The Business Leader of the Future
Today the Small Business Owner blog welcomes James Mason, Managing Director of Mindshop, a provider of support services to fast track the success of Business Leaders and Advisors around the world. James shares his insights into being the business leader of the future.
World strategy guru and author, Gary Hamel in his best-selling book “The Future of Management” points out that traditional ways of managing a business are coming to an end. To quote him directly:
“New problems demand new principles. Put bluntly, there’s simply no way to build tomorrow’s essential organizational capabilities—resilience, innovation and employee engagement—atop the scaffolding of 20th century management principles”
Another business thought-leader, Alex Osterwalder talks about the urgent need for ‘business model innovation’ in his publications where he states that:
“Companies that aren’t able to systematically rejuvenate their business model will struggle to survive and thrive in the future”
When you combine the innovative, clever thinking from these guru’s with the avalanche of other new management thinking which has become much more readily available over the past 10 years thanks to the power of the internet the big question is this:
“What is a Business Leader of the future supposed to do next?”
Adopting all of it would have any Business Leader twisted into knots attempting to be the world’s best motivator, creative thinker, leader, strategist, team player, coach or lean specialist whilst driving the most innovative business model for their industry?
Whilst it is inspiring to hear stories of Steve Jobs from Apple or how Google drive their operations how does the leader of a successful medium sized business decide what latest thinking to take on board? How do they decide what is right for their business? How do they make it stick?
To assist Business Leaders determine what first steps to take for future success we have compiled the 10 key traits of a future business leader (see below).
To start the process first analyse WHERE you want to be as a business in 5 years time. This will provide a peg in the ground for the amount of evolution required for you as a Business Leader. Use this to help in the gap analysis exercise (below):
Top 10 traits of a Future Business Leader
Rate on a scale of -5 to +5 with -5 being ‘Very Low’ and +5 being ‘Very High’ how much you agree with each statement below? First complete it for where you are NOW and then WHERE you want to be:
Question Now Where Gap
- I act as a ‘coach’ rather than a ‘manager’?
- The business can function effectively without me?
- I have a simple, clear approach to developing strategies?
- I have a high level of ‘self awareness’ or Emotional Intelligence?
- I have strong financial management skills?
- I am a good communicator?
- I am a good listener?
- I have a strong network of peers to use as a strategic sounding board?
- I am a good implementer, things get done when I’m involved?
- I have strong life-balance?
Once you have completed the gap analysis identify your top three largest gaps. These should now become your three strategies to work on to become a more effective ‘Business Leader of the Future’. Implementing these strategies effectively with robust actions is your next challenge.
Whilst it is inspiring to read these latest management books and new management thinking it is critical to remember that it is a journey and there are clear steps that need to be achieved first before you can reach your end goals. Attempting to race straight to the perceived finish line will have a negative impact on both yourself, your team and your business.
Will you have what it takes to succeed?
James Mason, Managing Director, Mindshop
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Hi James. Thank you for joining us on the Small Business Owner blog!
And thank you for sharing your insights. It’s certainly got me thinking!
Great to see you, James. Thanks so much for your post.
I’ve been tracking Mindshop ever since Mike Boyle from Banjar Group told me about you.
I’m delighted to have you as a guest and I’ll be fascinated to hear what people think of your innovative ideas. Best regards, P.
Thanks Naomi and Paul, looking forward to answering any questions as they come in. Appreciate the opportunity to be part of this forum
best regards
James
I’m particularly interested to hear what our resident CEO, Malcolm Owens, thinks of all this.
James, great post and welcome to the crew! I love reading management books but must admit as a small business operator it’s very overwhelming sometimes, not only due to the number of areas we have responsibility for but also the number of theories about the best way to do things. Love your fresh perspective. -Sonia
Hi Sonia, thanks for your feedback. Yes it can be quite overwhelming for most busines people as there is always a new ‘10 steps to business success’ or ‘5 keys to sales growth’ article / book that gets released by a guru every few days. Most articles tend to infer that every business owner wants to create a multi-million dollar turn-over business with hundreds of employees which from our experience is not the case all the time. As per my posting whilst these types of articles / books are inspiring and thought-provoking it can lead many business owners chasing the wrong strategies for profit / growth and getting disappointed when their wild targets are not achieved. Like most things in life the fundamentals of doing business have not changed very much over the past 100 years however the tools for doing business have changed dramatically. The best way to work out what to do next is to look at where you are NOW, WHERE you want to be in the next say 2-3 years and then ask what 3 things have to change in my business first over the next 3 months to take the first steps towards these goals. These could be as simple as ‘build a new website that clearly communicates our point of difference’ or ‘develop a sales process that we can monitor’. They sound simple but it’s sometimes these simple steps business people overlook as they chase exciting strategies like ’setup a division in the United states’ which ends up distracting them for years before they realize they have missed hundreds of opportunities locally. Whatever your strategies are keep them simple and realistic and you will be well on your way. Good luck! regards James
G’Day James,
Your post was most stimulating. I’ve run a small business for 32 years. I transferred it to the web in 2008. Since the mid-nineties, my target market has been owners and managers in small-medium business.
I think that one of the biggest mistakes we make is to treat small-medium businesses as infant large businesses. We try to emulate what Bill Gates and Microsoft or Steve Jobs and Apple are doing when we should be trying to emulate what they were doing when they had nine staff, a big idea and an overzealous bank manager.
The demands of the small-medium business and on the people who manage them are quite unique.
A crystal clear business focus and an equally well-defined, narrow target market are the essential foundations.
If you’d like to hear more of my “little heresies,” as a client once called them, please let me know.
Thanks again
Make sure you have fun
Regards
Leon
Hi Leon, great reply, couldn’t agree more. A lot of business operators globally have been saying to us recently they want to get back to the times when running their business was ‘fun’ and ‘enjoyable’ and are now in fact de-tuning the highly complex business they have created over many years. The interesting aspect that follows is that typically their profits stay the same or increase as they cut poor performing product lines, get out of regions that were just a distraction and their energy levels for running the business have increased. So growth for growth’s sake (to chase the likes of a bill gates or steve jobs) without a clear strategy of ‘why’ and an efficient business engine is not a good approach to take in any business environment. Interesting times! regards James
welcome James
Great post you Sales Cat
What will the business person who sells look like in 2015?
Mike
Hi Mike,
Good question. The key attributes of a ‘business person who sells’ in 2015 will probably not be too different to what it is expected to be now except im sure the technology aspects will continue to grow in importance. So overall I would say the key attributes will be:
- ability to be a good problem solver
- great listener to REAL issues
- confidence level
- comfort with using new technologies
- simple sales process
- under promise and over deliver everytime!!
regards
James
As Matthew Kelly’s says a Leader should be the “best version of themselves every day”. I recently heard him speak and he also says that a person, leader or business should only measure their greatness in this way. “The greatness of a company should be measured by how and who would suffer if the company did not exist! A company should prosper due to it’s vision.”
I also heard Blake MyCoskie Chief Shoe Giver at TOMS. His company is self sustaining and not dependent on contribution. His company transforms customers into benefactors. Customers feel invested & part of the vision thus willing to see more value than a similar price product.
Leaders must not only strive to be the best version of themselves, but drive the people of the organization to be their best versions of themselves also.
Companies that take a different look at themselves and think about leadership in a different light will give first and the rewards will be greater.
Hi Team,
Sorry missing the Post yesterday, board meeting day. Paul has asked for my input so here it is!
I agree with what James says and the implacability of adjusting your business model to the latest ‘fad’ management approach that hits the shelves or internet. I have lived through a few of these over the last 20 years including World Competitive Manufacturing (WCM), Edward de Bono’s six hats, Business Process Reengineering and of course the latest from Jim Collins asking us to define our Hedgehog concept and have a look at who’s on the bus and where they’re sitting.
All valuable and insightful but unlike cults, blind adherence to the principals can be a major mistake. I have seen more than a few businesses adopt the Collins model without clear reference to their business or market position, competition or customer profile. Similarly applying Porter’s 5 forces model or adopting the Jack Welch GE model are clearly not appropriate for all businesses.
You may have heard of ‘learning organisations’ and this certainly applies to leadership. Read, learn, speak to business owners and leaders and take what works for you and your business. Remember the only constant in any business is change and if you fail to move and adapt then you will be in trouble.
I believe you need a clear and sustainable strategic plan focusing on 3 to 5 years with a clear action plan for the current period with a strategy for growth based on the values of the business and not for growth’s sake. Understand what your customer wants, not what you think they want. If in doubt ask them!
Keep a focus on costs, particularly in tough times, value your employees as an asset and actively develop them and keep an eye on the social mood so your actions are in keeping with what the market wants. Do that and you will be so far in front it will be scary…….
… and THAT’S why I wanted to hear from Malcolm!
Thank you, M. Your comment reeks with so much authority, I had to open a window!
Great posting Malcolm with some very well made points! Getting back to the basics of doing business is critical in an environment where people are either looking for ‘magic bullet’ solutions or have ‘over-complicated’ the way they do busines. regards James
Hi Ava, some good points you raise regarding leadership. Leadership is certainly a hard trait to train into your people. I find it is more something that has to be observed first hand to gather true benefits. regards James
Working in a small business, I think the hardest thing I have noticed for management is really being able to prioritise what they really want to do for the year. I have tended to see businesses jump for this to that depending on who they spoke to over the weekend.
Hi, agree that focus is a big issue for most people in the busy, technology heavy business environment we now operate in. regards James