Think like a heretic, questioning conventional wisdom, something AI does not do. Be ready to accept paradox and the fuzziness of ambiguity. The problem with ambiguity is that our brains are literally not wired for ambiguity. We are cause-and-effect engines.
Management is a single player game. It’s all in your head. In the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and a constant tsunami of hype, what has really changed? Are there new-fangled rules for managers in 2024?
What is different in management? Each year comes with another management and tech fad, thought to be ‘the game changer’, that soon fades into the mists of corporate obscurity, in the glare of the noon day sun.
Remember, for example: the balanced scorecard, reengineering, web 2.0, crowd sourcing, augmented reality, and ESG? These are fads like disappearing waves on the Mombasa beach, the tide being the underlying trend. Is there nothing new under the sun?
Critical to gobble up learning, like a hungry worker devours a plate of chicken and chips. And learn from the basic foundations of thought?
Be a perpetual learning machine. In the past, you went to school, got a qualification and practiced what one learnt for the next 40 years. Now, when it is hard to know what is going to happen at the end of the day, in many instances, what was taught five to 10 years ago is soon obsolete.
With an abundance of knowledge freely available, the internet has become a space for the possibility of world class university learning. Today it is not what you know; it’s the ability to learn that matters. Those that get just a little wiser each day stand out.
Humility matters
“Today’s most successful leaders listen… learn from others, exhibit humility… and bring courage and conviction to their decision” notes Clive Gillinson, artistic director of New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Listen to the words someone uses, not only what they say, but how they say it. Look out for ‘red flag’ words like, for instance, transformed, enhanced.
Is there real substance there, is it just mindless fluff? Watch body language. People are dying to tell you who they really are.
Ability to solve enigmatic problems
Astute problem solving – based on the scientific method - never goes out of fashion. With its origins dating back to the works of Aristotle, the scientific method approach proposed an examination of empirical evidence, as opposed to pure reason and debate.
Being able to apply inductive thinking, setting a hypothesis, a best guess, about what is happening, and then doing the work to figure whether it is true – is a required skill. Then comes, adapting, the possible pivot, based on the hard facts and figures.
Business reality is neutral, it has no judgements. It is the way it is.
Perception counts
Business awareness is everything. Being able to see what others may miss. Being able to connect the dots, and see patterns, where others see a chaotic jumble of facts and figures.
In Kenya, the next big thing, the next game-changing company will be based on the young founders seeing a need, an urgent customer problem, that others ignored and took for granted.
Invert, always invert
Be able to think forward and to shift into reverse gear. “Invert, always invert” advised legendary Berkshire Hathaway investor Charlie Munger.
Inversion thinking goes back to the Stoics, a school of philosophers in ancient Greece, dating back 2,300 years. Yes, it’s good to have a ‘can do’ optimistic mindset, but naivety can be fatal.
Map out on a piece of paper what possibly could go wrong, what is being missed. For instance, if the product launch of the new finance app failed, what would have happened? Think a few moves ahead like an astute chess player.
It’s often the case that “What you think will happen, doesn’t happen”. While thinking ahead about the multitude of first order, and second order consequences of action is tricky – it’s helpful to try and visualize the management problem on a logic tree.
Learn from 23 -year- old Alexander the Great
About 95 percent of the time when managers use the word ‘strategy’ they are talking about a good old fashioned ‘to do list’ like operational plan. A plan is not a strategy - a strategy is not a plan.
In 313 BC a 23-year-old Alexander the Great defeated the army of Darius with one million men, with a force of just 50,000. With a distinctive leverage point approach, based on insights about the ‘competition’, he wrote himself into the pages of history. Quite simply: Alexander understood strategy.
Think like a heretic, questioning conventional wisdom, something AI does not do. Be ready to accept paradox and the fuzziness of ambiguity. The problem with ambiguity is that our brains are literally not wired for ambiguity. We are cause-and-effect engines.
David J. Abbott is a director at aCatalyst Consulting. [email protected]
