November 2009 - Posts
Yesterday I ran the Florence Marathon with a group of friends. It was wonderful running through the streets of such a beautiful city with some great people.
Afterwards we had a celebratory pizza and beer and talked through the event. We each had our own reasons for running. Our own barriers to overcome. Very different.
Completing the marathon required real focus and concentration, just as achieving goals in the workplace does. The camaraderie and support of both fellow runners and spectators spurred me on, just as encouragement and positive feedback from colleagues motivates me at work. It is important that we all have our individual goals and our own plans and ways of achieving these. However, we are much more likely to achieve our goals in a supportive environment. I know I would struggle to achieve my target marathon time running 26.2 miles along local canal paths on my own. But as one of 10,000 runners with several thousand spectators cheering us on in one of the world’s most beautiful cities, I did it – and really enjoyed the experience, too.
Yesterday we were united in the shared challenge and sense of achievement. We didn't need much leadership. Just support for each other to say yes in the first place and to see it through.
The current economic crisis has caused leaders everywhere to rethink their business models. This is often a good thing. Leaders are being forced to reconsider what creates value in the mind of the customer.
Not long ago, the idea of destroying and rebuilding your business model would have been considered a radical once-in-a-lifetime event that only a few leaders had to deal with. However, most business models were not designed for a complex, diverse and uncertain world. The unprecedented economic crisis has rendered formerly well-designed models obsolete.
Destroying your business model requires a leap into the unknown – a leap many leaders are not prepared to make. It is usually more attractive to tinker with your current model than to destroy it. However, remaining competitive in a fast-changing world requires you to think the unthinkable.
You need guts to destroy your business model. You need to use your head to reinvent the future. You also need the heart to engage, inspire and motivate others to make the transition from an old, comfortable model to a new, uncertain one. This type of whole leadership, which combines multiple capabilities, is essential for effective action.
The European Council is due to appoint its first president at a special summit in Brussels tonight. In recent weeks, there has been a great deal of talk about who the first permanent president should be. The UK’s Tony Blair? Belgium's Herman van Rompuy? Or should we actively seek to appoint a female president, as a group of prominent European Commissioners called for last week?
We’ll find out who the successful candidate is later today. For now, let’s consider what leadership qualities the president will need.
Several challenges await the new president. One of the most pressing is the current economic crisis. If Europe can coordinate fiscal stimulus, this will help build its global reputation and benefit member states. The European Union is extremely diverse, and the majority of member states are in themselves very diverse. Each has a great deal of internal variation. This diversity can be Europe’s great strength. It also presents the president with real challenges.
To be a successful leader, the president needs the empathy to connect with different groups of people. He or she also needs an intellectual understanding of the thousands of micro groups in the European Union. To an extent, this complexity defies analysis. So the president will also need to have strong instincts, and the confidence to act on these instincts.
The president needs a clear strategy and vision. The European Union is often criticised for a lack of focus. The new president needs to be a real visionary with the ability to engage and inspire others to commit to a shared way forward.
He or she needs the skills to spot a crisis and to quickly determine a course of action in partnership with others. Swift and clear insight needs to be combined with the skills to negotiate a shared response based on collaboration and cooperation. With so many diverse interests in Europe this will not be an easy process in even the most obvious of crises.
Although the president’s role has been criticised by some for being a powerless one, it does present an opportunity to galvanise member states and create a renewed sense of energy and purpose. This could help Europe take a stronger and more united approach to global challenges such as the economic and climate crises.
The success of the president will depend largely on his or her leadership skills. Whoever is appointed today faces some tough challenges – and some exciting opportunities.
Last week, the International Monetary Fund warned us that the industrialised world needs another ten years of spending cuts and tax increases to bring public finances under control.
The next day, Lord Sugar swore at a BBC interviewer who questioned him about the recession, saying, "Can't we get off this recession kick once and for all? I don't think we're in one now, ok?"
These are just two examples of the conflicting messages we’re receiving at the moment. For leaders everywhere, these are difficult times. How can we make decisions and take action in the face of such unrelenting uncertainty?
At times like this, when we lack concrete information, leaders need to rely on personal values and sense of purpose to move ahead. Otherwise, their organisations will stagnate.
For many leaders, used to relying on their knowledge and experience, the idea of relying on their values can be unsettling. However, now more than ever, leaders are faced with choosing between right and wrong. Increasingly sceptical and disengaged employees are looking for authentic leaders they can trust. Leaders must look within themselves to determine who they are and to find the courage of their convictions.
Turbulent times define us. They help us come to terms with what we truly believe. So in a world where we are surrounded by conflicting messages, leaders need to find the strength of character to be resilient, take risks, and inspire others.