Future Requires a DifferentLeadership ApproachRaj Kumar Paramanathan | June 1, 2018

The increasing pace of digitisation and technological

innovation affect businesses around the globe.

Disruption is always around the corner. In such a

rapidly changing business environment, leadership

transformation is essential. During the recent IRC

EMEA Regional Meeting in Amsterdam all participants

agreed that leadership needs to adapt to the

changing circumstances.

Be agile

Digitisation and technological innovation irreversibly change the way

business is done. In the digital age, the pace of innovation increases every

year, with no signs of it slowing down any time soon. This acceleration

impacts businesses in various ways. Many innovations, such as robotization,

blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning or the internet-of-things

are potentially disruptive.

Proven and tested business models can become obsolete in a matter of years

or even months. The very idea of a fixed business model has come into

question.

Changes in the business environment are no longer sporadic, volatility is

‘the new normal’. As a consequence, decision-making processes need to be

fast, short and inclusive. This requires agile leadership, underpinned by a

culture of continuous feedback. But be aware that agility is a fraught term.

At the heart of any agile innovation, the model is a breakdown of the

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hierarchy. If you retain an old-school, hierarchical management structure,

agile initiatives will eventually fail. For traditional, top-down organisations,

transforming into a non-hierarchical organisation may be one of the main

challenges in the years ahead.

Lead the disruption

Competition is becoming fiercer and multi-directional. Focus has shifted to

Customer-value thinking. It is no longer only the traditional competitors the

companies have to worry about. Disintermediation brought consumers

directly in touch with manufacturers.

Instead of relying on traditional R&R, businesses should focus on new ideas,

continual innovation, redesigning business processes and embedding this in

their corporate culture and organisational structure. Don’t wait for

disruptive technology to come your way, lead the disruption.

A great example comes from NGO War Child, an organisation that is

committed to improving the lives of thousands of children affected by armed

conflict. As a relatively small NGO, the impact of War Child is limited. To

increase its impact, the NGO recently adopted a disruptive strategy; it now

shares its research and methods with other, bigger NGO’s, and encourages

them to make use of it. This strategy has proven to be successful. UNICEF

implements the educational method of War Child in Sudan.

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C-suite roundtable discussion hosted by IRC in Amsterdam

Appreciate the value of soft skills

In future-proof organisations, an Alpha management style, hierarchy and

bureaucracy are giving way to shared leadership styles of open

communication and employee engagement. The new mantra is to ‘Connect,

Collaborate, Influence and Lead’. Leaders should support an environment

that cross-pollinates ideas, people and thinking among different disciplines

and industries.

We need leaders that care about their employees and take responsibility for

their job satisfaction. There is no other way, because this is what the

younger generations of employees demand. To retain talent, companies have

to embrace their view of work. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is a great

example of a leader who understands the importance of soft skills. When he

took over in 2014, the tech giant was in dire shape. It was losing its

competitive advantage to other, more innovative competitors like Apple and

Alphabet. Nadella noted that Microsoft was hampered by its management

and organisational culture, which was top-down and authoritarian, and put

great demands on the private lives of the (predominantly young) employees.

Microsoft at the time was also notorious for the vicious infighting between

different divisions and teams within the company.

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Nadella introduced a culture that is based on emphatic collaboration. The

new corporate culture, in combination with a new focus on cloud-based

services, turned out to be extremely successful. Microsoft returned to being

a growth stock after stagnating for nearly a decade. Business magazine Fast

Company praised the CEO in a recent profile: ‘Nadella is a contemporary

CEO able to emphasize the kinds of soft skills that are often derided in the

cutthroat world of corporate politics but are, in today’s fast-moving

marketplace, increasingly essential to outsize performance.’

Diversity is a necessity

Another leadership lesson we can learn from Nadella is that innovation can

come from all directions. When a young employee at Microsoft once asked

Nadella why he couldn’t print directly from his phone, the CEO simply

replied ‘Make it happen. You’re in charge of the project.’ A perfect example

of a CEO who understands that ‘innovation’ is not a department, but a

culture. Every organisation needs agents of change.

Look at the boardroom from a team’s perspective. You need diverse qualities

and attitudes in a board. It can be hard and even unsettling to go outside of

your own demographic, but diversity is not just something that is ‘nice to

have’, it is a necessity. It pays to have young people on your board, they are

more inclined to question existing habits and values and challenge

assumptions. Consulting younger people on specific topics can also work

really well. Some companies have very positive experiences with an advisory

millennial board.

Software company Oracle Netherlands recently created the ‘Young Oracle

Board’, with young professionals up to the age of 35 from different business

units of the company. The advisory ‘board’ aims to improve the visibility and

opportunities within Oracle for young employees.

Of course, diversity is not just about demographics. Intellectual diversity is

just as important. Don’t shy away from it, or you will end up with a group of

people who think and look alike.

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C-suite roundtable discussion hosted by IRC in Amsterdam

Be curious

In today’s environment of uncertainties, it is unwise to rely solely on tried

and tested management practices. Leaders should be alert to unfolding risks

and opportunities and agile in embedding innovation, risk-taking and

creativity into the culture and structure of their organisations. New

methodologies should be developed for acquiring, sharing and disseminating

knowledge and engaging with people within and without the organisation.

Leaders should be curious all the time. Without curiosity, you can’t be a

leader of the pack. At the same time, it is often the collective, not an

individual leader that makes the difference. In the end, leadership is about

spreading the power.

Adapt to your environment, but stay true to your values

The future is inherently uncertain and open to different interpretations. In

today’s world, the future is closing in on us. We live in VUCA-times: Volatile,

Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. A modern leader makes more decisions

in one week than a 16th century-leader in a lifetime. Our nervous system

never faced these problems before. We have much more information at our

disposal, that makes decision making more complex. Leaders have to digest

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information, prioritise, make sure that they do not get lost in the information

flow, and chose the right time for making a decision.

All things considered, a conventional approach to strategic planning can be

downright dangerous as they neither defend against the threats nor take

advantage of the opportunities that higher levels of uncertainty may bring.

Therefore, companies need a flexible strategy. Adapt to your environment

and don’t waste too much time on long-term and detailed strategies. Decide,

test, learn, refine: strategy should become a daily exercise. You are working

with moving targets. Sometimes, the best strategy can be to have no

strategy at all.

Even in a VUCA business environment, companies should stay focused on

what they do best and stay true to their roots and their culture. Meaning,

values and purpose have to be at the heart of your company. Don’t let

uncertainties distract you from what you are good at, or make you forget

who you are. In general, evolution is more sustainable than revolution.

Delegates of the C-suite roundtable discussion hosted by IRC

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The main takeaways from the IRC EMEA Round Table on Leadership

Transformation:

1. Be agile. Decision-making processes need to be fast, short and

inclusive. This requires agile leadership, underpinned by a culture of

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continuous feedback. Agile leadership can only succeed in a non-

hierarchical organisation.

2. Lead the disruption. Businesses should focus on new ideas, continual

innovation, redesigning business processes and embedding this in their

corporate culture and organisational structure. Don’t wait for

disruptive technology to come your way, lead the disruption.

3. Appreciate the value of soft skills. Leaders should care about their

employees and take responsibility for their job satisfaction. So-called

‘soft skills’ may be the key to hard-earned success. This is what

younger generations of employees demand.

4. Diversity is a necessity. It can be hard and even unsettling to go

outside of your own demographic or intellectual peer group, but

diversity is not just something that is ‘nice to have’, it is a necessity. If

you end up with a group of people who look and think alike, you will

miss out on fresh perspectives.

5. Be curious. Leaders should be curious all the time. Without curiosity,

you will never be a leader of the pack.

6. Adapt to your environment, but stay true to your values. In

VUCA-times, companies need a flexible strategy. Adapt to your

environment and don’t waste too much time on long-term and detailed

strategies. Decide, test, learn, refine: strategy should become a daily

exercise. But: Don’t let uncertainties distract you from what you are

good at, or make you forget who you are.

Raj Kumar Paramanathan

Inspired to deliver solutions to business problems, Raj Kumar co-founded

CnetG Asia in Malaysia and Thailand in 2001. As a Partner of the firm,

globally known as IRC, Raj is thrilled by opportunities to search and select

the best executives for hard-to-fill or mission-critical roles. Taking clients

through a series of questions and sharing industry insights, Raj

encapsulates the role profile into a solution for the business problem or

aspiration.

Read more

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