McKinsey Quarterly recently talked to Tom Peters about how best to lead the 21st-century organisation.
The long-time management guru had several very interesting things to say:
On Automation:
- “I really do believe that the only defence against automation is the development of talent. What other choice is there if we’re going to deal with the forces that we’re talking about? You don’t have any choice except to develop people.”
On Culture:
- “Corporate culture is not part of the game: it is the game. You’ve got to do the corporate culture first.”
On Developing People:
- “If you’re a leader, your whole reason for living is to help human beings develop — to really develop people and make work a place that’s energetic and exciting and a growth opportunity, whether you’re running a Housekeeping Department or Google.”
- “If you take a leadership job, you’re in the people-development business. You do people. Period. It’s what you do. It’s what you’re paid to do. People, period. Should you have a great strategy? Yes, you should. How do you get a great strategy? By finding the world’s greatest strategist, not by being the world’s greatest strategist. You do people.”
- “Any idiot with a high IQ can invent a great strategy. What’s really hard is fighting against the unwashed masses and pulling it off… Change is about recruiting allies and working each other up to have the nerve to try the next experiment. You find allies. You encircle the buggers. You don’t bring about change in real big meetings or virtual meetings. You bring it about one person at a time, face to face.”
On 21st-Century Leadership:
- “21st-century-AD leadership is probably just about the same as 21st-century-BC leadership. And, fundamentally, it is about organising the affairs of our fellow human beings to provide some sort of a service to other people.”
The Churning, Inner Leadership provides a structured framework and a set of tools for developing people, starting with you, because:
How can you lead others if you can’t lead yourself?
Only when you know what most inspires you, and how to find multiple ways to bring that alive in the world, can choose the best of them, and inspire yourself to long to make that happen — only then can you hope to inspire others to long to do the same.
Inner Leadership is a framework and a set of tools for developing people who are able not only to survive the changes of the 21st century but who can use those changes to become stronger and more inspired, antifragile, starting with you.
That’s our definition of 21st century leadership.
Are you leading yourself, and the people around you, to become able to use change to become stronger and more inspired, antifragile?
The Churning, Inner Leadership is a book containing a framework and a set of tools for building inspiration in times of change.
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(And remember: you can’t learn to swim just by reading about swimming, you also need to do the practice.)
Image: tompeters.com