The Idea: I recently shared a number of big ideas which were uncovered at leadership and innovation summits. These are the types of ideas that need constant revisiting; the leaders who are discussing these ideas are flourishing and having fun along the way.
Which of these do you personally need to revisit?
Your Secret Weapon. Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon recently put it perfectly when he stated “As the world becomes more digital, it will be the humanity of Walmart that differentiates us and wins with customers.” The torture test of all brands is one question: Do we, as brand managers, operate on a soul-level? Your status with this question sets the tone for your long-term viability. An organization’s soul is its secret weapon. With health and beauty brands, more than ever before, empathy, compassion and lifestyle coaching will win the hearts of consumers. Have you remained distinct, or have you sacrificed a part of your soul?
You Are Your Story. According to Bill George, Harvard professor and former Medtronic CEO, “Leadership is not about traits, it is about your life story.” Leadership is about understanding others’ story so you can help them thrive. It’s about serving others and calling out others best self. There is a direct relationship between how one manages their emotions and how one is interpreted by everyone else. If you cannot manage your own emotions, you cannot influence others. The best leaders are storytellers: self-aware, invested, and recover quickly from personal failures.
Understand Your “Why?” What do you stand for and who do you stand with? Fifty-nine percent of Americans say a company’s corporate social responsibility activities impact their purchase decisions. Why’d you join the organization you did? Leaders need a “why”. What you stand for (and who you stand with) is as essential as the job description and the potential for longer-term growth. To lead in the future, you must understand your “why?”.
Check Your Bias. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman shares: “The normal state of your mind is that you have intuitive feelings and opinions about almost everything that comes your way. You like or dislike people long before you know much about them; you trust or distrust strangers without knowing why; you feel that an enterprise is bound to succeed without analyzing it.” He argues we jump to conclusions because we over value the information in front of us, while discounting the information that’s just off stage. Our tendency is to define our choices too narrowly and to see them in binary terms. Similarly, we all suffer from Confirmation Bias; we tend to seek out information that supports our beliefs. All decisions need more options, space for reflection, and people you trust to test your assumptions.
What else did you miss this week in your customer discussions, team meetings, and lunch conversations?
What went right by you because you were a prisoner of the urgent? What else needs to be rediscovered?
