Leading strategically & innovatively: The power of unlimited thinking

In the course of human history we have seen so often how much it brings if we do not set limits to our thinking: We fly into space and land on the moon. A lot is possible. But why do we often limit ourselves?

Reaching for the stars

The Ascent great cultures, advances in science and medicine, and the exploration of space—all of this could happen because larger groups of People, united in a common concern, have consciously decided to work together without having a clear goal in mind. When a rocket that was supposed to go into space crashes, we figure out what went wrong and try again...and again...and again. And even if we succeed, we keep going. We don't do this because we have a bonus at the end of the year, but because we feel like we're contributing to something bigger - something valuable that will live on for a long time to come.

While there's a lot to be said for trading with an endless, long-term perspective, it's not that simple. It takes a lot of effort. We humans tend by nature to find quick fixes for troublesome things Problems to look for and, above all, to rely on rapid success in order to bring us closer to our ambitious goals. We share those Welt one in successes and failures, winners and losers. This »factory« setting can definitely serve us well in the short term. As Strategy for running a business or a Organization but it is sometimes disastrous in the long run.

The standard setting does not help

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What this default leads to is all too familiar to us: we lay off en masse every year Employees, to conform to arbitrary projections, we work under murderous conditions, groveling to shareholders while neglecting the needs of employees and customers, engage in dishonest and unethical business practices, reward high-performing but socially incompatible team members, and ignore the harm they do to the rest Team add and reward Executiveswho obviously take themselves far more seriously than their people. It all undermines loyalty and Commitment and increases the insecurity and the Anxietythat too many of us feel today. This impersonal, businesslike entrepreneurial approach has evidently been around since the industrial age Revolution on the rise - and even more so in our digital age.

In fact, our entire conception of Shop and capitalism to have fallen under the spell of a short-term, finite-oriented way of thinking. While many of us complain about this state of affairs, unfortunately it seems the market is more interested in the Status quo to maintain than for change. Statements such as »People are more important than profit« are often contradicted. Among those that greatly affect the existing System practice - that is, our current leadership elite - many call us naïve and that we do not understand business "reality". That makes many of us give up. We resign ourselves to the fact that when we get up in the morning we are already dreading the working day, that we are on Workplace uncertain feel and have trouble living a full life.

The work-life balance industry

It has already come to the point that the pursuit of the hard-to-reach Work-Life-Balance has become an industry in its own right. So the question comes to my mind: Isn't there any other viable way? Maybe - just maybe - the "reality" that the cynics are always talking about doesn't have to be like this. Perhaps our current system of dealings is not the "right" one, much less the "best" one, it's just the system we're used to - and one that's preferred and promoted by a minority, not the majority. If that is the case, then we would have the chance to live a different reality. We actually have it in the Hand, to create a world in which the vast majority of us wake up expectant every day, feel good at work and come home satisfied in the evening. The changes I advocate are not light bring about. But they are possible. With good – outstanding – leaders, this vision can become reality.

Outstanding leaders are those who don't think "short-term" but "long-term." You know it's not about the next quarter or the next Choice but about the next generation. Outstanding leaders set up their organizations in such a way that they also successfully are when they themselves are no longer there. If they succeed, the benefit is enormous - for us, for them Economy and also for the shareholders. I did not write this text to convert the advocates of the status quo. Rather, I want to rally around those who are willing to question the status quo and replace it with a new reality - a reality that meets our ingrained human need to be safe, to contribute to something greater, and for us and ours raising families, rather on account carries. A reality that our interests as human beings, as Companys, better justice as a society and as a species.

The question is what do we believe in?

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If we believe in a world where we are inspired every day, for sure and feel fulfilled, if we believe it's the leaders who can make that vision come true, then it's our common vision mandatory, to find, develop and support leaders who pursue a leadership ideal that is better suited to breathe life into that vision. A prerequisite for this: We must learn what it means to take on a leadership role in an infinite game.

Let's think about how organizations are created and how decisions are made. Background do we actually understand why some organizations are successful and others are not, or are we just assuming? It doesn't matter how you define success -- a stock at a certain price merchandise, make a certain amount of money, meet an income or profit goal, get a promotion, get your own Company found, feed the poor, be elected to public office—the Methods to achieve the Set are the same in most cases. Some of us improvise simple, but most people at least try to collect enough data to make a well-founded decision hold true. Sometimes this data collection is regulated - for example in opinion polls or in market research. And sometimes it's informal: we ask friends or colleagues for advice, or use our own experiences to get an overview. Regardless of the process and goals, we all want to make informed decisions. Above all, we want to make the right decisions.

What to do with wrong decisions

But as we all know, regardless of the data collected, far from all decisions are correct. Sometimes wrong decisions don't have serious consequences, but sometimes they can be disastrous. Regardless of the consequences, we make decisions based on a perception of the world that may not be entirely correct. At the beginning of the chapter, many were sure that I was describing John F. Kennedy. We were sure we were right. We might even have put money on it - based on a guess. We were completely sure until the little detail of the date was added. Not only bad decisions are based on wrong assumptions. Even when things are going well, we often think we know why. But do we really know? Just because the result was the desired one doesn't mean it's repeatable. I have a friend who is part of his money invested. If things go well, it's his Opinions after at his Intelligence and choosing the right one shares. But when he loses money, he always blames the markets. I have no problem with either explanation, but either success or failure depends on his own foresight or blindness, or it depends on good or bad luck. But it can't be both.

So how can we ensure that all of our decisions will bring about the best possible results, which, moreover, we completely hide Control will have? It seems obvious that more Information and more data is the key. And that is exactly what we act on. We read books, we attend conferences, we listen to podcasts, or we ask friends and colleagues—anything to learn more and figure out what to do. The problem is that we've all been in situations where we've had all the data and lots of good advice, and things haven't gone as we'd like. Or the results were only good for a short time. Or something happened that was not foreseeable. A quick note for anyone who actually suspected that Adolf Hitler was meant at the beginning of the section: the details I gave apply to both Hitler and John F. Kennedy, it could have been either. You have to be careful what you think you know. As we can see, assumptions can mislead us even when they are based on diligent research.

The power of intuition

We understand this intuitively. In the event that, even with tons of data and good advice, things don't go as we expected, we assume that the cause is probably because we have a small but essential detail have overlooked. In these cases we check our sources, sometimes we look for new ones to find out what to do, and the whole process starts all over again. However, more data does not always help, especially if the whole process is based on a wrong assumption. There are other factors to consider, factors outside of our rational, analytical, information-hungry brains.

There are cases where we don't have data available, or where we ignore advice or existing information and just go with gut instinct decide. And everything goes well, sometimes even better than expected. This egg dance between instinct and rational decision making describes almost completely how we do business, even how we live our lives. Of course, we can still twist and turn all options in all directions, but if we consider all the good advice and solid facts, we're back where we started: how can we define a course of action that will lead to the desired result and get it makes repeatable. How can we make predictions that are XNUMX% correct?

The fish rots from the head

There is a wonderful story about a group of American auto industry executives who went to Japan to see an assembly line. At the end of the assembly line, the car doors were hung on the hinges, just like in America. But something was missing. In America, a worker would grab a rubber mallet and tap the ends of the door to make sure the door was a perfect fit. Apparently there wasn't one in Japan for that prevention been hit. American car executives were irritated and questioned at what point did the Japanese make sure the doors fitted perfectly. Their Japanese guide smiled sheepishly. 'We'll put at the Planning sure it fits,' he said then. In Japanese car production, the problem was not studied, no data was collected to find the best solution - they made sure from the start that they would get the desired product. If the intended result was not achieved, it had to be due to a decision made at the beginning of the process.

In the end, the doors made in America and Japan both fitted on the cars as they rolled off the assembly line. But the Japanese didn't have to hire someone to pound on doors, and they didn't have to buy a hammer. The Japanese doors likely lasted longer and may also have been more stable in the event of an accident. And for the simple reason that the Japanese made sure from the start that the parts would fit together.

Short-term solutions don't get you anywhere

What American automakers are doing with their rubber mallets is one metaphor for the way many people and organizations do their work. If they are confronted with the fact that the planned result does not come about, so long become the highest efficient, short-term solutions are applied until the desired result is achieved. But how stable are they? Solutions? Many organizations live in a world that focuses on achievable goals and uses hammers to achieve them. But those who achieve more, those who do more with fewer employees and fewer resources, those who exert a disproportionately large influence will build products, found companies and also hire staff that all fit into the originally planned framework. The result may be the same at first glance, but great leaders understand the value of unseen qualities.

Every instruction we give, every process we set, every desired result has the same starting point: a decision. On the one hand, there are those who decide to work the door until it fits, and on the other, there are those who start at an entirely different point. Both approaches can produce similar results in the short term, but long-term success can only be predicted for one of the two methods - this is due to an advantage that we do not see at first glance: The advantage is those who do not follow a habit, but rather a plan going on.

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