By David Zerfoss
Transformers are not just 3-D animated robots in movies that are filled with sinister villains and imaginative heroes. They are real people who decide to make a breakthrough difference in other people’s lives. Purpose and passion fuel these incredible people.
Unfortunately, today’s business environment is being overmanaged and under-led. The change management theory still in vogue today is all about cutting costs, personnel, factories and offices, and not about building. Business leaders manage into a predictable future that lacks imagination and innovation. They take an extra measure of the past and push it into the present. They pass it off as strategy, and, at best, they achieve incremental results.
Today, many leaders’ self-justification and payoff is that they are “busy being busy.” To them, the sound and fury of activity assures them of their importance. They look stressed, are stressed and are stressful to be around. Simply put, their past informs their present. And, above all, they want to be seen as reasonable, so they do not dare to be so bold as to expect an impossible future.
Experience the transformation
Transformational leaders clearly understand the power of strategic thinking framework. They make distinctions about the past, present and future. To them, true power lies in the future, where their purpose takes wings and possibilities abound. Dr. Myles Munroe, in “The Spirit of Leadership,” sums it up wonderfully: “Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by passion, generated by a vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose.”
You could certainly tell if this person showed up in the room. These people attract others like a magnet. True leaders provide purpose, meaning and direction for those around them. Their invented future informs the actions they take in the present. They are about “being” the future they envision. They confront obstacles to their goals and do not accept reasons deeply entrenched in the past as roadblocks to their purpose. They take no time to admire barriers, and, in fact, they are intentionally being unreasonable in order to propel their organization into the future.
Strategic steps
How can you become one of these transforming leaders? Learn and follow three simple steps in a strategic process:
1. Thinking. The most important tool you have at your disposal is a blank sheet of paper. It is full of nothing and, thus, is unencumbered by the past. True transformation is about a new way of being vs. change, which is anchored in the past. Before you put anything on the paper, you must look into the future. Think about who you want to be. What do you want to become? What do you want to achieve? Now, can you see it? In the future, there is an unfettered opening for purpose, stand, possibilities, invention and creation. Exceptional leaders understand the demand for a clearly defined North Star that aligns them and their team. Effective leaders understand that where there is hope for the future, there is power in the present.
2. Conversations. To become this leader, what conversations do you need to have and with whom? One of the most powerful tools we have as leaders is the power of conversation. You must enroll and align both internal and external stakeholders, including customers. All stakeholders want to know who you are and what you stand for. What conversations need to take place?
3. Execution. This is the demand in the present for action and accountability to achieve results aligned with your defined future. As you con-tinue to visualize this person and this company in the future, what are they doing? What are they not going to be doing? What actions are they taking that drive their success? What are they achieving? These are your markers—your milestones-—you need to note on your paper. They will guide your future thinking, the conversations you need to have and the outcomes you need to achieve.
Envision it and become it
So many books have been written about strategic planning, and many consulting firms have built large businesses around this single task. They attempt to establish their value through complexity and volume of activity. Their plans often sit on a shelf and collect dust. Yet, the process is really quite simple. Envision and choose to be the leader you want to become. Choose those you want and need to have around you to accomplish your desired future.
When you are clear in your own purpose as a leader, life begins to take on new meaning. The road ahead becomes clear as it is filled with milestones that will guide you along the way. As you invent a new way of being, your purpose becomes your fuel and what “lights you up.”
Choose to be an exceptional leader and one who thinks, speaks and acts from your desired future. Gather around you others who share your values, understand this language and use it in powerful conversations. Take on a new way of being and transform into a leader who touches, moves and inspires others to make the impossible possible. The future is yours to invent.
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David Zerfoss is CEO of The Zerfoss Group.He is chair of a Vistage International CEO group and an executive in residence at Queens University, McColl School of Business. Contact him at www.TheZerfossGroup.com.
