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How The Most Successful Leaders Will Thrive in An Exponential World
How The Most Successful Leaders Will Thrive in An Exponential World
the Most Successful Leaders Will Thrive in an Exponential World
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How the Most uccessful Leaders
Will Thrive in an xponential World
Lisa Ka olomon - Jan 11, 2017
617
We live in challenging times. Geopolitical turmoil, local and national social unrest,
ccles of deadl natural disasters, cer hacks, rising distrust of media and tech
companies—man recent disruptive events have taken us surprise.
Nearl two decades ago, militar planners coined an acronm to capture the
nature of an increasingl unpredictale and dnamic world. The called it VUCA
—an environment of nonstop volatilit, uncertaint, complexit and amiguit.
The world toda emodies VUCA more so than an era we’ve recentl
experienced.
Wh do so man of us—individuall and collectivel—fail to imagine, let alone
anticipate, the massive and disruptive changes that are unfolding? Driven fast
moving technologies and gloalization, the pace of change is accelerating, our
rains are struggling to keep up, and surprise, discomfort, and unrest are the
result.
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This is no anomal. VUCA isn’t going awa. Change promises to speed up, not
slow down. To thrive in a world where “change is the onl constant,” leaders
need to replace old thinking with a new framework.
xponential change calls for exponential leaders. ut
what exactl does that mean?
In this article, we’ll explore the four pillars of
exponential leadership. These are the critical skills
leaders must learn to successfull navigate a rapidl
changing world—not just to create strategic
advantage for their organizations, ut also to help
uild the kind of inclusive, equitale, positive and
aundant future we all want to live in.
ome leaders alread excel at some of these skills. An exponential leader strives
to master them all, clearl understands how the in uence each other, and in
practice, models them as an integrated whole much more powerful than its parts.
The Futurist
The rst skill of exponential leadership is learning to transform surprise into
mindful anticipation. To do this, leaders have to ecome skilled futurists.
This does not mean simpl extrapolating toda’s pace of change into the future.
It means imagining new possiilities oldl and optimisticall—and
understanding the are quite likel to arise sooner than expected. Leaders will
have to get equall comfortale with what can e known and with exploring what
is unknown.
This is not how man leaders currentl operate.
Toda, leaders tpicall manage risk with a variet of analtic processes and
frameworks that identif and quantif known variales. In most organizations, the
future is primaril projected through numerical forecasts and spreadsheets,
reinforcing a perspective that the world is an extension of what we know toda,
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and that we can plug in some numeric formula to calculate quanti ale
predictions.
The prolem, however, is these forecasts rel on understanding current variales
and existing trends. We see future events as a new version of past events,
presuming the pace of change will move in a straight line. In realit, the line
curves upward, and new variales—unforeseen technologies, for example—
alwas enter the equation.
The result? Forecasts fall short. At est, we’re shocked, at worst disrupted.
It’s not that we aren’t capale of imagining new narratives for the future or
widening the set of proale futures we consider. It’s mostl that we’ve never
een taught how or given permission to do this as part of our “da jo.”
As futurists, leaders need to get comfortale asking open-ended questions
aout unspoken assumptions to see new possiilities. The need to e curious
aout the future and lend imaginative practices of strategic foresight, futures
ackcasting, science ction design and scenario planning into traditional
usiness planning.
The Innovator
In addition to imagining a range of new futures, leaders must also act as
innovators, discovering new ideas through creative ideation and rigorous
experimentation. These das, great product ideas can come from a single tweet
or a surprising customer interaction and e tested with a working prototpe in
less than 24 hours.
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Yet, man usinesses still focus primaril on getting existing products to market
faster while reducing costs and increasing margins.
The underling strategic et is placed on certaint minimizing variailit. And
if the are experiencing success, the focus is on defending and expanding what
exists rather than exploring new opportunities through ongoing discover.
What’s often missing is a deep understanding of the customer on the other side
of the transaction, much less an ongoing investment in designing and
developing new products and services to satisf emerging customer needs and
requirements.
When leaders emrace their role as innovators, the realize the must alwas e
thinking aout the customer. The use human-centered processes, such as
oservation and questioning, to collect insights; the use visual thinking and
stortelling skills to share hpotheses and ideas quickl and e ectivel; and the
emrace a growth mindset to test and gather evidence on what the’ve learned.
Rigorous innovators do this continuall, iterating over and over to uncover
opportunities oscured the fog of uncertaint.
The Technologist
As technolog innovation accelerates, leaders have to understand which
technologies will directl impact their industr and which will a ect adjacent
industries. Increasingl, technolog can digitize, manipulate and replace phsical
products and services, challenging the status quo of man existing companies.
The est wa to understand technological change is not to read aout it, ut to
experience it rst-hand learning to code, uilding or manipulating a simple
root, tring new products and services that go eond what’s familiar or
comfortale, and seeking the resources of innovation and experimentation.
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However, understanding technolog solel from an engineering or R&D
perspective is not enough. xponential leaders will also have to grapple with the
ethical, moral and social implications of the technologies the uild their
organizations around.
Technolog disruption is quickl outpacing existing regulations, laws, and
societal norms. There are alread on-going tax and laor feuds etween industr
disruptors such as Airn and Uer and the communities the serve.
ut those legal attles pale in comparison to the ethical attles we ma soon
face when workers in large industries such as food or transportation are replaced
autonomous sstems. And we’ve hardl egun to explore the implications of a
future in which genetic modi cations have ecome signi cantl more accessile
and widespread.
Polic and ethics are not independent of technolog, and technolog does not
operate in a protected silo apart from either. If leaders et on the massive new
revenue potential or cost saving opportunities that technolog o ers, the must
also emrace the societal and moral implications that will inevital follow.
This will require a whole new set of discussions and decisions in the oardrooms
of ever corporation, new ehaviors and norms in ever product development
la, and new was of educating, rewarding (and even penalizing) tomorrow’s
leaders.
The Humanitarian
xponential leaders use the skills and ehaviors of futurist, innovator and
technologist to improve the lives of the people the touch, and societ as a
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whole. The aim to do well doing good—not as a separate set of “corporate
social responsiilit” activities, ut as part of the integrated compan mission.
Leading as a humanitarian can mean explicitl uilding a usiness using
technolog to create positive impact. corporations, for example, are for-pro t
companies certi ed to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental
performance, accountailit, and transparenc. It can also mean investing in
humane policies and practices that create a positive culture and a meaningful
work environment. A workplace that inspires emploees and partners to strive
toward their full potential.
Increasingl technolog can also generate fundamentall new usiness models
and growth opportunities enaling and empowering more new parts of the world
to ecome sustainale and autonomous economic centers of growth.
When Google’s hot air alloons connect the most rural and underdeveloped
areas to universal high-speed internet, or micro-drones deliver medical supplies
after natural disasters, we can start to imagine a world where the ultimate
resource technolog ampli es is our imagination to elieve anthing is possile.
Our Future Needs xponential Leaders
These roles—futurist, innovator, technologist and humanitarian—are
interconnected and enhanced when knowledge and insights ow etween them.
The four pillars are a holistic sstem of learning to imagine, create, capture and
scale hidden value in an increasingl complex and dnamic world.
This is the essence of exponential leadership.
practicing these new skills, all leaders can improve their capacit to not onl
anticipate change, ut also make proactive choices leading to more positive,
productive futures for their organizations, communities and the world.
Image Credit: hutterstock
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