Professor Eric von Hippel, a respected authority on innovation management. In Crowdsourcing Turns Business On Its Head (NPR, August 20, 2008), he offers this testimonial: “Crowdsourcing is really the biggest shift in innovation since the Industrial Revolution.”

Making your networks work

We have all heard about the power of networks and networking. Given that they are now an indispensable part of doing business, we need to develop a networking strategy that keeps our organizations poised to act, so they are always moving along the path of profit and growth.

“THE CURRENCY OF REAL NETWORKING IS NOT GREED BUT GENEROSITY.”

Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz, Never Eat Alone

Borrowing again from Procter & Gamble’s Connect and Develop initiative, we discover that the company set up proprietary networks with technology entrepreneurs and suppliers to drive innovation activities. It uses open networks – as well as having its own – and it has joined others, including InnoCentive, YourEncore, and Yet2.com. What can we learn from their experience that will help us to erect a network and gain a legion of followers, influencers, customers and targets? There are several key points and when implementing each one, we need to keep in mind that the emphasis should always be on taking action.

Figure 13.2: Social Media Landscape

Finally, instead of traveling around the world yourself, how about inviting the world to visit you? Take a leaf out of Larry Ellison’s book. He and his colleagues at Oracle extend an invitation to attend its weeklong Open World conference in San Francisco. And do interested parties accept this offer? In 2010, an estimated 41,000 people came to this annual event to engage in business discussions and connect with each other in a face-to-face, personal way – and, quite frankly, to enjoy the experience. There is no doubt that bringing Oracle’s own network together with Dell, Fujitsu, Lego and others, provided a rich environment where the network was made even stronger. Without question, this initiative extended the company’s sphere of influence and networks and networking.

MAKING IT PERSONAL

Taking action is vital, but the final part of our model is the need for this action to be personal. In other words, each individual needs to take personal responsibility for making it happen. This brings two questions to mind: how can you take action and make the changes that are needed? And how can you as a manager make this happen with others?

Overcome the fear of risk

The conventional, controlling business approach to managing risk predominates. However, rather like viewing the glass as half-empty rather than half-full, it is only one perception, and a fairly limited one. In business, prudence and conventional logic demand that although there may be an advantage to taking a risk and winning, the dangers of failure are so great that it is probably better to either do nothing, or else to minimize the risk as much as possible. This limited approach may occasionally be valid, but it is far from adequate on its own. It takes no account of the complex nature of risk. Certainly, insurance and prudence have their place, but they need not always be the default options in situations of uncertainty, or the best approaches to take most of the time.

Unfortunately, organizations take the fun out of risk. It is seen as a necessary evil and as a result, suffers from being perceived as bureaucratic and stifling – which frequently it is. Organizations fail to see that risk is both desirable, providing new opportunities to learn, develop and move forward, and necessary, compelling people to improve and meet the challenge of change.

Create a positive climate

By itself, simply recognizing the need for audacity is inadequate: the ethos of the entire organization must embrace a culture that emphasizes and rewards any behavior that actively manages risk. This requires a commitment by senior managers and the resources (including training) to achieve it. Also, if we are to be audacious ourselves and expect others to follow, then there are several techniques to use proactively and determinedly to ensure success. These are not intended as a linear process but rather techniques and areas of focus that are important at specific moments when we are pushing back the boundaries of risk and audacity. These techniques are:

•  Establishing a compelling vision.

•  Handling conflict and emotions.

•  Communicating, influencing and negotiating.

•  Dealing with stress.

•  Coaching and teamworking.

•  Decision making and problem solving.

Develop audacious thinking

Becoming successfully audacious requires three elements: awareness, self-confidence and a compelling vision.

•  Increasing awareness. Successfully audacious people have high levels of awareness – in particular, self-awareness – that enable them to reflect on and question what is going on. This insight allows them to recognize their own role in terms of their abilities and their impact on others. They are also aware of other people, objectively evaluating their strengths and weaknesses and judging what their likely responses and actions will be.

 

•  Building self-confidence and taking control. Many situations, activities and opportunities possess a dangerous edge, a point at which we perceive that trauma may occur. To approach this point we need a protective frame, a way of viewing the situation so that we can deal with it. If such a frame exists, we can view the risk with excitement; without it, we are filled with anxiety. There are three levels of control necessary for being audacious: control of the situation; control of contribution; control of reaction.

 

•  Establishing a compelling vision and motivational connection. A vision does not mean simply a goal, if a goal is simply a destination to be measured and dispassionately achieved. A vision describes the journey to be taken as well. It is motivationally rich, meaning that it appeals to a broad range of values in those who take part.

Stepping into the danger zone

When taking risks, we need to feel the presence of danger but not to focus on it. This heightens our senses and ensures that the three critical components of an audacious mindset – awareness, confidence and motivational connection – come into play.

Stepping into the danger zone requires us to have a protective, ‘confidence frame’ that is built on a firmer foundation than simply knowing the odds. Audacious individuals build their confidence frames from three overriding emotions:

•  A sense of self-mastery.

•  A feeling of rebelliousness – willfully defying convention.

•  These two feelings then lead to a third: a sense of control.

Most people distinguish between two sorts of control: controlling the situation and controlling one’s reaction. Audacious people seem to be able to add a third element to their control strategy: they know how to control the way they contribute to a situation.

Stepping into the danger zone also requires each individual to develop and heighten their personal awareness. This works when the danger is not simply in our minds but is real and tangible. One of the great insights into sporting performance in recent years has been the understanding of the role of awareness in high performance. Elite athletes seem to have a heightened sense of awareness, not just on what is going on around them but of their own internal world. Moreover, they seem to be able to change this focus to deal with an unfolding situation. This situation is highlighted by Nideffer’s Model of Attentional Focus:

Figure 13.3: Nideffer’s Model of Attentional Focus

Nideffer’s model is about concentration and has been used to highlight the role of attention in performance. Successful, adventurous performance depends on:

•  A high degree of self-knowledge: How am I doing? What assumptions am I making? How am I emotionally and motivationally responding to the world?

 

•  An external focus, sensing what is going on in the environment and what its impact might be. What is crucial is how self-knowledge of our changing and dynamic internal world leads us to interpret the broad and narrow features of our external world.

Almost any sort of audacious activity will require this ability to change attentional focus. A would-be business will need to really understand what their market is doing (broad external), identify specific opportunities to exploit (narrow external), maintain a winning strategy (broad internal) and develop and utilize specific capabilities to achieve it (narrow internal).

Handle changing and contradictory emotions

To this attentional model, we also need to add motivational and emotional factors – our own and from the others around us. For example, successful audacity requires that we move back and forth, consciously as well as subconsciously, between opposing emotions:

•  Feelings of seriousness and playfulness.

•  A focus on ourselves and an emphasis on others.

•  A desire to conform and a desire to rebel or challenge.

•  An emphasis on mastery and a desire to support.

Audacity relies on awareness, and this in turn depends upon our emotional versatility – our ability to be in the right frame of mind at the right time. And if we are on a team, others need this ability as well. Individual awareness is important if we are to avoid being fooled by false protective frames. It also matters if we are to seize opportunities by challenging our assumptions about the true nature of a risk. While some people are more naturally self-aware than others, this is also a skill that can be developed and a discipline to be followed.

Key questions when taking action

•  What are the main assumptions you make in your work? Which of these are central to the way you work and could be usefully reevaluated?

•  Are you aware of other people’s assumptions? What are they, and how can they best be challenged?

•  Which areas of work would benefit from greater awareness, confidence and a guiding vision for: a) yourself b) your team and c) your organization?

•  Review the list of coping and thinking flaws; which ones are most significant for: a) yourself b) your team and c) your organization?

•  Where do you need to take greater risks? Where would you gain the greatest benefit, and how can you minimize the risks? Answer this question for your team and your organization.

•  Motivation and confidence are vital for developing audacity and avoiding mistakes. How can you increase your motivation and that of your team (remember, money is rarely sufficient!)?

Bringing your talents to work: what organizations need to do

It is time to talk about talented organizations and how the workplace can encourage people to bring all of their talents to work, so that they take action themselves. As far as possible, this means that people are not only realizing their potential but stretching their abilities in new, enjoyable and fulfilling directions. Several issues can help:

•  The need for organizations to segment their workforce and understand the priorities, character, strengths and weaknesses of different groups of employees

•  The importance of their moving beyond groups and aggregation to personalize each individual’s contract of employment (informally as well as formally)

•  The value of recognizing these psychological contracts with each employee – this means understanding issues of behavior, personality and self-awareness, notably including emotional intelligence

Above all, talented organizations recognize that everyone is in the talent team: top executives, people management professionals, each individual leader or manager and each employee. It recognizes that the best employees want work to be more meaningful – stimulating, worthwhile and accountable. For leaders this means answering a vital question: ‘how can you make work more personal for your team?’

Focus on the head, heart and guts of people

So, how can leaders keep pace and succeed in the fast moving world that we have described? Our search for a solution brings us to the focus on head, heart and guts. The difficulty is that leaders often rely exclusively on a single quality: data and rational analysis, emotional connection or courage – but not all three. Concentrating on just one of these dimensions means they ignore other aspects necessary for enduring success. If you rely on your analytical rigor, you may be seen as insensitive or unethical or you may lack the ability to respond outside a narrow range of situations. If you try to create a compassionate culture, you may miss opportunities that a more strategic leader would have seen. Relying solely on the courage of your conviction and toughness may lead you to underestimate the negative consequences for the people you are trying to lead.

Worse than that, taking just one of these approaches to leadership rather than blending and deploying them at the right time has damaging consequences. In particular, leaders often intimidate people with their intellect, confuse matters by complicating issues, or dominate conversations. They change direction without being transparent, fail to connect other people’s experiences to the company’s direction, and drive for performance without incorporating other necessary values such as honesty, compassion and trust.

More than ever before, leaders are managing complex situations and constituencies that require a broader range of leadership attributes. They are faced with decisions to which there are no ‘right’ solutions. They will have to learn how to manage paradoxes rather than try to resolve them. Sometimes they will have to act counterintuitively and at other times they will need to trust their instincts. Dealing with these difficult and ever-changing situations is not possible without head, heart and guts working together.

A systemic, integrated approach to developing leadership provides a useful solution. Today, many companies still cultivate their leaders the way they did when leadership demands were different. For example, they often use traditional classroom training, focusing almost exclusively on cognitive learning. Even when more effective and imaginative methods are used (such as project work or temporary assignments), the danger is that people revert to their old way of doing things when they return to the workplace. To develop capable leaders, however, organizations need to move away from this traditional approach and instead embrace a more holistic way of working.

A final thought: finding the meaning in work

In most organizations, people wish to leave it better than when they arrived: they aspire to deliver quality as well as achieve recognition and reward. This should come as no surprise; after all, very few successful people are content simply to work on a pointless endeavor for long.

The challenge, therefore, is to help people find the meaning in their work; the element that they value and enjoy as well as the recognition of where they fit within the organization’s work. The six Rs provide a great framework for this: they can help people understand what they do, why, and its wider impact and benefit. They can connect with other people, both inside and outside the organization, and work with a common purpose.

WHICH OF THE 6Rs PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS, WHAT ACTION WILL YOU TAKE YOURSELF, AND HOW WILL YOU ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO ACT?

It is worth reviewing the six Rs and understanding that while they work together in a holistic system, making it personal may mean focusing on one (or a few) in a single role, rather than all six. The question, therefore, is which of the six Rs play to your strengths and crucially, what action will you take yourself and how will you encourage others to act?

To help you answer these questions we have summarized the six Rs:

Reason is the most fundamental part of any organization. Why all the other Rs must come together in pursuit of Reason and why this R supports all the others is understandable: it is the raison d’être, the very soul of a company, without which the company would be directionless. Clearly, this matters enormously. Everything springs from intention – it sets the tone for the whole business.

 

Revenues are the financial capital of a company, including its portfolio of clients. To improve this portfolio and increase income, the other variables in our six R list must work together, mutually reinforcing each other.

 

Rouser involves being goal oriented, committed to common objectives, being adaptable, innovative and seeking the opinions of others. It requires inner strength and encouraging this strength in others.

 

Reputation operates at an internal level, affecting your own people, as well as externally (affecting clients, investors and opinion leaders and others). Clearly, internal reputation is affected by (and also affects) the other Rs.

 

Relationships are divided into internal and external relations. As well as affecting the other Rs, they also affect each other. For example, customer perceptions of the company motivate employees, while engaged employees improve the service to customers.

 

Resilience has to be a total, companywide activity, which means that it calls on capabilities in all aspects of the business. Resilience should operate at a personal, team, and company level, which requires all six Rs to support each other. When all six Rs work well together, not only is a company ideally placed to cope with problems, it is in a position to fix things before they actually break, circumvent threats and take advantage of opportunities.

Everything we have learned leads us to the conclusion that success comes from:

•  Being curious and exploring

•  Understanding the forces around us

•  Receiving and cultivating ideas

•  Engaging … Aligning … Changing

•  And never standing still….

As Winston Churchill once said, “I never worry about action, only inaction.”