Idealistic Leadership

Have you ever dared to challenge the status quo, only to be met with skepticism, resistance, and the devastating echoes of naysayers? In today’s rapidly changing world, we are often stuck in complexity, paired with bureaucracy and a suppressing culture of paralyzing fear. I personally experienced that during my active leadership roles in the media industry and while working with my AWS enterprise customers nowadays. Surprisingly, across various digitalization, modernization, and cloud transformation projects, a consistent pattern emerges. At the moment you want to turn the game into a better future, you will often receive a lot of pushbacks.

• “This will never change”,
• "We always did it like that”,
• “No, you are not allowed to do that”

And what I really often heard during my career, was “you are so na?ve”. Over the years I realized, I’m not na?ve. I just have a different mindset, the one of an Idealist, that is characterized by a strong belief in the power of ideas and the ability to mobilize.

It cannot be the job of a leader to do what is popular! The job of a leader is to do what is right and make it popular!

There are many valid reasons why people resist change, including fear, comfort, habits, social pressures, losing identity, and skill deficiencies. However, individuals are motivated to embrace change when they envision a brighter future, whether it will be for personal growth or to strive for a bigger purpose. So here is my mental model of an idealistic change flywheel and the important ingredients behind mobilization.

• Stay Optimistic: Change is typically not a sprint. It’s a marathon. Optimism, helps you to believe in a better future, to believe in yourself, that all your efforts can make the difference. This optimism fuels your tank of motivation to equip you with the necessary resiliency, patience and persistence to reach your goals.
• Continuously Learn and Grow: Stay ahead of the curve if you want to change in the right direction. You need to anticipate what emerging technologies, methodologies, macroeconomics, etc. can mean to your business and organization. Those factors can be a threat or disrupt your business, they can also help you to improve your operations or to increase your competitiveness. But most importantly, to better serve your customers.
• Identify Pain and Opportunities: Reflect on the challenges and opportunities within your organization. Try to deeply understand the main benefits and needs that the company will need long-term.
• Craft a Vision and Innovative Solutions: Think big and come up with an inspiring vision, some bold goals and craft some great innovative ideas and solutions. Prioritize the organization's needs over your personal gain.
• Lead with Passion & Purpose: By prioritizing the long-term success of the organization, personal gain will naturally follow. Make decisions that benefit the whole, allowing you to look back with pride and satisfaction knowing you did right things. To build a network of supporter, effectively communicate the 'why' behind your actions. Remember Simon Sinek's words, "People don’t buy what you do, but why you do it." However, if belief is lacking, take action and demonstrate the 'Art of the Possible' through successful Proof of Concepts (PoC) to accelerate progress. Don't forget, your passion is infection for others!
• Collaboration and Empathy: If you want to establish impactful change, you need to collaborate with a critical mass of people who share the common belief. The real impact of your efforts will be realized if you are able to scale. Furthermore, empathy plays a key role in mobilizing and motivating people, especially in challenging circumstances. By nurturing empathy, you can empower individuals to become multipliers, and supporting you in driving change across the entire organization effectively.

Ultimately, empathy enhances your ability to grasp organizational pain points and opportunities, and can be your endless source of inspiration and insights to fuel your idealistic flywheel of change.