Tesla have just got the whole world talking about a solar panelled roof. Yes, a ROOF has just become the latest status item for the trendy intellectual and like with their cars, the masses will follow. But what has a roof got to do with management, and more importantly leadership in our every changing world and how can we get a bit of what Elon’s got?
Firstly, Darwin’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’ might not ring so true in our digital age when it comes to leadership. In simpler times when forecasting, planning and project management was the norm, being a thoroughbred meant fixing the problems of the day and planning for the future in our own good time. Nowadays, the world is calling for real-time leadership, or more brutally is demanding it as our communication networks have become so instant that you can blink and the world has changed before you’ve finished breakfast. The pastime of managers is laying the path to deliver a five-or-so year plan, but in our new world where the objectives are constantly changing, the management of yesterday’s problems simply won’t cut it.
With his future-proof roof, Elon Musk is giving us a master class in leadership for the digital age. What he has showcased is how to create the problems of tomorrow and in doing so is able to write the future. I hear what you’re thinking – climate change and solar panels are nothing new. But, what Tesla have done is make them cheaper and trendier than any alternative making them both a status symbol of the innovative elite and a no-brainer for the cost-conscious builder. So what’s the problem he’s actually created? In a sentence; “damn it, how do I get one of those hipster roofs?!”
Of course he isn’t the first, but when leaders emerge who are capable of creating a problem that causes the world to change, people have no choice but notice and be changed.
So how do we take heed and start creating tomorrow’s problems in our own sectors so that we aren’t left behind? Well, the answer is two-fold.
First, we need to be fast. We need to have our eyes and ears open and be fully in touch with the wave we’re all riding. You can’t create the problems of tomorrow without knowing what’s relevant and what the world is ‘ripe’ for. This means being in-touch. In touch with all the big conversations going on in the world and collaborating like crazy with other leaders and other industries. This is where the fastest movers and shakers will win the day.
Secondly, it means being really bold and not letting your ego get in your way. To be a true leader you have to take risks and not be concerned with looking good all the time. The management mind-set keeps us in safety of knowing we’re doing what’s expected, leadership is willing to fore-go identity and commit to the bigger possibilities on offer. Let’s face it, some of the best business leaders of our time haven’t been everyone’s best mate but they have sure transformed the world.
We’re not saying that there’s no place for management and we should all become business revolutionaries but it’s already clear that a management mind-set won’t serve us for much longer. This isn’t a choice, it’s an inevitability, given the rapid change going on around us that we are powerless to pause. Organisations are already seeking those willing to challenge the status quo and reinvent their thinking as forecasting and planning becomes more unreliable with every passing day. It will be those able to stay in tune and declare the next big change, at speed, who ultimately survive in the long run.
Published 28/05/2024
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