The Idea: We’re living in an era of social movements. You see it in our broader society, our politics, and the new winners in business. Social media provocateur Gary Vaynerchuk refers to these disruptive movements as uprisings. An uprising is a revolutionary community bound by purpose – stitched together with trust and singularly focused on transforming their cause.
Can your team lead an uprising?
I recently reviewed the sales performance of forty companies within the Elevation Forum leadership group I moderate. The results were shocking. These dynamic groups of mid-sized companies are growing at a rate more than double the national HBC average. What’s their secret? They are stealing share from big multinationals, attracting new younger consumers and being more agile than their larger competitors; they are transforming the rules within the categories they play in; they are creating mini uprisings!
By 2017, 20% of market leaders will lose their dominant market share position because of a company likely founded after the year 2000. The game will have changed right before their eyes.
Uber is now the world’s largest taxi organization. Airbnb is the largest provider of space. Netflix is the largest movie house. Facebook is the largest content provider, and Alibaba is the most valuable retailer in the world.
There are new rules at play, and small changes to your product lines are no longer good enough. Iteration isn’t the answer; instead, you have to look hard in the mirror, and be comfortable bringing in people who disrupt you. Disrupters interrupt your everyday routines, challenge assumptions and force you to look in the mirror.
Are you comfortable with others abruptly telling you exactly what they think of you?
To lead an uprising, one must be. And likely if there isn’t creative tension, “you aren’t standing for anything.” The disrupters know this. They know that picking the right partners and nurturing an unmistakable culture creates a high performing team, a team that is unafraid of being disliked.
And when they fail they have the ability to get over loss quickly because they reward resilience, and they embrace honesty. They understand that failure is the only way to stretch and grow. They are always tinkering and have built a structure that allows them to quickly mobilize their organizations, reallocate critical resources, and go after new opportunities.
A retail executive once shared with me, “I can’t fix your brand; I can only tell your story.” Companies leading uprisings have their story down cold. And they know what questions they should ask of their story.
Are you clear on what you stand for and with whom stand?
After all, this ability to reflect on a story and ask the biggest questions – about what’s next, and what one is becoming – is the most valuable characteristic of success, according to Peter Drucker.
Innovators and leaders of uprisings confront and ask bigger questions of themselves and their stories. As Dr. Brené Brown, reminds us all “vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation.”
Can you honestly answer this one question? If your organization closed their doors tomorrow, would anyone notice?
