Management is facing a Mega Change in Stereo
Have you been struggling with radical changes in your world? In the olden days, with more fat in the system, we could afford waste, rework, and high-risk initiatives. Executives danced shamelessly from one silver bullet to another. Management teams would return from offsite planning sessions with their eyes blazing—another grand solution in the bag. Veteran employees knew how to survive. They’d just dive under a table for two or three weeks until things got back to normal. Much of the organizational change that went on in those days was meaningless. Typically, senior and middle management would be reshuffled every couple of years, but not much ever changed for the worker bees. Employees of a British client once called executive ideas “BOHICA’s” (field research identified their meaning…Bend Over Here It Comes Again)
Every few hundred years; a significant event would occur that altered the human condition. For example; harnessing fire, the wheel, the telescope, and the compass. To our great grandparents, the industrial revolution appeared to cause the world to go mad. Anarchists called Ludites ran around England trying to stop it by destroying machinery. Those trying to make sense of the world through outdated paradigms will always feel like Alice in Wonderland. Now we are confronted daily by change. A major challenge has been trying to master a ‘mega trend’ in stereo. On one track the digital revolution has fostered mind-blowing breakthroughs (the speed and complexity of computers and innovations in communications). On the other track, Marshal McLuhen’s global village is upon us. We are beginning to realize that nation states no longer control or even excerpt much influence over their domestic employment climate, currency rates, stock market, or trade patterns.
Accomplished sailors can handle a severe pitch (bow to stern action). They have no trouble mastering a roll (starboard to port action). But when the sea chops up with a yaw (both pitch and roll), it usually means “over the side and every man for himself.” The double whammy action of a yaw is the cause of most storm-centered marine tragedies. For the first time in human history we are confronting two mega trends at once…the digital and a global revolution.
Where to from here?
Business and government leaders alike are charged with protecting their constituents. And closer to home, little ones are counting on their parents to make the right moves. But as a leader, where should you go and what should you do? Who knows? The new reality is it doesn’t matter how much you know. The odds are that most of what is in your head; is or is on its way to being outdated.Yesterday’s assumption was those “in the know” are more valuable than the rest of us.” People get hired or promoted because of what they know. But knowledge is becoming a potential liability. Anybody who thinks or acts like they know; is insane. How can anybody possibly know what a competitor on the other side of the globe did yesterday; what consumers are thinking about today; or might be willing to pay for tomorrow? Information is flowing so quickly; no single human being can keep up. The problem with knowing is that it makes learning unnecessary. People resist change because learning screws up knowing. The fundamental change you need to make, is a 180 degree shift from the mindset of knowing to an attitude of not knowing. You heard it here first. Those of us that don’t know could come out on top. The Ludites of our era are resisting change because they still clinging to the false assumption that knowledge means power.
The most important thing you need to know is; “your knowing mindset must be replaced with a not knowing attitude—and you must adopt a process for finding out and taking action faster than the competition.