In a Nutshell: What’s preventing many leaders and organizations from embracing a rapidly changing world of exponentially expanding opportunity? In a word, fear. There’s no growth strategy powerful enough to break through that roadblock unless we first confront the emotions that are influencing our choices, actions, and lack thereof.
Guest: John Hagel, who recently retired as a partner at Deloitte after a 40-year career in Silicon Valley. John also worked with McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Atari, Inc., and founded two Silicon Valley startups. John has written eight books, including his latest, The Journey Beyond Fear.
My Key Takeaways:
- Fear is limiting. Caution might seem prudent, but it can also keep your business from reaching its full potential.
- Redefine what it means to learn. Learning in the form of sharing existing knowledge is too slow. Learning in the form of creating new knowledge through action in the workplace will keep you ahead.
- Zoom out, zoom in. Zoom out 10 – 20 years and identify the big trends and opportunities that you can passionately drive toward, and then zoom in on a 6 – 12 month timeframe and pursue the 2 – 3 key initiatives that would have the greatest impact in accelerating your movement towards that longer-term opportunity that you’ve identified.
Also Learn:
- How to craft an effective corporate narrative that can accelerate your journey beyond fear.
- How to build trust with clients by challenging their preconceptions and prioritizing what they need over what you’re selling.
- Why John believes the next generation of successful firms have to “unbundle” their products and services and focus on building a customer-focused network of providers.
Complementary blog post: Taylor Schulte, the founder of Define Financial, discussed four ways to keep pace with our changing world. Listen/read here.
