The Rise and Fall to Growth
Shapeshifter Leadership
[part 3: who]
I'm only human
I make mistakes
I'm only human
That's all it takes
…
Rag'n'Bone ManIn childhood, one of my favorite cartoons was the Australian TV series Around the World in Eighty Days, a free variation of Jules Vern’s novel. The heroes of this cartoon have a global mission to complete a journey around the world in eighty days. Episodes of the series have the same structure happening at different geographical locations with a challenging quest. Each episode starts with packing the bag with a seemingly random collection of items that eventually prove essential for that particular sub-mission success. During the whole sub-mission, the main hero Phileas Fogg creatively uses the packed bag’s content and teaches a unique proverb for that sub-mission. Highly recommend watching it if you missed it in childhood. Your takeaways will undoubtedly vary based on your age.
If you are already familiar with the “what” and “why” articles, then it should be clear why my subconscious has kicked that story to the surface. The business journey is like a global mission, while the stages in business development are sub-missions in the scope of global mission success. In this context, the main takeaway is that organizations’ leadership can’t be successful while having only one set of skills and tools for all sub-missions in the path of organizational success. Before each stage, leadership should pack the bag with the required(and hopefully not random) skills and tools they will need during the upcoming mission. Or when switching to business language, build the capabilities for upcoming mission strategy.
So, it is time to understand “who” is the right fit for a leader driving the organization with ODC framework. Is finding a magical shapeshifter the only way to go, or are we as humans with all our weaknesses and powers able to handle the required metamorphosis in the organization’s path to success? The success story of businesses going from generation to generation(without any AI or smart contracts) gives a light of hope that such metamorphosis is possible. Alternatively, all other bets are on AI.
Why does business fail?
To not make this just another article about business failures, let’s summarize the top-tier reasons actively discussed in the business community and scholarly articles:
Have you noticed that “poor leadership” is not on the list? Not sure why it is included as a separate bullet, while all the items on the list are due to poor leadership. Only some excuses may apply to the last one. So the simple-truth is that at the top of the organization’s success and failure hierarchy is the leadership and all excuses from the above list are just post-truth.
The consecutive question: is it possible for organizational leadership to acquire all required skills to maneuver those failures and bring the mission to success? Doesn’t sound easy, but it’s doable. Especially when forming a complementary leadership team.
Now let’s bring in the complications, as we are reviewing the organization as a non-linear multidimensional dynamic system and trying to define some ODC framework to manage its growth. The organization’s leadership successfully acquires all required skills and elevates the business to a new stage. Now they are all in the front of new challenges with new skill set requirements and a transformed environment, like a polar bear in the rainforest. Will the organization survive in such conditions? Would the change of leadership to meet the new requirements be more reasonable or risky? Sounds like a bonus for growing the business to a new level.
So Who?
When building a family house I was trying to maximize the use of the materials that were left from other projects to cut down some costs. Once the constructor’s team chief, maybe annoyed by all those tries, asked me to clarify my goals. Am I looking to build a comfortable house that will serve my family for a long time or utilize the available materials? Yes, the right question asked at the right time will do the job. Cutting costs is one of the important factors for an organization, but it should not take priority over the established strategy. When making any decision on the mission the established strategy should be at the top and should not be compromised in any way. In some cases, if it is, then there is an urgent need to revise the strategy and not continue the same way by ignoring the fact that focus has been lost or there is a significant change in the market. And yes, one time is also counted.
What is the key goal of any business? Let’s skip the part about prioritization and prove that ROI or other financial results are only derivatives and should not be on the top. There are already people, with more wisdom, who have proved that. So here I will just restate that the top goal of any business is to have a clear value proposition for the targeted market via offered products or services. And what does a business need for its value proposition continuity? Of course, an organization that will provide infrastructure to support the required maintenance and growth.
Having two main roles in place, let’s go back to critical factors of organization success discussed in [part 2: why]. Again let’s list them in a table. But now segment them in a way that shows their direct relation to one of two main roles, value proposition and the infrastructure serving it:
The same exercise with external factors will make no sense as any of the known external factors could directly affect equally on both value proposition and infrastructure.
Now we just need to apply the defined logic, infrastructure serves for value proposition, to the segments of factors. It is becoming clear that all organization’s critical factors are serving for strategy. So the strategy dynamics should dictate all other dynamics of the organization. The leadership who understands that the business should be driven by strategy, and not by their skills/capabilities and wishes for that day, will be the right fit for the Organization’s Dynamics Control(ODC) framework. They should consider themselves as a part of the strategy and not stand over the strategy. Simultaneously they should keep sensing signals alarming for strategy adjustment requirements. Only understanding of being part of the strategy will allow the leadership to accept the changes and be a shapeshifter who is adapting to the new requirements of the evolved strategy.
This will sound difficult for most human beings as it contradicts our nature. In reality(I mean actions and not beautiful words), it is not easy to consider yourself not standing over the system you have created and owned, but as a part of it. In such logic, the leadership itself will identify its internal contradictions with the ongoing strategy and will update the leadership team accordingly via whatever actions it will take.
Conclusion
If you know where you are going then it should be clear and easy to define what kind of person you should be and whom to take with you. If it is not, then get back and clarify to yourself where you are going and make sure that it does not contradict your inner values.
If the goal is set, then you should become a part of that goal and let it control you, instead of taking control over it as a master. Your thoughts, moods, and actions on the next or any other day should serve that goal. And if they are not, you should have the power to let them go and get back on track.
ODC is only possible with strategy-driven organization leadership. This needs to be taken into account if you are looking for some long-term adventure for generations. It is a completely different story if you would like to have some fun, but that is not a subject here.
Thank you for reading. Hope to see you in [part 4: when]. Stay calm.
