Key points
A clear regard for history, an honest understanding of where we are today, and having the intellectual curiosity as we look to the future will be key to one’s ability to be an effective leader. These are the key points that I gleaned from the readings that were assigned to me.
As a student of history and political science, I am always impressed when an author can help us understand where we are today, by giving us a clear understanding that much of what we will see in the future has at least some basis from the past. This is not to say that we will be in an endless cycle of repeated patterns, but that we will for the most part see traces of the past as our future unfolds. I was particularly impressed with the way Devereaux described the 75 year cycle and how we are now in the midst of the final 25 years of what she describes as the badlands. It is true that the majority of the transformational change that we encounter typically happens at the end of a cycle just as we transition into a new era. In my opinion, sound decision making should be made with an understanding of history as it relates to the question at hand.
Thomas Friedman’s words give us an understanding of history, but he also talks about how we can learn from the successes and failures of America’s decisions during the last 50 years. He paints a vision for us to look to as we sit on a precipice where we as a nation clearly have a choice to make. Do we continue to act ‘as dumb as we wanna be’, or do we enlist others to ‘do nation-building in America’? Whether we agree or disagree with him, he clearly believes that we need to use history as a basis as we look to the future and the decisions we need to make as a nation.
The other underlying theme in these readings is that we are clearly in a fast-paced world that will only continue to move at a faster pace. Technology, transportation, and the way in which we communicate will continue to drive change in the future. We as business leaders will be forced to understand how this fast-paced world will allow us to interact with each-other to lead our organizations. In addition to that, because we are in a volatile environment, coupled with the speed of communication with regard to 24 hour news cycles and this new thing called social media, we are forced to become agile leaders who have a keen understanding of how the most-simple problem can have implications far beyond what we could have envisioned just ten years ago.
A complex world described in both of the HBR articles provided me with a deeper understanding of how we need to train ourselves to look at questions. It was most interesting to me to understand the differences between complicated and complex. I thought the author did an amazing job of delineating between the two. I think that we often will confuse the two, but after this careful description, I believe that I am more aware of the differences between the two and I will be conscious of treating them very differently. The idea of unintended consequences when reacting to a simple problem in a complex system happens every day because we simply do not understand how deeply complex the issue really is. Perhaps the biggest ah-ha for me was the discussion about both positive and negative unintended consequences.
Changing Roles and Behavior
The article describing a VUCA world is a perfect example of how we as business leaders need to prepare our organizations to be agile and embrace the challenges we are about to encounter. It has been said that the only thing certain in life is death and taxes. While that is most-certainly true, what is really at stake is change. As time moves forward, we will be challenged to not just exist, but thrive in a VUCA world. This will not happen without significant change in behavior from the very top to the bottom of an organization. Preparing our workforce for a VUCA world will require organizations to attract and develop talent across all functions of the company through a myriad of processes.
Our ability to make decisions in the complex world we live in will be critical to the survival of organizations. Understanding how simple decisions can have implications far beyond a simple problem will be imperative. But giving employees at all levels the responsibility and the understanding to make good decisions is no easy task. Having the right people in place who have the skills, intellectual curiosity, and foresight will allow for growth and innovation.
Greatest Challenges
As we look to the next five years, we as business leaders will be faced with many challenges. Perhaps the most challenging will be our ability to embrace the globalization of our planet while walking the tight-rope to find balance between cultures. Our environment, the people and creatures that live in that environment, and the corporations that operate in that environment will be forced to work together in a way that must show respect for each entity. In the absence of one true governing law that arches over all countries, lies the potential for abuse and corruption.
With polarizing political structures that run the table from democracy to communism to the on-going issues in the Middle East, we as a global society must find a way to look beyond race, culture, status and nation to provide and protect the most vulnerable people and creatures in our world as we wrestle with a growing global economy that is increasingly interconnected. Like it or not, we are connected in ways that we could not have imagined during the cold war. We rely heavily on almost all parts of the globe for the goods and services that we have come to expect in our life. At the same time, we have built an economy in Asia that is moving from small rural farming villages to large communities that are producing those same goods and services. The Middle East continues to fuel our world in the absence of ability to find alternative sources of energy through technology and natural sources.
Two Articles That Made an Impact
As I read through our assignments, I was impressed with how each of these separate and distinct articles had a thread of inter-connectedness. It is true, that each of these articles built upon each other in a way that is almost as complex and inter-related as the world we live in. Having the challenge of choosing only two articles, I default to my personal passion in life and choose the article on the Badlands by Devereaux.
As I mentioned earlier in this paper, as a student of history, I appreciate the attention and connection to our past as we make decisions in our personal and professional lives. A firm foundation, knowing where we as a society came from and what we learned from those experiences provides us with a basis for understanding that does not come without the wisdom of history and experience. But the author did not stop there. She provided us with a keen understanding of why it is important, but also what to look for in the different stages of the cycle. She also was clear to point out that history does not necessarily repeat itself, but that there are necessary capabilities that we as a society must develop to survive such an environment. What must give us hope is that this phenomenon has played itself out several times during our time on this planet.
The author goes on to talk about the interconnectedness of the social and economic conditions and how that relates to behavior and eventually the change that occurs in society is what will essentially shape the framework of a new era in our history. It is fascinating to say the least.
The other article that I believe has value to our organization and to others is the article Leadership Agility: A Business Imperative for a VUCA World, by Nick Horney, Bill Pasmore, and Tom O’Shea. I was impressed by this article in that it was a road map of sorts for those of us who have the ability to shape mission, values, norms, and culture within an organization. As a business consultant and coach to business owners, I will use this information often as I counsel my businesses. I was also impressed with the comprehensive manner in which David Van Eekeren approached this opportunity with his family business.
Van Eekeren’s business is at a critical point, in that historically, most family owned businesses have a hard time moving past the third generation as a family business, but given his commitment to building a platform for talent development in his business, he has a much better chance to thrive in an otherwise brutal environment in his industry.