Life & Leadership

Sanity regained !!

At the eve of Diwali - the season of lights, there is a somewhat dimmer appreciation of the good things of life. The stock market sucks, there is no good news coming from any quarter on the business & financial side. 

As far as my views go, good news will be scarce in the next few months.

Bad news will run cheap & flow freely.

While all this is happening, I have decided that several things are narcoses to retain sanity.  

I will let you on to a small secret, I have been able to do a few things that have help me regain my sanity, which, by the way, had served notice of exit.

All these interventions are in the area of leisure, pleasure, entertainment & general distraction.

For one, I have re-started Golf which was getting some serious step motherly treatment from my new found passion for the Gym. 

Books - I have re-discovered the absolute pleasure of reading the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes. I am aware that some serious readers will abject to C & H being classified under books. If I had it my way, I would put it under Life's Philosophy. That apart have been reading Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Set in the dust bowls of America in the great depression. Its awesome reading, highly recommended.

Music - the list is long but some of my recent favorites I have rediscovered are Mark Knofler, Rock -On, songs sung by Amitabh B & so on ...

I have told myself that in my highly inadequate quest for Work - Life balance, the work environment seems to be getting dismal everyday.so I have decided to give some long overdue focus on my life. I am not sure if the argument is right but feels like the right thing to do.

On matters of consumption, I have re-discovered two amazing things. Laphroaig & Marzipan. 

Laphroaig is my absolute favorite single malt whisky , possesses a divine bouquet of rich peaty woodsmoke laced with the aroma of the mists of the Islay islands.I could go on ... Check out the site http://www.laphroaig.com/

Marzipan - a delicious chocolate sweet that has a magical blend of Almonds, rosewater, chocolate & years of mid European tradition. It has a taste that needs to be experienced to be believed.

In summary, my recommendation for beating the Financial meltdown, Recession, Credit squeeze or Crisis - whatever you call it - is simply focus on the Life that many of you never had. Perhaps this is a contrarian advise, but what the heck, I think it works.

It has helped me regain my sanity.

Future - Proof Leadership

 

So you think your Leadership style is contemporary, perhaps! Will it always remain so? 

Hmmm, now that's a different story.

In my view there are 5 fundamental Leadership traits that will help a Leader remain contemporary, whatever be the environment. 

Trust -  this is the most important trait that the Leader of the future will need to have. Its quite simple, how inclined will You  be to led by a person whom you do not trust fully. Greater the unpredictability of the future, more the need felt for trust. In fact, some of the debate in the US media is already throwing up this aspect.

 Quick Adaptability -  Situations, markets & needs will change. Ability of change with the times will always retain a premium. Most good leaders adapt to change effectively. My focus is on the Speed  of adaptability. This calls for confidence & a developed learning ability.

Seeing around the Bend  - The ability to sense what is about to happen has always been a big deal. However, in the future, trends and situations are likely to have a shorter life and change will always be lurking around unexpected bends. If you have this ability, you are going to be in great demand, by organizations & teams both.

Emotional Quorient (EQ) - The emerging genarations of Gen Ys & Gen M will place this Leadership on a premium, even beyond where its seen today, People will want more individuality than ever before. To be treated as part of a crowd will be anathema, to be treated as a person will be a minimum expectation. The emotional bandwidth to understand people,  their motivations and how to lead & inspire them will be a key trait the future Leader will need.

Execution - Some things do not change. The ability to get things done is and will remain an essential part of the Future Leader's toolkit

Organization Redesign - The Perfect Storm is here

For a variety of unrelated reasons, this seems a great time to do an Organization Redesign and take a relook at the Structure of your Organization. 4 key trends that are causing this unique situation are :

The global Economic Downturn - this is the "Elephant in the room" issue that is having every organization re-evaluate its strategy & more pertinent, its Overhead expenses. The reasons are clear, but placed together, they are a heady cocktail.
1.The credit squeeze has increased cost of doing business for viable firms & the less viable ones are simply getting bankrupt.
2. Consumer spending / confidence is very low. Demand for products & services has tanked.
3. Inflation in commodities has shrunk Profit Margins, especially in the Manufacturing sector
All this means that men in dark suits & grim faces are prowling with sharp scissors, looking for savings.

The recent era of New Managers - The last five years, since 2003 have seen fairly sharp growth globally - a lot of it being driven by expansion, consolidation (read Mergers & Acquisitions) and growth in emerging markets, all this with the famous War for Talent. During this phase, a lot of new managers have taken up roles with relatively smaller spans of control. This has led to some structural inefficiency that is eating into preciously small margins & making the business respond slower to changes.

Organizational Response to Managing Complexity - Strategic Choices by companies have led to significant complexity. (Read the McKinsey Quarterly article http://tinyurl.com/42r9ey on this). The other BIG factors that have increased complexity is Technology interfacing with Business & Talent in ways not seen before. In fact Web 2.0 itself is probably going make significant disruptive changes in the way we manage People & Organizations (Read the Fastforward Blog on web 2.0- http://tinyurl.com/4splzx )

Growth focussed last 5 years - Most Organizations either execute well in the present or adapt for the future. Very few do both well. As organizations are getting a wee little breather from the scorching growth of the past few years; this is a good time to reflect on the synergy between the Organization Strategy & Design.
(Read Eric Beinhocker's book Extract - The Adaptable Corporation - http://tinyurl.com/3zket5 that talks about this)

So what does all this mean ?

In my view, simply that there are a whole host of reasons that will compel the Organization's architects & leaders to review the design. Its one of the more painful & clearly un-glamorous aspects of Organization Strategy. However, those who take this opportunity to review & perhaps tweak their Org Designs will be more nimble when the upturn starts. As an optimist, I will put my neck out & place a small bet that the economic situation will improve by Quarter 3 of 2009 -
Till then,
Happy Tinkering !!!