Our Greatest Test of Leadership
Outsourcing, Transparency, Speed of Change, Financial Meltdowns? What is our future? Will the foreseeable future be bleak or prosperous? Is the future in our hands or beyond our control?
Hans-Paul Bürkner, president and CEO of The Boston Consulting Group worldwide makes a powerful argument that our greatest test of Leadership is seismic change; in the way we work, how we motivate, and what we expect from our corporate and governing leaders. He believes we are standing on the threshold of unparalleled risk and opportunity.
He argues;
“Unprecedented freedoms in the middle east, quantum shifts in energy prices, fast globalization of competitors, a growing world middle class, and instantaneous communication provide as many new opportunities as they do risks”.
He believes leaders must “resist the temptation to hunker down, and take intelligently aggressive steps to capitalize on the megatrends transforming business”. CEOs must look beyond today’s gloomy economic news and seize the day and take some “bold bets” and “intelligently aggressive” action.
There are new business models made possible by the transparency and speed of communication and new competitors created by new disruptive technologies. ‘Never before have corporate leaders faced such a convergence of major transformative events.
To pass this test, CEOs must take well reasoned, bold and decisive action; entering new markets, acquiring struggling competitors, investing in marketing and new products and services, making the most of digital technology, creating new business models, and building adaptive organizations.’ They must not allow themselves or their organizations to hunker down.
“Companies from China, India, and other emerging markets are rightly charging ahead. So to compete, you need to make more changes more frequently than the previous generation of corporate leaders has. If you don’t take these steps, your company could lose advantage, market position, and even its right to exist.”
Bürkner’s prescription for corporate success reflects the views, research and recommendations of some of the world’s most noted senior business leaders that have reset strategies, and made fundamental and difficult changes. Their insights are featured in Leading Transformation, a major new BCG study on
the challenge of orchestrating organizational change.
or email your thoughts and questions to editor@community.seec.schulich.yorku.ca to continue the conversation!
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