Leader's Digest #52 (June 2021)

LEADERS ISSUE 52

JUNE 2021

DIGEST

LEVIATHAN OF RISK

LEADERS DIGEST

Publication Team EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Ismail Said Assistant Editor Diana Marie Capel Graphic Designer Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan

* Read our online version to access the hyperlinks to other reference articles made by the author.

Contents

ISSUE 52 I JUNE 2021 04 What it Takes to be a Transformative Leader

12 Executive Loneliness

06 3 Enemies of Respectful Relationships

16 Creating and Delivering Value to Customers

08 What COVID-19 has Taught Us about Change

22 Habituation

Read this issue and past issues online at leadinstitute.com.my/ leaders-digest Scan the QR code below for quicker access:

10 Powerful Networks: Leveraging Collaborative Contributions

LET US KNOW If you are encouraged or provoked by any item in the LEADERS DIGEST, we would appreciate if you share your thoughts with us.

Here’s how to reach us: Email: diana@leadinstitute.com.my Content Partners:

Leader’s Digest is a monthly publication by the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service, dedicated to advancing civil service leadership and to inspire our Sarawak Civil Service (SCS) leaders with contemporary leadership principles. It features a range of content contributed by our strategic partners and panel of advisors from renowned global institutions as well as established corporations that we are affiliated with. Occasionally, we have guest contributions from our pool of subject matter experts as well as from our own employees.

The views expressed in the articles published are not necessarily those of Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service Sdn. Bhd. (292980-T). No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the publisher’s permission in writing.

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From the

Editorial Desk Hug an Orangutan • Where does our capability to manage risk sit in our brain?

• How to develop behaviours that underlie appropriate risk assessments?

• How do we know our limitations for risk awareness?

• How to overcome subjective risk perception?

Decision-making is risk-driven and risk-dependent. In our day-to-day activities it is lightning fast and often escapes our conscious awareness. For more focused activities, especially those that are new or carry a high negative consequence, we spend time to assess risk. Yet as much as we believe that we are naturally able to manage risk, the behavioural requirements are complex: a combination of logical thinking and emotional maturity.

The moment we decide alone we have taken any risk related to our decision into our personal ‘responsibility inventory’.

Group decisions are therefore a diluted version of personal responsibility. Maybe the reason why so many prefer it!.

Even when being empowered and authorized to decide, seeking support, even approval, from the superior is such a risk-transfer or dilution mechanism to avoid full individual responsibility and accountability. Being the boss is a wish for most until decisions with material and/or human consequences knock on the door.

The challenge is not assessing risks but assessing the capability for appropriate risk behaviour and risk thinking.

It is about how to lead a person with subject knowledge and/or authority to adapt the highest sensitivity for risk awareness along with the subject they know so well or the position they hold.

Many confuse hazard and risk because their definition and relationship may not be clear. Whilst one is guided in its essence by the capacity of harm, the other has as its base the likelihood and extend of that harm. Here we must deal with the subjectivity of harm, especially when it is unidentified yet suspected.

Good risk assessment requires having good information about the hazard, its potential impacts and the measures that could be used to control both the hazard and its effects.

The challenges of comparing risks within situations with similar variables but not completely equal leads towards different approaches for resources allocation and process definitions. The challenges are therefore guided and measured by including risk estimations and evaluations, probability assessment and other aspects towards producing an evidence-based risk estimate. With outcomes that are related to image, cost and operational halts, the complexity required is clear and necessary - almost critical.

Every decision involves a risk. How we manage risk in our personal capacity is an indicator of the risk behaviour in a more general approach, even at work. Here, the aspects of hindsight bias, naive / non-experienced theories and mental models will influence the conscious thinking. Are we aware of that?

We are born with natural risk management tools: some call it instincts. These remain as powerful forces that are directly linked to our primary senses. Yet, why are some people more tuned-in for risk awareness? How can some of us sense a disaster and act upon it while others just remain frozen?

Can it be that our cultural and environmental growing-up scene – the risks we were exposed to as a child and teenager – affect our risk mindset? Do they have an impact on our mental operating system, our brain? If so, how to enhance our risk perception to be on the realistic side of consequence management?

“Without understanding it we risk everything, and without capitalising upon it we gain nothing!”

- Glynis M. Breakwell -

By hugging an orangutan, we will realize if what we thought would happen, is what happens!

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WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A

TRANSFORMATIVE LEADER

BY KAY BRETZ

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Become The Transformative Leader You Were Meant to Be There is no business transformation without the transformation of its leaders. Far too many transformational efforts don’t deliver on its high ambitions. Instead of realising step-change improvements, they often lead to incremental change. Through sports, I experienced what it took to realise step-change improvements.

To tap into unknown opportunities, I had to reinvent my leadership approach. In only 18 months, I improved my performance running 24-hour ultramarathons by 22 percent and became the fastest-ever Australian at the 24-hour world championships. Given that my insights are easily transferrable into the business world, here are my top five takeaways on transformative leadership: Insight #1:

Transformation starts with working on ourselves

Transformation is like the process of metamorphosis, where the caterpillar becomes the butterfly. Therefore, it starts with each one of us to transform. The tough reality is that we are part of the whatever problem we are trying to solve. The secret lies in lifting our inner game. In 2018 I was far off becoming an Australian representative for the world champs team. Not because of my legs, but because of my mindset. To unlock growth that emerges from deep within our inherent potential, it is us leaders who have to embark on personal development journeys.

Insight #2:

Our biggest challenges are adaptive in their nature

For years I had been searching in the wrong spot: I’d focussed on running training and hunted perfect race conditions in order to run faster. As long as we treat our biggest challenges and highest dreams as if they were technical, we search for what we have to learn, solve or fix. Yet, more expertise, knowledge or skills will never be sufficient when, in fact, the challenge is adaptive in its nature. Instead, we have to redefine who we are and rise to the challenge. What held me back was the fear of failure. My limiting belief was that I was not good enough to be part of the Australian selection. To become transformative leaders, we have to learn how to let go of our fears and limiting beliefs.

Insight #3:

Turn right’ to leave your comfort zone

My journey to becoming a transformative leader started when I accidently turned right at my garden gate. I realised that I had previously always turned left, longing for predictability. I chose

to no longer cling to my comfort zone and faced my reactive tendencies by, metaphorically speaking, turning right more often.

Top of my long list of reactivity featured overthinking, the urge to control and emotionally distancing myself. The alternative was to get comfortable with uncertainty, acknowledging afflictive emotions and trusting my intuition. Becoming vulnerable and overcoming our autopilot is essential to become a transformative leader.

Insight #4:

Surrender to uncertainty

I still find it difficult at times to embrace uncertainty. At the world championships, I found myself in 102nd position after a couple of hours, struggling with the hot conditions. It would have been easy to crumble under the pressure wearing the green and gold uniform for the first time. Yet, I surrendered to what was happening. Surrendering has nothing to do with giving up.

Instead, it is being fully present to the conditions as they are.

When the temperature dropped at night and other runners paid the toll for over-pacing, I climbed up the leaderboard to claim eleventh position. Transformative leaders learn to surrender to uncertainty but always know their strengths.

Insight #5:

Inspire your team and energise

Whatever challenge you are facing, you will have to take others on the transformation journey. If you think you can do it on your own, you will be on your own. To be a transformative leader, we have to inspire the people around us with a joint vision. Not only will it give meaning to them, but can also help us to get through the difficult times. In a 24-hour race it’s those dark hours around 2 am, when the legs scream that they’ve had enough and the mind cannot yet imagine that there will ever be another sunrise or a finish.

Essentially, there is no difference whether you run 259.67 kilometres within 24 hours, run a team or run a business. We have to bring meaning to the challenge. To become all that we can be, we are asked to step up our leadership. Transformation occurs when we let go of being the caterpillar wanting to crawl faster and become a butterfly spreading our wings.

KAY BRETZ

Kay Bretz, author of Turning Right: Inspire the Magic (Major Street Publishing), is a facilitator of transformation, executive coach and inspirational speaker. As the founder of Turning Right he draws on his experiences as a corporate leader and as an Australian representative at the 24-hour world championship.

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3 ENEMIES OF RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS

BY INGRID MESSNER

“

How to Overcome Enemies of Respectful Relationships Respect is one of the invisible and vital elements that make organisations work smoothly and effectively – or not. When respect is present, operations flow well. When absent, there’s friction, which comes with high risks and potentially high costs.

Respect is defined as: esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability.

A recent report by McKinsey on COVID-19 and the Employee

This definition solely focuses on people, which limits your ability

Experience, highlights respect as a major contributor to employee

to sustainably lead an organisation. To improve workplace culture

engagement, wellbeing and effectiveness. In organisations

and profits, respect must be extensively applied. Respectful

where employees feel fairly treated and supported by co-

relationships at work refer only to interactions with others.

workers, respondents report a 51.8% increase in engagement,

Relationship to self or any relevant environment (especially

49.8% increase in wellbeing and a 15.7% improvement in work

nature) rarely factors.

effectiveness.

A broader definition of respect comes from First Nations peoples Respect is a precursor to trust and therefore critical to sustaining

who traditionally pay respect to all life. Respect defines how they

high-performance and wellbeing—not just in a crisis. Respect is

interact with each other, other living beings, the land and the

timeless. Our limited definition of respect

whole of the universe. Their definition of respect acknowledges

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the inherent value of everything. Roles are not just external labels. People grow into them until the role and the person become inextricable.

5. Appreciation: Appreciate people and environments for what they are and not for their labels or titles.

6. Empathy: Walk in the shoes of others. Treat people how they want to be treated, not how you want to be treated.

This can’t always be said in today’s organisational context where

7. Acknowledge: Actively communicate the real, holistic value

people are almost solely respected for their role. Ask yourself: are

of people, things and nature to all your stakeholders and

you respected as a person or because you’re the CEO?

teams. By inspiring others to reflect on what they want to

3 enemies of respectful relationships Three traits prevent high levels of respect:

respect and value, you set the standard for ethical behaviour.

8. Integrity: Commit to consistent reliability to build trust and show you care with daily actions.

9. Self-Care: Remember to respect yourself first. Self-care is a

1. Unaware 2. Uncaring 3. Uncommitted

service to others, allowing you to show up as your best self and create positive energy with everyone you come in contact with.

Each trait struggles with respect for self, other people and

Respect needs practice and is an ongoing learning opportunity

systems (environments you operate in).

that requires high levels of communication. You won’t always get it right. By practicing it in this broader sense, you’ll reduce

• Unaware: There’s little self-awareness for what you need to function optimally. You have limited awareness of what’s

conflict, build trust and increase wellbeing for yourself, others and relevant environments.

happening with others. You don’t sufficiently notice your environments and nature, or how they impact everyone.

• Uncaring: Good communication is non-existent, as is time for important conversations. You push for competition

You get less friction and more flow which leads to more sustainable high-performance, reduced risks and lower costs in your organisation

when collaboration delivers better results overall. You ignore the motivation, needs and abilities of others, and care little for environments that nurture people. You show little stewardship.

• Uncommitted: You don’t fully take personal responsibility for everything that happens. You accept win-lose or lose-lose outcomes instead of influencing towards win-win results for everyone. You’re not committed to achieving positive impact for the whole system.

Developing respectful relationships

Overcome the 3 enemies of respectful relationships by practicing: 1. Presence: Be fully present with yourself, others and nature. Be very attentive and notice what really matters in each moment.

2. Listening: Listen deeply with your whole body and all your senses. Explore Dadirri, a deep listening and awareness practice by the Aboriginal peoples of the Daly River Region.

3. Non-judgmental: Be curious. Have an open mind to discover the inherent value in every being and thing. First understand, then be understood.

4. Boundaries: Create spaces of psychological and physical safety by accepting and acknowledging healthy boundaries.

INGRID MESSNER

Ingrid Messner, author of Naturally Successful: How wise leaders manage their energy, influence others and create positive impact, is a mentor, coach, facilitator and speaker who supports leaders and teams to optimise their positive impact, performance and wellbeing. Using a holistic and practical approach, she improves leadership effectiveness while connecting people back to nature and ancient wisdom.

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What

COVID-19

has Taught Us about Change

BY CAMPBELL MACPHERSON

Key “Change” Lessons from The Pandemic of the 20s

1. Sustainability is not only about the environment When discussing the subject of sustainability, we used to

What a mad, crazy, unpredictable, volatile and uncertain

focus exclusively on the environment and society – our

twelve months we have all lived through. It has been a year

carbon footprint, our green credentials, how we were serving

of high emotions, high anxiety – and constant change. The

the communities in which we operate - all laudable and vital

Leading and Embracing Change workshops I have been

components of responsible capitalism. But we took financial

running for organisations and business schools this year have

sustainability for granted. No longer.

all started with an open discussion of what we have learnt about change and business.

COVID-19 has reminded us of the value of a strong balance sheet and recurring revenues. Many of my clients spent the

The following are some of the choicest nuggets from the

first part of the pandemic securing their finances and the

workshops on change:their working conditions and are

second part working out what their customers could value so

committed to improving the way things get done.

much that they would pay them for it on a monthly basis.

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2. Strategic clarity enables innovation and flexibility

6. Our people can be trusted and that work:life balance is a genuine goal, not just a slogan.

COVID-19 reminded us, very loudly, of the inevitability of

We learnt that people can work well from home. We learnt

change. And yet, I sense that many of us are still clinging

to be more human, more understanding, more empathetic.

on to the hope that change is impermanent. We are waiting

For many of us, our homes became our workplaces. One of

for things to get back to the way they were. Not only is this

my webinar delegates attended the entire session with her

hope in vain, it is a dangerous fable. Things will not be going

cocker spaniel on her lap. The dog was fascinated by all of the

back to thew way they were, and even a ‘new normal’ will be

faces on the screen and appeared to be following the session

transient. Change is constant. It is not a off, it is not a project.

intently. I phoned one company’s customer service line and

It is a constant part of life. We need to expect it and look for

was put through a brilliant operator who was serenaded by

the opportunities.

her pet parrot, squawking “Can I help you?” continually in the background.

3. Change is not only inevitable, it is a part of life COVID-19 reminded us, very loudly, of the inevitability of change. And yet, I sense that many of us are still clinging

7. The ability to embrace change is the most important skill of all.

on to the hope that change is impermanent. We are waiting

We learnt that if our people aren’t able to accept and embrace

for things to get back to the way they were. Not only is this

change, we will not succeed. We learnt that emotion trumps

hope in vain, it is a dangerous fable. Things will not be going

logic every time when it comes to change. We learnt that we

back to thew way they were, and even a ‘new normal’ will be

undergo a rollercoaster of emotions during times of change –

transient. Change is constant. It is not a off, it is not a project.

and that these emotions are OK. We learnt that we all erect our

It is a constant part of life. We need to expect it and look for

own personal barriers - and that they can be overcome.

the opportunities.

We learnt that the power to change lies within every single 4. Mental health really matters

one of us and the organisations that can help their people to

Anxiety levels went through the roof during the first wave of

harness it will be set up for success – no matter what the future

Covid and it has been an ever-present background hum to our

brings.

lives ever since. We learnt that anxiety is not something that only happened to others and that it can be devastating and incapacitating. No-one performs at their best when anxious.

Leaders across the globe learnt that the well-being and welfare of their people are paramount for business success.

5. We can change incredibly quickly if we have to.

If someone had told you to lead a change program that moved 90% of your employees to working from home, the planning alone would have taken months and it would have taken years to implement. Most businesses did it in days. We can change if we have to – and if we have a strong emotional reason for doing so.

CAMPBELL MACPHERSON

Campbell Macpherson is a sought-after speaker and international business adviser on leadership, strategy and change who splits his time between Australia and the UK. He is a keynote speaker, Executive Fellow of Henley Business School and author. His first book, The Change Catalyst (Wiley 2017), won 2018 Business Book of the Year in London.

His latest book, The Power to Change (Kogan Page 2020) is out now and available from Booktopia.

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Powerful Networks: Leveraging Collaborative Contributions

BY SRINIVASAN KJ

What does the science say?

Recent research by MIT highlights the importance of talent practices and its impact on improving collaboration within the organisation. This and many similar studies have reiterated the fact that talent management practices play an important role in enabling the achievement of business objectives by fostering innovation, change agility, diffusion of SME knowledge within the organisation and identifying high potentials who deliver business strategies.

The current talent practices mostly focus on an individual’s performance and development from the perspective of how they contribute to an organisation’s growth.

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Having said this, the current talent practices mostly focus on an individual’s performance and development from the perspective of how they contribute to an organisation’s growth. The nature of work is changing and so is the workforce composition. With technology becoming the backbone of work, it is seldom that an individual can achieve the results without collaboration or teamwork. The work therefore is increasingly becoming team-centric.

The question therefore arises whether organisations need to expand their philosophy of talent management to include the ‘collaborative contributions’ of a talent?

What are collaborative contributions?

Collaborative contributions are the investments in the form of knowledge, support, teamwork, and collaboration, made by an employee to the internal and external network built in the organisation.

Research by MIT has found that high performers in organisations develop, contribute, and leverage their network within and outside their organisation.

Performance obviously is a given.

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The talent practices spanning the employee life cycle need to integrate this network at an organisational level to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness.

High performers also invest in the network early in their career and through these networks, they extend their knowledge base to deepen their expertise and access valuable resources.

The network built by an employee around them plays an important role in their success, progress, development, and growth within the organisation. The talent practices however are yet to focus on treating this network as an important organisational resource which can deliver a sustainable competitive advantage.

How do we leverage collaborative contributions in talent practices?

Identifying and mapping the employee network helps the organisation in analysing the nature of influence an employee has on others with whom they frequently interact eg: friend, personal coach/mentor, inspirational leader, technical SME etc.

The talent practices spanning the employee life cycle need to integrate this network at an organisational level to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness.

Organisations that leverage these networks in their talent management practices can better engage marginalised, hidden, and underutilised employees.

While employee networks can be integrated with almost all talent practices, below are a few of them where such integration will enhance their efficiency and effectiveness: PRACTICES

CONSIDERATION

Recruitment

Who are the employees who can assist in filling open positions by leveraging their networks?

Onboarding

Who are the employees who can act as effective buddies and ensure assimilation of new talent/leaders in the organization and into their informal network?

Social learning

Who are the employees whom others will look up to and will be willing to learn from?

High potential identification

Who amongst the high potential employees can mobilise the workforce and lead transformation and change?

To sum up Organisations seeking to leverage their talent practices stand to significantly benefit from integrating the employee networks. In relying on traditional methods, organisations frequently end up not only overlooking talent but also not seeing that some of their high performers are not making ‘collaborative contributions’ to the organisation.

So, is your talent making collaborative contributions at work?

SRINIVASAN KJ

Srinivasan has over 15 years of industry and consulting experience with global and regional organisations in India, South East Asia and the Middle East. He has a deep expertise in talent management, leadership assessment and development and organisation design, having advised corporate clients spanning industries like Utilities, Telecom, Oil & Gas IT/ITES, Manufacturing, Engineering & Construction amongst others. He is passionate about creating purpose-driven workforces and social capital. He is pursuing an Executive Fellowship Program from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He currently serves as a principal consultant at Kognoz Research & Consulting.

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EXECUTIVE LONELINESS

BY ROSHAN THIRAN

A New Book Outlines 5 Steps to Overcome Executive Loneliness With the rise of mental health issues and with the COVID pandemic forcing less and less interactions amongst co-workers and leaders, senior leaders in many organisations are suffering numerous new ailments and challenges.

With the business scenario continuing to be challenging, many leaders are reaching breaking points in their personal lives. With no one to reach out to, many of these leaders may be suffering from “executive loneliness.”

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Recently, I read a book written by an executive based in

to. And when there are no support systems in place,

Singapore, Nick Jonsson, titled “Executive Loneliness:

many leaders, especially men (who tend to have little

The 5 Pathways to Overcoming Isolation, Stress,

to no outlets for emotional release), start using coping

Anxiety & Depression in the Modern Business World”

mechanics that may not necessarily help.

I ended up reading most of the book in one sitting as Jonsson shared his own personal story of hitting rock

In fact, many times, these coping mechanisms tend to

bottom in his struggle with “executive loneliness”.

aggravate and make the situation worst. Some may use

Jonsson shared that a key role of being an executive

alcohol as a way to destress, or zone out in front of the

was to lead organisations to success. Doing this, takes

TV or even resort to relaxation drugs to relief the stress.

a tremendous toll on a person, including heightening

This leads to addiction and the situation starts to spiral

stress levels and causing significant loneliness and

out of control. And this is masked in the workplace, as

burnout.

most of these leaders continue to put on a show that all is well with their life.

Jonsson, who is Managing Director of EGN Singapore, and originally from Sweden, states that:

“

“The loneliness and dilemmas that executives face at the top of their organisations’ experience are not discussed enough.”

In his book, Jonsson shares how he was trapped in serious “executive loneliness” for several years and resorted to alcohol as a coping mechanism. Initially, he claimed, this was OK, but as time moved on, he started to lose his wife and family. While the external world continued to view Jonsson as a successful executive, he was extremely depressed and defeated. He continued to function by practicing “smiling depression,” which

Jonsson terms the challenges when an executive is

he terms in his book as the act of pretending all is well

experiencing extreme and prolonged stress, anxiety,

externally. For Jonsson, the death of another close

isolation, and depression—as “executive loneliness.”

executive friend, Simon, from “executive loneliness,”

In his book, he outlines that most executives and leader

shook his world and forced him to find a way out his

often do nothing to address this “executive loneliness”

abyss.

for fear of appearing unsuccessful and frowned upon.

Worst, he shares that not addressing it exacerbates

In his book, he reveals stories of many executives

the negative and difficult feelings, to the point where it

whom he personally knew, grappling with this issue, yet

becomes more and more difficult for them to function.

refusing to acknowledge or discuss it for fear of being

Ultimately, it takes a toll on their whole life.

looked upon negatively. Among the stories he shares is about Radu Palamariu, who kept this pain inside for a

From my own personal experience, I know that being

long time, until he finally shared his story on LinkedIn.

a leader is quite lonely. Although you get to lead and

This led to a huge number of other leaders also replying

manage numerous people, there are times when you

to his post, claiming they suffered likewise and did not

can feel extremely lonely and have no one to turn

know what to do about it.

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Executive loneliness is outlined by Jonsson, as an

very important to truly overcome executive loneliness.

incredibly serious condition and, in some cases,

Overdose of sugar intake, as it is addictive and tends to

can be fatal. Based on his own recovery experience,

be consumed by many who are suffering from executive

consultations with mental health experts, conversations

loneliness, needs to be addressed. Sleep and relaxation

with other executives who managed to recover from

also needs to be prioritised to ensure your body recovers

executive loneliness, and relevant research findings,

from the blows of “executive loneliness.”

Jonsson outlines five steps for either recovering from, or totally avoiding, executive loneliness. Let me walk through a quick summary of the 5 steps outlined by

4. Nurturing Health Relationships

Jonnson below:

This is a critical element for living a good life. According to Jonsson, “relationships give our life substance and

1. Taking Stock Jonsson shares his personal recovery journey began when he started to take stock and stare reality in the eye. The first phase of recovery includes the following key elements: • Be Honest • Be Vulnerable • Deploy the HAPPY process – Create new HABITS, take ACTION, fix PERCEPTIONS, align PURPOSE and figure out who YOU are.

2. Ask for Help The key in this phase is to not stay silent about how you

meaning.” When we live purposefully, we lose our feeling of emptiness and unfulfillment. It starts with rebuilding your relationship with yourself. Stop negativity to enter you and forgive yourself. And work addressing issues you may have with your family.

Once you have “fixed” your relationship with yourself and those closest to you, you can start building your personal network and get involved in cause-based groups. Doing good and bringing joy to others will bring significant meaning to you. Cause like supporting and developing youth or helping under-privileged folks will bring significant joy to your life. Then build a great professional network too.

feel but to reach out. Many senior leaders know that people come to them for answer and advice. This is the time for leaders to change the narrative and seek help.

Reaching out and getting the help needed is key for you to overcoming “executive isolation.” Get help from experts, not just from others who may be facing the situation. Experts will be able to provide you with key steps to truly rehabilitate yourself.

3. Getting Healthy In this phase, it is not just about getting your stress and mental issues in order, it is also about getting physically healthy. Nutrition and eating and sleeping well will be

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5. Finding Your Purpose Finally, create goals and write out a gratitude list. And work on these goals. And part of your goals should include working on your hobbies or things you may be passionate about. Ultimately, it is about finding your purpose and living it out. Leaders that know their purpose and live it rarely succumb to executive loneliness, as it fuels them forward. Ultimately, for most of us, our purpose will be closely linked to being of service to others. That is the greatest legacy we can leave for others.

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Conclusions All in all, there are some overall advice for leaders

Many leaders may be struggling with executive

struggling with isolation, depression and loneliness in

loneliness. If you are a leader experiencing such

this book. The book focus is primarily on leaders who

challenges, see if these steps may be helpful for you in

are facing these challenges and the key themes of the

overcoming your “executive loneliness.” One final piece

book can be summarised as follows:

of advice Jonsson leaves us at the tail-end of the book is

1. The pressures of being an executive, including the

to “always have a Plan B.”

stress, anxiety and challenges of leadership.

If you suspect that you, yourself, or someone you 2. The fact that executive loneliness is extremely

know is suffering from executive loneliness, this book

common, though typically hidden, and it is not

may be a great starting point to begin the journey of

something leaders are willing to talk or share about.

emerging back into the light and overcoming “executive loneliness.”

3. There

are

various

accelerators

of

executive

loneliness including heavy social media usage and consumption. This needs to be addressed 4. The five primary ways which Jonsson shares on how an executive can emerge stronger from this difficult place and overcome executive loneliness: • Taking Stock • Asking for Help • Getting Healthy • Nurturing Healthy Relationships • Finding Your Purpose

ROSHAN THIRAN

Roshan is the Founder and CEO of the Leaderonomics Group. He believes that everyone can be a leader and “make a dent in the universe”, in their own special ways. He is constantly featured on TV, radio and numerous publications sharing the Science of Building Leaders and on leadership development.

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Creating and Delivering Value to Customers

BY DR ARUL ARULESWARAN

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The final installment of our six-part Science of Drucker series.

The fifth article in this series discussed the need for organisational change or transformation during turbulent times. References to changes that were forced to take place due to the COVID19 pandemic were made.

The four constraints of transformation introduced by Roshan Thiran were discussed and the A.C.I.D.© test for transformation was introduced.

The topic of change and transformation is an interesting one because change is certain to happen to everyone throughout their career. In fact, without such changes, one would not be able to survive in any role for a sustained period of time.

As change or transformation will happen and it is certain to happen, any organisation embarking on this journey needs to reflect on its purpose for existence.

The Why of Creating and Delivering Value

Pictured: The Golden Circle

For those of you that have read or seen videos on Start with Why by Simon Sinek would be familiar with the concept of golden circles. The idea is to start from the inner circle to the outer one. A business and the organisation that manages the business need to understand why it does what it does.

Peter Drucker, since his earliest publications, held that the purpose of a business was not to create profit (contrary to popular belief) but to create customers (why). A business exists to satisfy a customer’s need through the products or services it offers. Without a customer there is no market and therefore there is no demand, and hence what remains is only the potential.

Converting the potential into an effective demand and the sale (how) is only possible when the value to the customer is realised and thereafter wealth is created by the business (what).

Drucker goes on to say that it is the customer who determines what a business is, from their willingness to pay for goods or services. What the customer buys and considers worthwhile is never just a product or a service but it is what a product or service does for him. Only from that purchase are economic resources converted into wealth, and resources into goods and services.

To emphasise the purpose of value creation further, in his book The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organisation, three out of the five questions are centred around the customer and what the customer values. These five questions are: 1. What is our mission? A business’s mission needs to take advantage of the opportunity, resources and processes that will satisfy the need of a customer.

2. Who is our customer? The primary stakeholder whose problem or opportunity that your business addresses.

3. What does the customer value? What is the value proposition and the value creation for the customer (and in turn the wealth for the business).

4. What are our results? Identifying the key metrics and measures to assess the progress towards achieving the mission and opportunity.

5. What is our plan? – Starting with the mission and followed through with the execution and action steps.

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Again, from these five questions and also starting with why, it is clear that the sole purpose of a business is its customer.

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It is the customer that defines the business, as it’s the value that a customer gets when a product or services is procured.

defined its purpose. This concept of value creation isn’t something that existed since the 1900s.

For example, the Ford Motor Company produced automobiles in a shorter lead time by innovating the just-in-time production line. Its ability to do so enabled it to meet the rising demand for good and reliable automobiles at a competitive price. The value on offer was the shorter lead time.

The How of Creating and Delivering Value

As customers are only concerned with their own values, requirements and reality, the answers to the first three questions need to reflect these beliefs.

When an executive defines a business’s mission, care should be taken to not define the mission-based technology, or cost or retail pricing, but instead on the value it creates for its customer.

Clarity of the mission will help an organisation define the customer and the business itself. The customer is the primary stakeholder of the business as the customer is the one that actually procures the products or services.

Management also needs to acknowledge the types of customers, more than often multiple personas instead of a single type. Different personas have different expectations and needs to be satisfied, and therefore buy different things.

Then the question is to answer what exactly does the customer value? A customer actually buys the value that is on offer. This value is very often a customer’s problem that is being solved. For example, the value that is offered by Amazon.com or Alibaba.com to its customer is the seamless marketplace platform that connects a producer to the consumer. Therefore, value is created to both types of customers (the producer and the consumer) and in turn wealth is generated to the organisation. Both Amazon’s or Alibaba’s purpose of existence wasn’t profit, but the value it could create

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It is worth reflecting upon the third and fourth parts of this article series that covered the topics of Theory of Business and the Spirit of Performance, two key areas of focus that require an executive to effectively organise its business to focus on delivering the value to its customers.

When one looks at an organisation from the highest level, it becomes quite clear that these internal and external respective points of view are important to determine the how of creating and delivering value.

An effective executive will use his acquired skills and practices to focus the organisation’s resources on tasks that create significant economic value. One of the first tasks is to identify the products and services that meet the customer’s needs and are generating the most value to the customer and wealth for the organisation.

The executive will have all the facts in the form of data and analysis of strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Analysis of sales performance, productivity, cost of products and services, contributions from the resources and cost centres are all important facts that need to be analysed before the Theory of Business can be developed.

In addition to that, the state of product and services portfolio need to be analysed. The executive needs to

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critically evaluate the state of the production or services infrastructure as well as the competency and capability of the resources that are delivering the portfolio. A clear baseline needs to be established, then evaluated against acceptable or targeted levels of performances, with customers’ expectations as the key performance indicator.

Using the baseline and the targeted performance levels, gaps in terms of weakness and opportunities need to be identified. The differences between efficiencies and effectiveness also need to be established, and the corresponding resources allocated to the tasks and activities that create and deliver the products and services also need to be clearly known. It would be absolutely pointless to have highly efficient teams on products or services that are ineffective in terms of value creation for the customer.

These need to be identified and acknowledged by the management and the executive. The executive needs to know and accept the current state in terms of the Spirit of Performance, as this is a reflection of the external factors of the organisation, and most importantly a reflection on how much value has been created for the customers.

The Theory of Business, if regularly reviewed (annually or once in two to five years), will enable an organisation to identify what products or services are creating and adding value to the customers.

Using the facts that are established from the baseline analysis, the efficiency of allocation and the effectiveness of the productions and services, a decision can be made if the existing Theory of Business has to be changed. If it is not achieving its original purpose of creating customers and delivering value to them, then this is inevitable.

Thereafter the executive needs to lead an organisation by clearly communicating the new theory of business and emphasising the spirit of performance, with a priority on results that impact the customers. At the same time the executive must decide if the organisation needs to re-establish its structure, processes and culture. This can be done by reviewing the 4 Constraints model established by Leaderonomics as explained in the previous article.

The What of Creating and Delivering Value If the ‘how’ looks at the effectiveness of an organisation when the Theory of Business is used as the foundation to execute the tasks that delivers customers’ value, enabled by the skills and knowledge that can be acquired, applied and practiced, then the ‘what’ focuses on the execution based on the Spirit of Performance.

Finally, using facts from the analysis and the allocation, the executive would need to look internally and review the existing Theory of Business by asking “what needs to be done right now?”

Tasks and activities will need to be executed by teams of managers and employees that ensures the performance of the current products and services are delivered and at the same time teams of internal ‘entrepreneurs’ or ‘innovators’ that are given the time and resources to focus on the future through innovation and improvement.

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At times, overcoming the 4 constraints of transformation becomes a necessity, as the internal aspects that impede managers, entrepreneurs and innovators from changing or transforming will not enable an organisation to create value. Peter Drucker alluded to this in his book iii; executives assuming that the future is an extension of the present will not result in the necessary change that would lead an organisation out from a challenging economic or business climate. Taking the Theory of Business and Spirit of Performance at heart, executive are recommended to conduct the A.C.I.D.© test for transformation.

Therefore, what are the principles for the A.C.I.D.© test for transformation (A.C.I.D. being the acronym for four different tests that an organisation should carry out)? These are the tests for Abandonment, Continuous Improvement, Innovation and Decision. The change in the business needs is a result of the changing need of the market, consumers and the customer. These changes are not distributed in a Gaussian Normal Distribution, and therefore the change is not easily predicted or anticipated.

However, if an organisation continuously measures its customer satisfaction and the level of value creation, empirically they should be able to identify the 10% to 20% of products and services that account for the 80% to 90% of the results. An executive’s main task is to deliver the results.

policies and practices. The executive will need to bring the entire organisation into alignment to face the new realities of business, the new market and the new environment. Nowadays, it’s termed the ‘new normal’.

The organisation will need to change its behaviour to be aligned with the newly defined mission.

From the early diagnosis, the tests for continuous improvements can be easily done. There are various established techniques and methodologies such as Lean Management, Kaizen or Lean Six Sigma, that an organisation can adopt to address and drive the behaviour of continuous improvement. A good executive will use the empirical analysis of 10%-20% that is delivering the results and inculcate the culture of continuous improvement.

Continuous improvement can be applied across all types of organisations and with today’s knowledgebased workforce, it can be easily adopted. It starts by looking at systems and processes and asking of each and every task: What does it do? What value does it create? Who benefits and is it really needed?

It is the preventive care that an organisation needs, ensuring that products and services that deliver value to the customers are made available faster, better and cheaper!

The A.C.I.D.© test for transformation is ‘what’ the executive needs to do. In times of change and transformation, the tests will help with the early diagnosis, preventive care and the cure that an organisation needs.

The testing begins with Abandonment, where the existing Theory of Business is tested and evaluated.

Should the existing theory result in negative growth or loss in market share, rethinking the theory will become essential! Hard and tough actions need to be made to change the existing products and services,

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Next would be to think about the cure. This means tests for innovation. To be an innovative organisation doesn’t mean that it needs to hire geniuses or highly

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decorated scientists or PhDs. Innovativeness can be taught and learnt. Resources should be trained with techniques and methodology such as ideation, design thinking, AGILE, SCRUM or TRIZ and many others to be innovative. If continuous improvement is focusing on existing products and processes (the preventive care), innovation is focusing on developing new products and processes (the cure).

Both tests have the common task of solving a customer’s problem. Threats that an organisation faces during its turbulent time should be converted into opportunities, focusing on the present and planning for the future. Creating value through innovation can be done by identifying incongruities, inefficiencies, market trends, changes in perception and knowledge on products and services.

Finally, the test of the executive are the decisions that can and will be executed. Decisions have to be made based on the greatest opportunity for creating value and delivering result, whereby the organisation agrees to overcome the four constraints by changing the business model, aligning and agreeing to decisions, establishing the right structure and providing the best systems to support the resources and leading with the Spirit of performance to ensure that a culture of change and transformation is established. Decisions should be prioritised based on: • Products and services that will create value and results • Products and services that require innovation • Products and services that can be improved by adding value With these decisions, executives need to focus on execution and are recommended to adopt concepts such as ‘management by objectives’ and ‘management by means’ to direct employees and resources toward achieving specific outcomes that enable the organisation to perform efficiently and effectively during a challenging period.

• Management by objectives (mbo) is a method whereby managers and employees define goals for every department, project and person to monitor performance.

• Management by means (mbm) is a method that focuses attention on the methods and processes used to achieve goals, key performance indicators and deliverables.

Concluding Thoughts As a final word, it is apt to remind everyone that “Practices, though seemingly humdrum, can always be practiced, whatever a person’s aptitudes, personality, or attitudes. Practices require no genius – only application.

They are things to do rather than to talk about.”

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Organisations need to start by thinking through what should be strengthened and built. They do not start by trying to save money. They start by trying to build performance.

All of these are practices. They can be taught, learnt, applied and practiced up til the highest level of perfection is achieved.

DR ARUL ARULESWARAN

Dr Arul currently works for GEODIS Asia Pacific as the Director of Transformation, embarking on regional transformation with the Asia Pacific team to leapfrog disruption in the supply chain industry by creating customer value proposition, reliable services and providing accurate information to customers. He has driven transformation initiatives for government services and also assisted various Malaysian and Multi-National Organisations using the Lean Six Sigma methodology.

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HABITUATION

INNOVATORS, INVESTORS, RISK TAKERS

BY DIANA MARIE

Pardon me: Questions please.

WHICH country produces the coolest, new economy type innovators and risk-takers?

WHAT is the secret behind their growth model?

In recent years, calculating and accounting for risk have become an increasingly critical piece of decision-making process and the pandemic is no help in contributing towards the demise of normal ecosystems. “Normal” periods are gone.

The story of Kashfia Rahman, “Unforeseen opportunities often come from risk taking.”

Kashfia took home first place. The objective of her research was to find out whether there were other underlying or unintentional causes that drives teenagers to risk taking. Kashfia conducted her research by exposing her research population to situations that mimic real world risks. A significant note she made was about how her experiment results showed the effects of habituation on decision making.

Habituation is what we sometimes refer to ‘gettingused-to-it”. Habituation also explains how our brains adapt to some behaviours. According to Kashfia habituation has the potential in eradicating negative emotions related to risk taking such as fear or guilt and stress. It showed exploration of risk taking was altering the brain according to the teenager’s emotional level. Throughout her research, Kashfia found that negative emotions associated with risk such as nervousness, fear and tension were high when the teenagers were first exposed to the risk simulator. These emotions curbed their temptation to explore risks and forced self-control, which prevented them from taking more risks. However, the more they were exposed to the risk simulator, the less fearful they became. Instead, they became more excited and thrilled. She also discovered through her research that fear and unnecessary emotions that inhibit risk-taking actually becomes numb when a task is repeatedly performed.

Does risk exploration support better decision making?

Repeated exposure to risky bahaviours

Changed brain functions

Risk escalation

A neuroscience student at Harvard University Kashfia’s story is inspirational. She conducted a research on how risktaking changes teenagers’ brains and presented her findings to experts in neuroscience and psychology at the INTEL International Engineering Fair (ISEF). The ISEF is comparable to the Olympics of Science Fair that brings together participants from 75 countries.

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According to Mitch Frazier, the President of AgriNovus Indiana, the average person makes 13,000,000 (million) decisions per year. All of us make decisions. Decisions ranging from what to wear, to difficult decisions like finding your life callings, your career choice, where to live and who you will marry.

Phew, that’s a lot of decisions to make, right? Well, in her book ‘The Defining Decade’ Clinical psychologist Meg Jay highlights the significances for us to be as intentional both in our relationships as we are with work, are equal.

Fact is, all decisions involve risks. Deciding to do something or even not to do something, is by definition a risk. You will fail, sometimes. The good news is, history tells us that there were also numerous good decisions made. In his thesis, Mitch Frazier says that if you are looking to improve your ability to make decisions, there are 3 attributes that contribute to the improvement of the return on risks.

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People

Pace

Frazier asserts that we need at least 1000 hours of practice on a subject matter before you can be an expert or master a topic.

The thousand-hour concept is vital in making better decisions.

In areas where you don’t have a thousand hours of experience, you would seek for a number of people around you who does.

You might not have that number of hours but collectively and together, you would.

In his conclusion, Mitch Frazier sums it up that people in our lives guide us, passion in our hearts steer us and the pace of change gives us the opportunity to truly improve.

We are part of the people we spend the most time with, people who help you make decisions. It is like your own personal G7 roundtable members, people who guide you make better decisions because we are who we surround ourselves with.

The only way to make better decisions is by involving more people because there will be plenty of opportunities to use them.

This refers to fast and directional decisions. Think about the tough decisions, personal or professional, it is easy to get stuck in analysis paralysis. When we focus on pace, we would be able to make decisions faster and with pace we get more.

With pace, it would easier to steer back even in the incidence that it is a wrong decision. Pace is the reminder that we don’t have to make the perfect decision but, moving quickly helps us use all the information we have to improve the return on risks.

For me, through the years I have learnt that “the hard choices — what we most fear doing, asking, saying — these are very often exactly what we most need to do.” Frequently, this means resolving them through uncomfortable conversations.

The challenges will always be there, be it people, passion or pace, keeping in heart and mind that all is done within the

Passion

Organizations need smart people, but it takes more than intelligence to make a successful organization. It is smart and heart. Heart means you have to have passion. Applying passion in making decisions is beyond YES or NO, more than RIGHT or WRONG. We ‘pour’ ourselves in when passion is involved. Throughout the pandemic, we see it every day in schools, in health organizations, in public service. When we collectively make decisions from our hearts and with passion in the values we carry, we end up in a better spot.

confines of our organizations’ directions.

“What got you here won’t get you there.

Often, we regret the risks we didn’t take.”

- Marshal Goldsmith -

ALL GOVERNMENT FUNDED DRAM cache

Click-wheel

Multi-touch screen

NAVSTAR-GPS

DARPA

RRE,CERN

Doe,CIA/NSF DoD

DoD/NAVY

Lithium-ion batteries

DID YOU KNOW? The iPhone Technology

SIRI

DoE

DARPA

Signal Compression

First generation iPod

Army Research Office

(2001)

iPod Touch and iPhone (2007) iPad (2010)

Liquid-crystal display

HTTP/HTML

NIH, NSF, DOD

CERN

Micro hard drive

Microprocessor

Cellular technology

Internet

DoE/DARPA

DARPA

US Military

DARPA

DIANA MARIE

Diana Marie is a team member at the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service attached with Corporate Affairs who found love in reading and writing whilst discovering inspiration in Leadership that Makes a Difference.

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“Public sector leaders need to be masters of prioritisation and building the right team around them.”

Ismail Said CEO Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service

Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service KM20, Jalan Kuching Serian, Semenggok, 93250 Kuching, Sarawak.

Telephone : +6082-625166 Fax : +6082-625966 E-mail : info@leadinstitute.com.my leadershipinstitute_scs

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