Leaders need to demonstrate four behaviours to maximise the chance that Transformation will succeed.
• Evidence that business may get disrupted is always opaque.
• By the time the evidence surfaces, it’s too late to do anything about it.
• The mistake leaders make is projecting today’s business on to the future.
• Rather ask what the future will look like and cultivate a ‘future back’ mindset.
• Invest to create the future than to be owned by it.
• Leaders face two fundamental challenges: exploit what you have while exploring and developing what you don’t.
• Predictability helps with exploitation, and keeps the core business running. But predictability can choke off exploration.
• Companies need to boost their curiosity quotient by cultivating curiosity.
The biggest obstacle to transformation is the organisation itself and leaders will encounter three categories of crises.
• Crises of commitment: Does the (historical) core-business have a future? What if it doesn’t?
• Crises of conflict: What resources do you back in the battle between today and tomorrow?
• Crises of identity: Who are you? Who do you hope to become?