3 Kinds Of Senior Leaders By Future Readiness

As part of the work that my partner Papiya Banerjee and I do, we so often participate in conversations around future-readiness with senior leaders.

For several we become 'future-readiness' coaches or learning partners.

It is a job that we absolutely love, love, love.

Over time, here is what we are finding:

#1. The Vanguards:

A Handful of Senior Leaders Are Far Ahead of The Curve

In every organisation we work with, there are at least a handful of senior leaders who are far ahead of the curve. 'Future-awareness', is not evenly distributed.

There are usually a handful of leaders (often those who invite us in) who are quite 'plugged into' the many ways in which the world is changing. Sometimes they have joined the organisation fresh from another more 'future-ready' one.

At other times, they are in the C Suite precisely because they have had the kind of vision and awareness necessary for steering their organisation.

They are often frustrated by the very real problem--that they recognise their own peers and teams are not equally plugged into the many ways in which the world is changing. (And that is where we come in).

#2. The Deniers:

A Few Senior Leaders Dismiss Change (Perhaps It Is Too Daunting To Acknowledge It)

This is now a fast vanishing tribe. But it still exists.

When I started speaking about "future-readiness" (about 5-6 years ago), this was quite common.

There are often one or two senior leaders who wonder whether it was in fact necessary to respond to 'all the hype'. After all, they had seen many technologies and work practices receive lots of attention, only to vanish again--just a couple of years later.

Think 'work from home', 'virtual reality', 'metaverse'. And many others.

Our own guess (we may be wrong), is that this a defence mechanism given that acknowledging so much change would in fact be quite daunting emotionally for them.

#3. The Enthusiasts

The Vast Majority Who Recognise Change (Don't Know What To Do)

This is really the very vast majority (60-80% perhaps).

These are largely positive leaders who are beginning to realise that without growth--this is the end.

Now, this kicks in a survival mechanism that makes them want to be (and sound) plugged into the large changes impacting our world. Yet they need help.

Unlike the vanguards who have often been plugged into change us it has unfolded over the last several years, the enthusiasts have come to the party late.

They are curious. They are positive. But they need help making sense of how and what these changes mean for their own personal roles.

So many are here because all their lives they have been rewarded for working hard, learning well--but only under someone's guidance.

This time round, they need someone (hopefully us) to help them a bit by pointing them in the right direction. By helping them see what these changes mean for them in their roles. By helping them learn and become more future-ready.

Making sense of a very fast changing world is tough--even for the best of us.

This is my full-time job.

And it still takes effort.

We Understand Each Of These

Let's face it. We ourselves are here at different times of the week.

Unqbe is our business.

We care about it--actually a great deal.

We spend a lot of our time responding to our clients.

Building proposals, doing projects, making presentations etc. This is really most of our time. Just like most of our clients we have a job with operational responsibilities that need our attention 'most of the time'.

Yet like any other business that is not all.

We need good RnD. We are in the knowledge business. That means doing research, reading research, writing about research. Now I love this part... and find I thrive in this world. When this goes well. We feel like the vanguards (read our AI and culture research for instance). Breaking new ground. Being on top of one topic.

Like any good business we need good marketing and we need good biz dev.

And none of us is a natural at this. We feel exactly like enthusiasts here.

Can someone just teach us how to do this.

Should we be better at LinkedIn? Should we learn email marketing? How do we create a sales funnel?

What are all the things we don't even know about that are enabling others to build stronger businesses? Wouldn't it be lovely if someone who knows how to build a strong B2B marketing and sales system for 2024 would just tell us what to do/ what to learn.

We know this place.

Now admittedly, we are not often in the 'denier' camp.

But, there are moments.

What if we just focused on doing the things that we are good at. Becoming good at our projects. Good at writing reports. Good at making presentations.

Do we really need to learn 'digital marketing'? or 'sales funnels'?

Perhaps that is all hype more relevant for B2C companies?

Maybe we are all better off if we just do what we are good at already.

Then a moment later, sanity prevails.

We cannot be telling others that the learning curve to be successful today is steep. And then hesitating jumping straight in ourselves...

In the end, we are as fallible as our clients. Thank god!

It allows us to have an understanding heart and zero chips on our shoulder :)

Unqbe, and my partner Papiya Banerjee , work with leadership teams to identify competencies that are specifically oriented to a fast changing world.

DM us if you would like to find out more.

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(About me: I lead Unqbe, a think-tank and advisory firm around building future organisations, and building future careers. We track change through commissioned and primary research. We help leadership teams build the new workplace through a culture that supports change and people practices for the future.)