It’s Time To Change.

The lines within and between industries, markets and professions are constantly blurring, being disintermediated, or undergoing a redefinition.

In short, no one is spared from being disrupted.

If companies do not constantly change, they may end up being acquired or worst, join the fate of dinosaurs.

1. From “I-Shaped” to “Pi-Shaped”

The executives running such companies should go from being “I-Shaped” to being “Pi-Shaped.”

In other words, they cannot just be specialists in their chosen field of expertise, they need to develop themselves in a holistic, dynamic, multidisciplinary, and chaos-responsive way.

They need capacity to adopt a global mindset and ability to have and acquire a wide range of knowledge, expertise, connections and other resources to
improve profit, advantage and growth.

2. Not just a “Historian” but also a “Futurist”

They have to also adopt not just a “historian” but also a “futurist” mindset.

This is to prevent them from leaning towards looking at the past and equating it to the future.

Past success may cause fear for changes.

It may drive executives to hold on to status quo and attempt to perpetuate temporary and transient value of past achievements.

Executives are not just custodians of realities but also creators of possibilities. They have to know how to study and interpret trends, evaluate new and emerging developments, and think strategically about how to create a desired future.

Executives need to focus on future businesses, markets and opportunities and help their company make the necessary changes to capitalise on them.

3. “Firemen” and “Firewalls”

As executives come to grip with disruptive forces, they have to not only be good firemen, they need to also know how to set up firewalls.

Their job is to respond to fire in the marketplace and also be proactive in becoming disruptors and preventing any virus from disrupting their ever-improving business models.

They need to learn how to ensure that anything that can go wrong will never go wrong.

A virus should not be able to penetrate the company and cause a breakdown to the systems and processes.

Even if the virus is able to infect and affect the company, there are systems and procedures in place to repel it and to minimise disruptions and other inconveniences.

There should be a learning system in place to not only ensure that the breach will not happen again but that it will also strengthen operational resilience.

4. “Steel Vaults” and “Search Engines and System Integrators”

In a knowledge-based economy, they should not only act as just steel vaults of information but also as search engines and system integrators.

They hold a vast array of critical and beneficial information for the company. Very often, this information is held in their minds or under lock and key with multiple security levels and passwords.
This information has to be better organised and analysed and more importantly, translated into useful tools and resources to help other teams and individuals share and leverage on this information for better outcomes, results and impacts.
5. Leader and Leader of Leaders
To take the company to a higher level of growth, they have to not only be a leader but also be a leader of leaders. By developing more and better leaders, they can help the company achieve a more sustainable growth.

6. “Custodians” and “Creators” of new realities.

Finally, executives have to shift from just being “custodians” to also become “creators” of new realities.

They should be restless souls, always desiring to know the unknown and discover the undiscovered.

They should be constantly thinking about how to disrupt current patterns and look for the next breakthroughs.

While others are thinking about what’s next, they are deliberating about what’s coming after ‘what’s next.’

They are looking ahead of the curve and around the bend to invest in the future and be future-ready.

They recreate themselves rigorously, relentlessly and unrelentingly to stay above and ahead of the crowd.

In short, executives of the new age should be dream-chasers, value-multipliers, change-makers, and world-beaters.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

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