The Right Leadership Mindset

Today’s business leaders face unprecedented challenge. They are under constant pressure from various external sources, as well as themselves, to serve, inspire, and lead.

So before we go any further, let’s take a deep breath. Let it out. (Repeat)
You are doing well. Now, let’s keep going.

The socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 and the ongoing fits and starts inherent in simply surviving (far less sustaining our businesses) in this New Normal have been staggering to many businesses and business leaders.

And all of this against the backdrop of an increasingly connected global economy characterised by nonstop technological advances, demographic shifts, societal upheavals and other long lasting disruptions. Today’s leaders face an uphill battle that demands much of the mind, body, and spirit if success is to be achieved and sustained. So let’s start with that first one: the mind.

Even before the pandemic, the global business landscape was fraught with cautionary tales of businesses and industries that either died or were dying even as newer ones sprang up to take their place. Now the pandemic is here, with no signs of leaving us anytime soon, where does that leave the business leader with aspirations of being and performing better?

As we have explored in previous talks, the best leaders, and by extension, the best leadership are not swayed by what is happening around them. In fact, effective leadership calls for them to be fully aware of situations – both good and bad – and be equally vigilant for opportunities to grow and develop – both themselves and their organisations.

And with that comes a certain amount of resilience that must be the effective leader’s first and last recourse if they are weather the storms. (The old adage of “bend but don’t break” comes quickest to mind here.)

However, before the right calls can be made, the right mindset has to be in place.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.”

So let’s have a look at some of the right leadership mindsets that can ultimately change our beliefs into our destinies.

1) Right Leadership Mindset #1 – Mindsets Do and Must Change
When we talk about mindsets, we are dealing with a complexity of human emotions, thoughts, and actions. If we take a very general look at what mindset means, we see that, quite simply, it is our ways of thinking and our opinions.

But mindsets are so much more than that. They help orient those experiences and thoughts in a cohesive whole that spans our past, present, and future. Our mindsets are integral in who we are and who we hope to be. Not surprisingly, as we grow, change, and age, so too do our mindsets. Or at least, so SHOULD our mindsets.

With the pace of change bearing down on leaders, they must be in touch with their mindsets at any given stage along life’s journey. What’s more, the leadership mindsets of 20 years ago cannot be the mindsets of today. Nor will the ones of today be the ones we have in the future. Rather than discard them, great leaders incorporate different individual past mindsets as building blocks in a larger structure that manifests as effective leadership.

Inasmuch as much leaders have been strongly encouraged to think and lead strategically, ensure robust financial performance and (where applicable) generate and increase shareholder value, they have to be likewise encouraged to reorient their mindsets and their organisations in stride.

If it helps, as leaders, consider how much your mindset has had to change in the face of the significant disruptions encountered in the last two decades, two months…two days. How easy has it been to think strategically when supply and business lines have dried up, opportunities are fewer and further between, revenues are down, and either staff be sent home or the entire business shuttered?

I think we can all agree that the leadership development approaches we know and have grown to rely upon cannot meet these challenges alone. We need to appreciate (and more importantly, nurture) a more responsive leadership mindset that allows leaders to keep pace with, and stay ahead, of current events. Leaders who find it hard to change their mindsets will undoubtedly struggle the most in today’s landscape…and sadly, not for lack of trying but because of a lack of understanding of the importance of having right leadership mindset.

Therefore, the first leadership mindset, paradoxically, is to understand that mindsets must change as circumstances change. That they are fluid. The mindset that brought us success in the past, while fundamental in our story of growth, will not alone bring us success in the present and the future.
Be Prepared and Not Afraid to Change your Mindset.

2) Right Leadership Mindset #2 – Present Based; Future focussed
Simon Sinek, author of The Infinite Game, makes a clear differentiation between what he calls finite and infinite games, taking into consideration whether our objectives and aims have a definitive end to them. How does this tie in to developing the right leadership mindset?

Let’s simplify it a bit then. Take building a house for example. In planning to do so, whether it is securing the money, finding the right contractor, materials, approvals etc, there is a finite goal in mind – building a structure that you will live in.

However, there are infinite goals to consider because (unless you are specifically doing otherwise), building a house means that you are providing for your family, and in time, as your family grows, it will be a house for them and for future generations.

Our businesses are no exception. We invest time and energy into them and our people not necessarily because we want to have a great year but because we want to build that great year into a great dynasty.

So even in achieving finite goals, leaders should always be mindful of the infinite goals. We need to be aware that we are not pursuing them for the sake of pursuit or to easily placate our stakeholders at the annual meetings.

Leaders pursue the finite and the infinite – ever focussed on the future while being firmly rooted in present. What’s more, having this right leadership mindset invariably calls for us to understand that the actions and decisions we taken today have almost infinite ramifications for the future.

If, according to Sinek, the average lifespan of a company in the 1950s was more than 60 years, while today’s is fewer than 20 years, then while many business may be winning in the short term, they are not lasting long enough to see that success blossom in the long term.

Pursuing infinite goals can be daunting to some because it requires both a narrow focus (on what we can do today) and a wide vision (on where we want our companies to be well into the future). It calls for the flexibility to adapt and adapt again as key business models may change, disrupting the organisation, but ultimately move the business closer to achieving infinite goals.

It takes a courageous leader armed with the right mindset that goes beyond winning just for today. So in being the best leader that you can be, we need to particularly mindful that we are in it for the long haul. Where at every leg of the journey, we work with our teams to build strength, capacity and resilience to remain as competitive at as high a standard and for as long as possible.
Leadership is an infinite game. Do not play it as if it were finite.

3) Right Leadership Mindset #3 – Learning Never Ends
This one is the most straightforward. As we have just discussed, leadership is not an end in and of itself. The right mindset calls for a focus on the future while being in touch with the present.

Concomitant with this is developing (and feeding) the leadership mind. Leadership, therefore, is constant growth and learning. In a December 19, 2020 Forbes article, “What Leaders can Expect in 2021 and How Best to Prepare” by Dede Henley, she says, “As a leader, your challenge is to increase capacity in the face of it all because traditional approaches to leadership development aren’t keeping pace with the kinds of complexity we face now.”

Quoting from a paper by Hall & Rowland, 2016, she goes on to add that, “Currently, fewer than 18% of leaders have the qualities of mind to optimally lead in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environments.”

And even that 18% who gets it, still undergoes constant growth and learning in their individual and collective leadership journeys.

I have always believed that people, and not just leaders, can learn something new and be different today than they were yesterday. Many learning and development professionals understand this well; that training is a journey and not a destination that can take a lifetime.
The Learning Never Ends.

Building the Right Leadership Mindset
Today we face challenges at almost every turn. Having a healthy mindset and understanding that there is always room to grow and develop can make the difference in how we surmount those challenges.

In such a disruptive environment, our mindsets should evolve and change almost as if the chaos and the disruptions are the stimuli. We cannot afford to hold on to mindsets that do not serve us in the new realities and New Normal. Sometimes, sadly, many of us are unaware that we are holding on to outdated mindsets, which prevents us from making the crucial changes or calls.

But if we remember how powerful having the right mindsets can be and take the chance on ourselves to wholeheartedly adopt and adapt them, then the storms that abound become a little less intimating and a lot easier to weather. And whenever we are faced with doubt, we should remember the words of Shawn Anchor “The most successful people view adversity not as a stumbling block but as a stepping-stone to greatness.”

What are some of your thoughts on having the right leadership mindsets? What particular mindsets have you adopted or discarded as you lead your teams?