AN INSURGENT MENTALITY IS NEEDED TO DRIVE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
Rajeev Kakar
Corporate Board Member; Global Founder Fullerton Financial; Founder Dunia Finance; Former-CEO-Citi Turkey, Middle East Africa
In my experience, the solution lies ‘internal’ to firms and not ‘external’.
Often CEOs/Business leaders do not trust their front-line staff assumIng them to be incapable, and then attempt to build a FAILURE-FREE organization to guarantee success by naively centralizing decision-taking and make processes robotic. This is a huge mistake!
Businesses fail when employees, who are critical for driving success, are not allowed to take chances, think out of the box, and use their creativity to go the extra mile! Businesses fail when employees, who are the most important resources of any enterprise, are not encouraged to own its mission/vision as the communication channels are deliberately kept confused/opaque and centralized with only a few.....this leads to disenfranchisement amongst staff and creates organizational bureaucracy that discourages initiative and fosters a culture of order-taking and zero accountability. This is when the decline starts to get evident!
Instead, a ‘SAFE TO FAIL’ culture is needed where all levels are empowered to take initiative within acceptable boundaries to serve against the mission/vision set. Teams operating with such ‘diversity in thought and actions’, instead of a ‘Top-down one size fits all’ mandate, are better geared for success. Such teams trust each other, challenge each other, communicate freely, and work together and creatively to find the best solutions.....with an owner’s mind-set to collectively create the best outcomes for customers, employees, partners and the core business! Such a culture of allowing team-members to feel it is ‘safe to fail’, so that they they feel empowered to act resourcefully’ is the core ingredient for SUCCESS!
For objectives to be internalized and achieved, while smart talent must be hired, employees must feel encouraged to use their creativity on how to serve customer needs with simplicity.
In short, at any size and stage of a business, nurturing a “FOUNDER’s MENTALITY” powers and drives PREDICTABLE and SUSTAINABLE GROWTH through the creation of an INSURGENT ORGANIZATIONAL MINDSET that relentlessly focuses on using creativity and innovation to disrupt the status quo, while serving its customers and other key stakeholders!
Building community product
4 年Thank you for sharing this Rajeev Kakar sir. Solution always lies in the problem. We don't take chances because we do have the fear of failure. The innovation and intellect are sometimes wrapped with the same fear.
Managing Partner at EMA Partners Board Practice | Executive Search | Leadership Advisory
4 年Thank you for sharing this Rajeev Kakar I have always learnt so much and enjoyed this discussion with you on the Founder’s mindset..great to see you bring it up!
Enterprise Architect | Business Architect | Fintech | Customer Experience & CRM
4 年Couldn't agree more that solutions lie within the firm rather than outside. One of the biggest fear of innovation is a failure cost which refrains the organization to pursue. The easiest way to foster innovation within the organization is to adopt Design Sprints. This will help to design low-cost prototype which can be tested on real customer and go on the loop on the agile format by employees.
Social Impact | Youth Empowerment | Retail Banking | Cross Border Payments | Cards | Business Development | Mentor | Fintech Advisor
4 年Awesome title and could not agree more with the thought process.
Technology Officer
4 年Thank you so much dear Rajeev. Totally agreed that there should a great trust between the top senior management of the business and there employees and should be formed in a team work and surely the result will be very successful and No chance of failure..