The Key to Succeeding in The New Business Landscape of The?Future (Part 1 of 2)

More than ever, two (or more) heads really are better than?one.?

“To be an agent of necessary change in an organization isn’t easy, even if you’re the CEO. It requires stubbornness, social capital, hard thinking, and hard work.” — Michael?Hyatt

The business environment of every industry is changing and only the reasonably unreasonable executives, managers, and business leaders will be able to survive in the end.

Believe it or not, the business landscape of every organization and industry is changing, and this is one particular change that cannot be stopped or brought to a halt. Trying to fight it would be like trying to drive a car without any fuel or gas.?

In my experience, there is often a huge disconnect between HQ executives and front-line managers within large organizations. Each has very insightful, intuitive, and interesting ideas on how to approach the particular problems that each of its departments is facing, but what I’ve found is each department’s ideas do not necessarily mesh well when it comes to achieving organizational-wide objectives at maximum capacity.

In fact, only a few have the guts to demand the internal-organizational cooperation necessary to collectively merge each contributor's ideas together to come up with a basket of collective ideas (a mastermind of ideas, if you will) to be able to, not only survive but truly thrive through the business changing landscape that is underway.?

That means the majority of these executives and front-line management teams tend to lean more towards that discretion and, instead, keep their bright ideas to themselves. These are the kind of executive teams that are described as a Benign Saboteur Team in the book, "The Loyalist Team" (AFF). It’s this majority that is more than likely going to be left out to tread water without the hope of a lifesaver or rescue boat.?

How to Be Reasonably Unreasonable?

To be able to overcome the unique challenges that are beginning to present themselves in every business environment and move forward at a faster rate, what we need is a type of checklist that will aid us through these changing business operating climates. No longer will acts of reasonableness prevail. But you can still be unreasonable in a reasonable way.?

Of course, there can never be an exact formula that works universally throughout every organization and industry because the specific circumstances facing each person, organization, and industry are different. Such variables as organizational culture and structure, leadership style, as well as management model come into play.?

Nonetheless, it’s still valuable to have a set of operating principles that act as a buffer of sorts that you can look back to from time to time in order to assess and reassess when internal evaluations are necessary.?

Think Differently?

The first place to start when deciding to become a reasonably unreasonable leader within your industry is that of taking on an opposing view that differs from the established orthodoxy within your organization or industry.?

Bear in mind, however, that these types of opposing views rarely arrive fully formed. In fact, in most cases, they can take weeks or even months to fully take shape. This shaping or forming process often takes place through conversation and/or through low-risk experimentation.?

However, it is important to bear in mind that those conversations must be separate from that your everyday interactions. In other words, the conversations and low-risk experimentation that I’m referring to are going to require some minimal effort on your part to step outside of your comfort zone.?

In fact, let me ask you this: What are the most common complaints that you hear among colleagues at your workplace? More often than not, everyone complains about the same things, but very few, if any, provide solutions to improve such areas of discomfort. They would rather continue adding to the discomfort bucket with thoughts and feelings of a similar nature, but just like what Albert Einstein said above, you cannot solve problems using the same thinking you used to create them.?

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With that said, the first step to being reasonably unreasonable is to go on the hunt for solutions rather than continuing to add to the bucket of group think that created the problem in the first place. Therefore, if you ever feel frustrated that you don’t have any productive problem-solving ideas to pursue, I’d suggest you get out more, or at least read more widely.?

In other words, sign up to go, to at least, three conferences a year and make sure one is extremely different from the other. For instance, let’s say you work in marketing, I would suggest signing up for some kind of science experimentation convention, or taking a course in computer programming.?

Or, let’s say you work in Engineering or IT. Consider signing up for a photography course, or attending some personal development conference. The key here is to step outside of your comfort zone and experience something new. Not to mention, interact with people that you normally wouldn’t interact with.?

If you can’t afford to go to three conferences a year -- or even one conference a year -- I would suggest making the decision to read more widely than what you are used to. In other words, if all you read are business books, try adventuring out, and reading up on a subject that is outside of your expertise or interest. In fact, if all you read is non-fiction books, how about taking a huge step outside of your comfort zone and reading some fiction for a change??

“People who think different spend more time trying to do so. Success requires inspiration and perspiration.” — Julian Birkinshaw and Jonas Ridderstrale, Fast/Forward

In addition, you could also look for reading groups to join. Consider joining a reading group that is outside your particular demographic such as age, ethnicity, gender, or educational background. The key here is to get around as many people that are completely different from you, with different views, and different thought processes.?

The whole point of this advice is to help you begin to develop the art of thinking differently because, believe me, once you begin to see the same thing (the same problem) from a different point of view, or with a different thought process, you’ll be amazed at how fast solutions begin to pop into your head rather than the same ole nagging frustrations that created the problems in the first place.?

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To that end, what you have to understand is that every industry is like that of a box. What I’m suggesting is that you think outside of that box. With that said, let me make this perfectly clear, I’m not suggesting you become argumentative and debate every subject that is brought up just for argument's sake. That’s just simply being unreasonable.?

Instead, when someone shares a thought, or an opinion, or a belief about something, what I’m suggesting is that you keep your opinions and feelings to yourself (at least, for the time being) and just see, within yourself, whether or not there is a different way of thinking on that particular subject.?

Experiment Early

The second step to becoming a reasonably unreasonable leader within your organization and/or industry is to learn to experiment early and not wait for the so-called “right time.” This is because there is no such thing in this new business landscape. In short, the longer you wait to make a move towards your new innovations and organizational initiatives, the faster you and your organization will be left behind.?

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What the organizations of the future are doing in the present are cultivating a “market” of sorts internally (a beta team, if you will), experimenting with new product ideas, and testing new internal operating procedures as a way to initiate new industry and market strategies through baby steps and small scale actions.

They do this by experimenting early and gaining feedback from their beta teams (internal mini-market), which then helps them to focus their information-gathering activities before rolling out their new ideas into the main market that may or may not be ready for them.?

This kind of practice works in harmony with that of thinking differently. In other words, it’s one thing to think differently, or outside the box of your particular industry, but thinking without action is a waste of time.?

“It doesn’t matter how perfect the conditions favoring innovation are, you still need someone to take the initiative, to grab the opportunity when it becomes possible.” — Julian Birkinshaw and Jonas Ridderstrale, Fast/Forward

This is where you take the “different thinking” thoughts and ideas that you gathered in the first step and then begin to apply them. Or put them to practice internally without taking the risk of making external mistakes within the “real” market. Think of this as practice before the big game.?

In other words, consider Neo from the movie The Matrix. Neo had to go through several program simulations (virtual experimentation) before he was ready to actually go back into the Matrix fully prepared and aware of what was around him.?

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Another example is that of military personnel. Marines and Soldiers train and train, and then train and train some more by going through mock-type scenarios of what they are more than likely going to go through when they deploy. They experiment with new combat strategies and maneuvering abilities to prepare them for what they are more than likely going to encounter.?

To that end, this week, I challenge you to consider acting on the following action steps and next week I'll be back with part two of this short series.

Action Steps and Take Aways:

To begin securing the lead position in your industry, here’s what you need to do.

1) Start thinking differently. Consider what Albert Einstein said, "We cannot solve problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." This doesn't mean being argumentative for argumentative sake, it means learning to re-approach things with a fresh set of eyes. Consider bringing in an outside source to have a look at what you and your organization are struggling with, and be open to their foreign views, opinions, and outlook.

You've heard people say, "Wow, I've never looked at it that way, or thought of it like that before." Moreover, you know how enlightening that thought experience can be. Well, start using this in your organization and watch how fast you begin to move past your competitors and take the lead in your industry.

2) Experiment early. The moment you get a new idea for a product, or for a marketing campaign, or a new operating procedure, don't wait for the so-called "right time." There is no such thing in this new business landscape. Start going to work on bringing that new idea into reality immediately. In fact, going back to Albert Einstein was known for constantly going on thought trips that he referred to as "Thought Experiments." It was through these thought experiments that he was able to develop his most extraordinary ideas, which, we still admire and work around today.

In short, when you begin to think differently and end up seeing something new --- whether that be a new product idea, marketing campaign, or operating procedure -- that you think could take your organization to the next level, I suggest going to work on developing that idea immediately.

Consider this: Before any technological advancement was presented, they first started off as a fantasy that eventually became a theory, and ultimately a reality. It is through experimentation that you take that "fantasy" of an idea, that you received when you began to think differently and turn it into a theory.

Now Over to?You…

Once you have done the work of developing your new idea (whatever it may be), the next thing you must do is go to work on creating and nurturing your safety net, which is the next point we will cover in part two of this short series.

If you have found value in this article, please do me a solid and give it a comment, a share, and/or follow me.

To learn more about business, entrepreneurship, and marketing in this new business landscape, connect with me on?LinkedIn.

Until next time,

Be Great, Nothing Else Pays!