Business Consulting
Innovating Leadership
vInnovation has become, above all, the leverage for companies to survive, grow with good business results, and increase their value. On the other hand, research shows that many top managers are not satisfied with their own ability to drive innovation. An important reason for this is that what is taught to managers, starting from schools, and what is put in front of them as expectation is based on preserving the present and advancing it marginally. In fact, this is where the word manager comes from. A manager is there to “manage” the situation. That is the art of moving the ship in good balance, without hitting the rocks. In addition to this, as a reflection of human nature and the motivation of society, when leaders bring their own career goals to the forefront a myopic leadership profile emerges.
GOOD MANAGEMENT KILLS COMPANIES
William Deresiewics of Yale University says: "For a long time, we have been training leaders who only know how to follow the routine, who can answer questions but don't know how to ask, who can achieve goals but have no vision to set goals, who focus on doing things but don't see if they are worth doing." The situation may not be that dire, but it is a fact that bureaucracies push the managers not to take too much risk in the system, to please their superiors, and to move forward by maneuvering in bureaucracy. Interestingly, many important and large companies that did their best in managing the current are absent today or are far from their former glory. That is why the innovation guru Clayton Christensen said, "It was not bad management that killed the companies, but good management." Of course good management as it is known.
The way in which "business as usual" is carried out calls for management as we know it, which in turn brings the urge to protect the present. The problem is that trying to do things within the current system is no longer enough. Today, industries such as retail, travel, insurance, healthcare, real estate, education, telecom, consumer banking are fully open to disruptive innovation. Thinking “nothing will happen” is an extreme optimism. Primarily in these sectors, whoever from outside or within the sector comes up with radical innovations that change the rules of the game will gain a serious advantage. This can be a significant cost advantage, or another advantage that makes competition meaningless.
THE NEED TO SHAKE THE STATUS QUO
It is possible to make the move from the way things are done and arrive at the capacity to survive today and create the future by moving to a true leadership model. True leadership is about transforming the system. In order for leaders to transform the system, first of all, the leadership understanding should change from maintaining the present only and making incremental improvements to questioning the way things are done. Because shaking the status quo is a need today to awaken the company and protect it from dangers around the corner. Obviously, there is a need for innovation in leadership as well.