The Attackers Advantage

Ram Charan

Taking control of uncertainty is the fundamental leadership challenge of our time.

Structural uncertainty is global and atomistic.

Every uncertainty is magnified by quantum increases in the speed of change, largely brought about by communications and computing technologies.

Steering a business through uncertainty needs a distinctly different type of leadership.

The following skills are needed in leadership now :1. Perceptual acuity2.A mind set to see opportunity in uncertainty3.The ability to see a new path forward and commit to it.4. Adeptness in managing the course to the new path5.Skill in making the organization steerable and agile.

Few industries are exempt from the threat of structural uncertainty.

A structural uncertainty doesn’t arrive overnight, there are adequate signals ahead of time.

Nokia was a fantastic brand, highly profitable with huge share and strong geographic presence. Nokia was challenged by a new consumer experience based on a new platform from Apple and Android.

I consulted with the Nokia board and signaled this to them in 20111. They didn’t take this structural shift in their planning.

Many companies will need to change the way they are organized, managed and led.

Perceptual acuity is your human radar to see through the fog of uncertainty so that you can act before others do.

Catalysts are doers who take risks partly on facts and partly on their imagination.

Blackrock CEO Larry Fink spends twenty minutes everyday viewing the news on his I pad and looks to detect any oddity in the news that will impact his business.

Change doesn’t wait for a company’s annual planning cycle, it is good for people to keep preparing.

Two things that will greatly improve your ability to find a path through uncertainty : a sharp focus on end to end value chain and a working knowledge of digitization and analytics.

As a mid level manager or a senior manager, travel as much into the market as possible, visit customers and the field regularly. This will help you fine tune the system to keep reacting to change. It will also help you fix the pain points.

In a digital world, be brave to make the shift, vacillating doesn’t help.

Never confuse patience with a frustrating desire for certainty.

Many managers are well meaning but5 become blockers due to their behavior. They have trouble adapting to a new perspective.

Managers who have been in an industry or a company a long time have problems readjusting to new change :1. Attachment to old core competencies2.Inability to build a new core competency3.Fear4.Avoiding opposition

According to Dean Stamoulis of Russell Reynolds, a large head hunter, the biggest derailer at senior levels is ‘ blaming and rationalizing'. The best leaders do not whine, which shows a level of accountability and confidence in themselves to figure things out.That’s what’s needed in ambiguous situations

Do you have the guts to make moves. Intellectualizing is one thing, anyone can do it, Pulling the trigger is a different thing. You have top harden your inner core to see the world as objectively as possible, think things through carefully and act on what you see.

You can never completely eliminate uncertainty. You have to keep judging each one carefully.

An organization is steerable and agile when you link its speed and character to the external environment.That means breaking silos and bureaucracy and getting to the point quickly.

When Mullaly took over as CEO at Ford, he made team working a priority and the basic expected behaviors in the system.

Meetings should be used not to share information but to drive accountability and action steps to achieve goals.

Mullaly reinforced the importance of team work through his demand for mutual respect and collaborative problem solving in meetings. He asked everyone to be a team player.

A key for turning around a company is to get a group comfortable with information sharing and joint decision making. If people have the same information, there is less chance of them derailing a decision.

Many times , in large companies, one individual stalls progress because of his ego. The leader needs to take this person out.If a few simple habits change, every individual will be far better.

A good team player with social skills is one who will get seek external information, who will play coach and umpire in a meeting, who will work through the node to make a decision in a team without the need for 100 % consensus. Someone like this has to have candor, candor is brave and is contagious in companies when the leader is candid.