It’s not news that leadership has undergone a seismic shift over the last two years. Strategies and tactics that worked just fine before 2020 are now falling short. Over forty million have left the workforce as employee engagement continues to plummet. Strategic planning is challenged as supply chains strain and inflation injects fiscal uncertainty. The pandemic isn’t the only thing to blame, though it exposed the cracks sooner than they would have appeared otherwise. The volatile latter stages of the “fourth turning” (as espoused by brilliant historians William Straus and Neil Howe) is in full bloom, magnified by technological, geo-political and economic changes. Change has outpaced leaders’ preparedness.
In the information age, a “good” leader was measured by performance and ability to motivate a team with a big vision, mission and an effective strategy. This worked because time frames allowed effective leaders to generate the capital to organize, collect and leverage information to succeed in their industry, or to create a new industry.
Leaders responding to this radical paradigm shift need new tools to unlock next-level mental skills. Information age meditation apps and hack tools help relieve stress and improve focus, but are ineffective at unlocking the “whole person” mindset required to lead growth teams and exponential organizations. Corporate investment into biometrics, wearables, biohacking, and meditation apps are one-dimensional solutions akin to just using pain medicine to deal with cancer. Continuing to pursue leadership development with current tools will ensure our own disruption.
Information age leadership development yields linear, incremental thinking and perpetuates individualistic character traits. While popular training such as transformational and servant leadership focus on a leader’s impact through serving and transforming their teams, those approaches have led to burnout and frustration. #mindset #growth #training #leadership Perpetuating the primacy of the solitary leader through traditional leadership training also brings into question valid critiques that traditionally white, male power structures lead to inequity of access and opportunity. That doesn’t fly with our younger teammates. New training that focuses on inclusiveness, wholeness, and the leader-team relationship is necessary. To accept this new training to effectively operate in this new age, a new mindset is required. This is what I call the Unbeatable Mind .