How to prepare for the future? The fascinating idea came from John Blakey: The Trusted Executive. Imagine if you “had teleported a 1970s businessman into a 21st century boardroom and placed him amongst his modern-day peers? What would he have made of their smart phones and their video-conferencing, their tie-less, smoke-free conversations on the rise of Generation Y, their strange habit of pouring their own coffees at the break? Not to mention that the lady sat at the table is not a minute-taking secretary, but the CEO herself!”
Let’s hold onto this analogy and imagine (really imagine!!) you as a leader had been teleported into a 22nd century boardroom and placed amongst your future-day peers.
- What can you see? Unleash your imagination! Describe it in details!
- What differences and similarities would you envision between the current and future boardrooms/meeting rooms?
- In what way that world will be simpler or more complex from how it is now?
- What could be the most captivating things you wish to experience in that business world?
- What could be the scariest things you may face in that business reality?
The change is constant and turbulent. Being visionary and adaptive are two of the key components for survival and the foundation of future successes. My experience shows that it is easy to talk about them in general terms, but when it comes to outlining concrete leadership visions for self as well as for organisations, it is hard to step over our own shadows and the given or learnt boundaries. I concluded that the above two qualities are ineffective without COURAGE to live them and live by them.
Source: The Trusted Executive by John Blakey