19 Feb If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Belgium
In 1969, there was a romantic comedy titled If It’s Tuesday it must be Belgium. The film was about a man taking a 9-country, 18-day tour of Europe. The phrase came to be used for a situation where your head is spinning and never even sure what city you are in.
Well, this is how many business leaders are feeling about now. It seems like every day there is a new headline and shift of direction. Tariffs or no tariffs, a war is ending or is a new one beginning, is AI the biggest business opportunity ever or about to become a commodity before it even becomes big, will insurance (or the inability to get it in a changing climate) be the next financial crisis? Oh, then there is the asteroid that now has a one in forty-three chance of hitting Earth in 2032 or the rapid acceleration of Bird Flu but stay calm-at least for now. That’s why my new keynote Future Proof Leadership is so timely.
Uncertainty is the new certainty.
How do we lead with so much up in the air? How do we become Future Proof? Here are my four principles for leading amidst uncertainty:
Prepare for multiple futures. Right now, there isn’t one future ahead of us. There are multiple futures. Leaders need to identify all the plausible futures and get Future Proof for the most disruptive ones. Whether in your industry or the global situation, it is critical to be as ready as we can to adapt to whatever might come.
Don’t be a Spectator. One of the temptations right now is to become passive just waiting to see what happens next. But the future isn’t a destination waiting for us to arrive. We need to be active in creating the future we want to happen. Part of being Future Proof is asking “what is the future we most want to happen and what can WE do to make it more likely.” This is as true for us as citizens as it is for us as business leaders-we make the future as much as the future makes us.
Remember uncertainty always brings opportunity. The one big upside of uncertainty is it always means opportunity. I can’t tell you right now what opportunities all this uncertainty will usher in, but I can guarantee you that if Leaders focus on what the world and their customers will need as things change, they will be the winners. It’s time to keep your eyes wide open.
Hold on to Your Values. When Jim Collins wrote his bestselling book Built to Last, he asked the question why do some organizations thrive through multiple cycles of change? The bottom line, those organizations held close to their core values while being open to how those values had to be applied in a changing situation. This is a good time to remind ourselves that values matter. Values like putting the customer first, doing the right thing, being open to innovation and adding more value to society than you take. Uncertainty often challenges us to step back from our deepest values, but this is a time to step in not back.
I’d love to hear how you and your organization are stepping up in these uncertain times. We would love to work with you on helping your leaders get Future Proof. Check out my new keynote.
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