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ARE YOU READY TO SHIFT AS A LEADER?
Before I talk about the practices involved in leadershifting, I want to lay the groundwork by describing the mind-set needed to leadershift. How open are you to change? Are you willing to start asking more questions instead of giving more answers? Are you willing to become a better listener, a better observer?
Are you willing to rely more on your intuition and your creativity? Leadershifting will require you to rely on values, principles, and strategy, but it will also push you to rely on innovation, to seek out options, to harness creativity. You’ll also need to let go of some things and be dedicated to getting better.
Leadershifting is not easy, especially when you first start doing it. Often you leave behind something that has worked to pursue something untested. You’ll have to deal with the tension between the stability that gives security and the adaptability that opens up opportunity. That will empower you to get better, to become someone new before you can grow into something new. The desire to improve will drive you to keep learning. But here’s the good news: learning to leadershift will make you a better leader!
YOU’LL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE TENSION BETWEEN THE STABILITY THAT GIVES SECURITY AND THE ADAPTABILITY THAT OPENS UP OPPORTUNITY.
HOW TO LEADERSHIFT
If you answered yes to the previoius questions—or you’re willing to move in the direction where you’ll be able to answer yes—then you’re ready to take steps forward and start leadershifting. As we move forward in this book, I’ll take you through eleven major leadershifts I’ve made in my leadership journey. But before we do that, I want to teach you seven things you must do to leadershift successfully. Embrace these practices daily, and you will be ready to face every leadershift situation with flexibility and confidence.
1. CONTINUALLY LEARN, UNLEARN, AND RELEARN
I’ve already discussed the pace at which our world is changing. I recently read an article published by the World Economic Forum that brought light to this.
To quote Harvard Business Review’s “Mind the (Skills) Gap”: “The lessons learned in school can become outdated before student loans are paid off.” As it points out, the skills college graduates acquire during a bachelor’s degree that used to provide enough basic training to last a career, today have an expected shelf life of only five years.
In turn, studying the impact of disruptive change on existing skill sets in its recent report “The Future of Jobs,” the World Economic Forum discovered that: “On average, by 2020, more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most occupations will be comprised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today.” Or, as lynda.com author Mark Niemann-Ross states bluntly: “In four years, you’ll have to relearn 30% of your job.”9
How are leaders to thrive in this environment? We must learn, unlearn, and relearn. This process is essential for leadershifting. We have to embrace change every day. We must be willing to let go of what worked yesterday and learn new ways of seeing, doing, and leading. We cannot afford to be in love with any one technology or methodology. We keep learning and changing, or our leadership dies.
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How open are you to change? Are you willing to start asking more questions instead of giving more answers? Are you willing to become a better listener, a better observer?
Are you willing to rely more on your intuition and your creativity? Leadershifting will require you to rely on values, principles, and strategy, but it will also push you to rely on innovation, to seek out options, to harness creativity. You’ll also need to let go of some things and be dedicated to getting better.
