Reinventing Leadership

“The task is not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought about that which everybody sees.” Erwin Schrödinger.

Schrödinger, an Austrian-Irish quantum physicist, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933, is perhaps more widely known today for his contributions to quantum theory and his famous thought experiment involving a box, a flask of poison, and a cat that is simultaneously alive and dead.

While 21st Century business and quantum physics may be as different as chalk and cheese, I found the quote particularly stimulating because I believe it speaks to the real challenge facing many small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world.

That challenge? How do we reclaim a position of strength and sustainability in this pandemic time?

I think the key lies in how well businesses are able to adapt to the present and plan for the future.

The wheel need not be reinvented but some measure of reinvention is necessary for the ones steering it.

“The task is not so much to see what no one has yet seen...”

The world of today seems especially daunting given the pall cast over it by the pandemic and the attendant challenges facing entrepreneurs and small businesses.

The lockdowns and revised health and safety protocols have affected us in ways that we could not have foreseen. What’s worse, our teams are worried. They are worried about their job security, their physical and emotional wellbeing, and their futures.

Against such a pervasive shroud of uncertainty, many sectors and industries seem to be in a state of flux (much like Schrödinger’s cat); unsure about what next will come along to threaten their existence and their way of business. Not surprisingly, amidst such confusion and fear, there seems to be an almost manic drive to “find an answer”.

Much like the world’s scientists racing to find a vaccine for the disease, many business leaders are eagerly racking their brains to find that vaccine, that one cure to the woes plaguing the sector and their companies.

From where I sit, I honestly don’t see any one magic panacea for what ails us. Nor should we be looking for one, honestly. Modern day businesses and their leaders didn’t get to where they are overnight. Nor did they get there by wishing away the challenges they faced along the way.

It took hard work, creative thinking, ingenuity, grit…and yes, even a bit of good old fashioned luck. But the fact remains that the history of business is not, nor has it ever been, one of convenience and ease.

Coupled with such a history of struggle, setback, and triumph, today’s entrepreneurs also don’t have the luxury of waiting out these trying times, hoping against hope that someday soon all will be well again and the good times will roll once more. Entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t become who they are because they embrace an attitude of sitting back and waiting for the storms to pass.

The entrepreneurial spirit, by its very definition, has always been about looking at the way the world is and then doing all that one can to improve it and, by making it better, encouraging others to want to do the same. That spirit and sense of keen analysis not only apply to the world in which leaders operate, they apply to them most of all. It is truly a poor leader who cannot lead him/herself.

And as leaders, holding fast to their tenets and character strengths, their task remains on seeing things not for what they are but what they could be.

Those entrepreneurs who have successfully launched and managed rewarding operations now face a unique set of challenges; challenges that call for even more unique approaches if success is to be achieved and sustained.

The push caused by shrinking bottom lines and slowed-down operations, smaller budgets and reduced appetites to invest, smaller staff complements and their growing fears should be the catalyst for entrepreneurs to push back.

These events should be motivation for leaders to do more than see what no one has yet seen. They need…
“…to think what nobody has yet thought about that which everybody sees.”

Despite these challenges, over the course of several months, it has become clear that what entrepreneurs and small businesses need now more than ever is to tap into that entrepreneurial spirit that will allow them to face down the storm. In other words, the challenges should encourage them to dig deep within and not hide deep within; to look for answers inside and out.

In a nutshell, this calls for a reinvention. I would have discussed this a little in a previous talk calling for entrepreneurs to “Adjust the Sails; Stay the Course”.

In that talk, I stayed away from using the word “transformation” because many of us hear that word and think the worst. We hear it and think of massive and widespread disruptive changes to the comfort levels to which many of us had grown accustomed. But, here, I want to backtrack on not using that word because of its connotations.

What, I ask you, has been more widespread and disruptive to businesses than this pandemic? Transformations can spell a great deal of discomfort but they can also be the herald of better things to come. Though many small businesses believe that they won’t survive beyond three months under present conditions, the key to reversing this trend (and perhaps instilling more confidence) lies in reinvention.

But we can start small. We don’t need to focus on lofty ambitions. Our ambitions should be to come up with unique but practical solutions to the day-to-day challenges that confront ourselves and our businesses. Reinvention does not have to mean 180-degree differences. Every degree of difference would count; tweaking ourselves as we go along. Reinvention can be subtle, keeping most of your core operations and core values, but still adapting a few pieces of your business.

Thankfully, there is no shortage of stories and case studies of businesses who have been able to achieve this. These businesses did their proverbial homework and research, didn’t marry themselves to any one idea or way of operating, and most of all, better prepared themselves for the inevitable. We can take a page from their books. We should.

What Can Be Done

Going forward, the most successful businesses are the ones willing and brave enough to reinvent themselves in an age of fast followers. These are the businesses able to think critically about their operations and explore areas outside of the usual range. Part of this process may involve deconstructing existing systems and ways of doing business and then creating a new mould in which to operate.

Reinvention doesn’t mean tossing out an entire business model. Maintain functions and operations that are still viable. If certain processes and systems work well, they can most likely be adapted to the new undertaking.

By the same token, leaders must also be curious and willing to chart new terrain, and equally so if it means abandoning the practices that can no longer fit in this new normal.

Every leaders should be asking themselves: “How can I best position myself and my team in a time like this?” And with that question, must come the honest understanding that, in thinking critically and remaining curious, there are no sacred cows. It must be understood that there is no one thing that can’t be changed or (where necessary) eliminated. Leaders must learn to distinguish between the practices that have contributed to their success and can be retained and those that must be changed or put aside.

Collaboration and communication are (and will always be) essential tools for leaders to use in reinventing themselves. Listen to your market. Use social media just as much as traditional media to gauge the pulse. Seek out advice from experts and other business leaders. Talk to your peers. Outside of peer to peer discussion, entrepreneurs can always engage the wider business community and even the government. Ideas can come from various sources and inspiration even more so, but good guidance, regardless of the source, should always be welcomed and listened to.

Lastly, leaders should neither forget nor forgo their roles as sources of inspiration themselves. We have to be able to inspire that crucial confidence in those we are hoping to lead that, first of all, there is a future out there. We have to remember and then remind our teams, even ourselves, that there will be life after the pandemic; one day we will be liming at a bar talking (even if not laughing) about this experience. Remember that the sacrifices that we are making today are to help us build that better future for everyone. So, it is that gravitational pull - that proverbial black hole – towards dismay that leaders, and all of us, have to fight against. We are all in this together.

Our best defense against darkness is light so let us remain positive whatever is happening.

The Future?

These are difficult times. And, like I said, there is no magic bullet to take us from bad times to good. But, I began with a quote and I would like to close with another. One that I hope gives some encouragement to entrepreneurs and all of us alike. This one comes from the poem, Ulysses, by Alfred Lord Tennyson. While Tennyson’s masterpiece is about growing old, that too is a transformation of immense magnitude that can bring about fear that must be overcome and opportunities that must seized.

“Though much is taken, much abides; and though/We are not now that strength which in old days/Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;/One equal temper of heroic hearts,/Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will/To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

What do you think? What are some ways that today’s entrepreneurs can reinvent themselves to make themselves better? Stronger?