The Miles LeHane Companies - OI Partners

Proving a better human experience – for a better business outcome

In early December of 2009, I had the opportunity to attend a two week international business exchange conference in India.  The program was co-sponsored and organized by “People to People,” an international exchange program initiated under the Eisenhower administration, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).  The delegation of 18 travelled to Delhi, Agra, and Mumbai to share ideas and thoughts on “Next”.  The focus was oriented toward the future, using the past and present only to juxtapose “What is Next”.

One fact that is positive from my perspective is that many of the “Thought Leaders” in attendance from Education and Industry were and are willing to acknowledge that answers for “What is Next” are not known.  Yet with an economy in India that is in a growth mode (with a population of almost 1.3 billion and high birth rates), “Next” cannot be a hit or miss proposition.  In my opinion, is that we cannot afford wrong answers from an America’s perspective either. Much is at stake as we move forward in time, while being “On Pause” (see our website for this Thought Leader paper November 2009) is an unacceptable answer or default position.

With that as the premise for this Thought Leader paper, certain concepts emerged that I think are at the essence of reinventing a global strategy and actions that will be stronger than before and propel us into a more positive global future.  The position utilizes a few fundamental beliefs:

1.  We are currently in the middle stage of a change model, where the past is no longer an option, and the future models have not been formulated with any degree of predictability. We are all looking for a stabilization format. But the answers are not obvious.  About the only level of agreement here is we will never return to the way it was in 2007 or early 2008.  There will be a new order.
2. The new order will be different than the old order in a number of ways.  A few agreed upon key areas are that in our thinking, we must be more international and move globally, versus geographical or country specific.  For this context I use “domestic” as the Americas, “international” defined as including another continent or two and “global” being about multi-continents and possibly all continents represented in the issues of organizations.

Here is one Thought Leader’s suggestion expressed in one of our sessions.  He is Professor Emeritus, Dr. Singh, of a leading Business School in India, the Management Development Institute (MDI) in Delhi, who has been invited to many continents to speak to Leaders of business and governments.  He espouses the concept of “Confluence.”  At the macro level this means we must challenge the existing segregated ways we have operated and led our organizations.  If you are going to thrive in a global economy that crosses populations, organizational models, and environments of many different needs, at the same time respecting culture and natural resources, the old order thinking does not work.

One additional thought from this concept focuses on defining “good” to “great” Leadership.  His premise is that we need to blend all styles (Western, Mid Eastern and Asian) to have flexibility and thereby becoming effective globally.  Again, in this new diverse approach, simply put, a “confluence” of styles are matched to the cultures and environments and organizational goals in this new global economy.  Acknowledging that many will dismiss this as idealistic and unobtainable, he believes that the rebuilding of our global economic and social systems cannot be sustainable until we take this approach.  This has radical implications for all.

“Do you know Next?” suggests that an answer is available but at the moment not visible!  This, too, is an interesting concept since most US-led organizations have followed the Expert Leadership model.  Simply stated, the answer(s) exist inside of a guru or gurus.  You just need to bring them to the table, frame the situation and they in turn (maybe thru a leap of faith) bring a brilliant solution to the organizational issues.  This can be seriously challenged as a process today in a world of uncharted complexity.  Another Professor stated that “Knowledge is what is left after you long forgot what theories you memorized!” Implied here is that we are in an era of change where old theories and paradigms most likely are not a globally accepted solution as they do not honor or take into account the total diversity in all areas throughout the world.

In summary, assuming this is a reality you believe is facing us today, each of us must tap the total powers of all those key stakeholders in our organization and at a higher level, such as your profession or industry.  This includes looking at others from an intellectual versus a judgmental perspective.  And most of all, it values the concepts of constructive (versus critical) discourse.  In addition it puts a major focus on the concept of “Confluence”  To reach this new level of leadership one must be a skilled facilitator at all levels, must understand the approach of Critical Thinking and be able to break down the historical issue of “not invented here” or “that is not how we do it here” syndrome.  Our resistance to adopting and implementing modified approaches for how we do business in a new global system must break through these barriers. In essence, we must create a confluence of new leadership principles.

I end this Thought Leader concept with the conclusions that we can rebuild a sustainable order and that the power of intellect does exist.  What we need is to create more forums and not expect instant answers.  The worst interference is from the “generic power brokers” who are unwilling to let change happen on an evolutionary basis, resulting in crisis to trigger the new order.  Healthy Constructive Discourse will be the best way to answering the question “Do You Know Next”?   The challenge is now for each of us.

Please share any thoughts or comments. You can reach me directly at dmiles@mileslehane.com. If you would like a copy of previous Thought Leader papers we will be glad to send them to you or you can download from our website (www.mileslehane.com/articles.htm). This is the 4th paper in this series.  

Previous Series titles:

1. “Do You: Manage by Leading or Lead by Managing? A Case for Critical Thinking” (Jan 2009)
2. “Do You: Manage by Leading or Lead by Managing? A Case for Critical Thinking – Part 2” (Feb 2009)
3. “On Pause: A Career Search Perspective”  (Nov 2009)