February 1st Newsletter: Reflections on Disruption, Flexibility, and Agility

Reflections on disruption, flexibility, and agility

Dear all, 

As we enter the month of February and reflect on the year ahead, I wanted to provide some of the brilliant business leaders and employees from my online community with a few tips on thriving in times of uncertainty. Indeed, it strikes me that the year ahead will be marked by profound changes, instability, and the need to make swift, essential decisions. I came across a fantastic quote that, I believe, perfectly summarises the currency situation businesses are facing, and how to react to it in the most effective way. I read this quote a few weeks ago, and it has stayed with me ever since. It is by the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal , who is currently Executive Chairman of ArcelorMittal. 

“Every industry today has to fight complacency, prepare to see the disruption coming, and then be flexible enough to adapt swiftly.” Lakshmi Mittal, Executive Chairman of ArcelorMittal.” 

Lakshmi is one of the world's prominent billionaires. He is known as a global businessman who serves on the boards of various advisory councils, and as a philanthropist engaged in the fields of children's health and education. He was born in Sadulpur, India in 1950, and he graduated from St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata, India in 1970 where he received a bachelor of commerce degree. Having completed his education, Mittal began his career in his family’s steelmaking business in India before establishing his own steel company in 1976. This small company grew to become ArcelorMittal, the largest steel manufacturing company in the world. Mittal is viewed as the greatest leader in the steel industry and is an active member of businesses and advisory councils around the world. I had the honor of meeting him during my various leadership roles at IBM - he is a man who embraces innovation at his core, which is why I found this quote so powerful! 

This quote made me reflect on the many needs of the world we live in. According to WeForum the overall global picture for 2023 is one of uncertainty, as we enter a phase of profound change. For instance, the IMF forecasted global growth to slow to 3.2% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023 from 6.0% in 2021. This is the weakest growth profile since 2001, except for the global financial crisis and the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lakshmi’s words teach us that in this context, we must not only adapt, but we must adapt “swiftly”. In the workplace, we don’t always have days and days to reflect on an issue and find a solution. Often, adaptation must be done rapidly and effectively. This requires skills that I’ve worked on for many years, and that one acquires through experience and resilience. 

But to me, the one crucial element that brings all of these aspects together is innovation and innovation-led growth. What I find fascinating, is that innovation has always saved populations from hardship and times of turmoil. For instance, in the 1950s after the wars and so much human loss, a huge electrification wave and new entertainment genres were born (like the Transistor Radio, portable music, etc), which helped populations rise up and start rebuilding life! The same thing can be remarked on in the lows of the mid-1970s when Microsoft was born, and as the dot com bubble burst in 2000 Apple launched their first iPod! I have always been a strong believer in innovation as the key to driving profound change and marching toward a better future. 

From 30 years of CEO ship, I personally saw the huge benefits of innovation-led growth. As we go through this Vortex of Change, I wanted to share this insightful piece by Dorie Clark, on strategy and innovation. Dorie says, “The responsibilities placed upon us are unlikely to diminish anytime soon. In fact, as we ascend in our careers — and as global competition further increases — it’s almost certain we’ll be expected to do more and produce more. Without a concerted effort, it’d be easy for strategy — yet again — to slip to the bottom of the to-do list, despite our protestations about its importance.”

I also love this article that shares ten ways to reimagine and reinvent our lives, our organizations, and our society. Point 9 in particular highlights how it is rapid innovation and technology that will continue to drive the foundation for growth.

Plus, this report from Bloomberg highlights the countries leading innovation, with South Korea ranking first. It’s incredible that Korea started its quest to lead the world in electronics during Thatcher's time as PM! It’s so so clear that investment in innovation needs to be long-term (and it’s often state-led).

So, what can do to generate true innovation-led growth, and sail through this period of great change? As I reflect on Lakshmi’s wise words and march headstrong in this New Year, I wanted to revisit some of my previous writing on the subject and lay out 8 key steps to personally and professionally embrace innovation. 

1. Stop trying to resist change

2. Practice cognitive flexibility

3. Learn and acquire the skills the world needs

4. Step out of your comfort zone

5. Change your leadership style

6. Acquire an adaptive positive growth mindset 

7. Work on your courage and resilience 

8. Find your joy and success at work

These steps will help you remain flexible, and adopt a truly innovative mindset. I hope you enjoy my 2023 Guide to Innovative in times of Hardship, and as always, reach out to me with any insights or questions. 

I. STOP TRYING TO RESIST CHANGE

I think that the key to innovation-led growth and remaining flexible in your life and work is to stop trying to resist change. I’ve had to remind myself quite a bit lately that change is really the only constant. Everything seems to change even when I thought it was a firm or a solid part of my life and I have been using these approaches that I have written about many times before to help not just cope but get the very best from the change itself!

Admitting that you have nerves about a situation to others is the first step to feeling at peace with a new adventure. It’s how you take away the power behind those fears and start to embrace the change in front of you as an opportunity to become even better because of it. So here are a few lessons from my journey of accepting change: 

I have learned that a quiet mind is not a mind with no thoughts. Rather, it is a decision you make to embrace every emotion and thought within you. Here’s the irony: When you embrace all your thoughts without judgment, no matter how annoying they are, your mind will calm down.

So don’t resist your thoughts. Don’t beat yourself up for thinking too much. If you do, you are giving yourself unnecessary stress and anxiety. Thinking is the core function of your mind, and you are going to hear mental dialogue whether you like it or not.

I have also found separation from the analysis helpful. For example, I love to hike. When I get to the edge of the moor or the foot of the mountain I don’t really think ahead. With each step I take, I admire the scenery and I savour the smell of fresh air. It’s a great way to become present.

The reason I can do this is that I know where I want to go, how to get there, and the purpose of my hike beforehand. This way, I clear my mind of all analytical thinking—about the past and future—and I can get into the present more easily. So what are your top tips for coping with constant change?

II. PRACTICE COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY!

Another important aspect of innovating is allowing your brain to process information, learn fast, and tailor your responses by using predictions and resources correctly. This makes you an effective thinker!

I absolutely love the BBC Ideas Series on these themes, and this little video is super clear, fun, and actionable. The Stroop Test is a fantastic way to see how fast your brain can adapt and learn. I had a wonderful example of this one weekend when we picked up a new tandem bicycle which is designed to be taken apart into smaller more transportable pieces and reassembled. This “Coupled Tandem” (called Sasiy ~ Sensational Adventures Starting In Yorkshire ~ Lassy) really challenged our flexibility, teamwork, processing new learnings from earlier in the day and when tired (cycling uphill a lot across the Yorkshire Dales!) and hungry trying to put the bike back together!

We managed it eventually but applying our new learning, aligning complex cogs, managing a most mischievous chain, holding the bike with two unfixed parts firm, and being kind to each other was a great exercise in cognitive flexibility and the best use of resources!

Do watch the short video, and I would love to hear your top tips, ideas, or recent experiences to improve your brain's flexibility.

Continuing on the subject of rewiring your brain to allow yourself to innovate, I thought I would highlight this fantastic Ted talk by Lisa Feldman Barrett . It explains how people's words and actions can shape our brains - about plasticity, wiring the brain, and how we humans are ultimately a social species that require social interaction for our health and wellbeing.

I also love the point on how we can regulate each other with words - “a kind word may calm you, like when a friend gives you a compliment at the end of a hard day. And a hateful word may cause your brain to predict the threat and flood your bloodstream with hormones, squandering precious resources from your body budget”.

Treating ourselves well with confidence and self-encouragement is the font of flowing positivity and support to those around us as we start to be able to have real human contact again.

And, as the talk confirms - we are not at the mercy of our emotions! We can trigger, contain and manage them more than we perhaps recognized. 😊

III. LEARN AND ACQUIRE THE SKILLS THE WORLD NEEDS! 

As we enter this period of instability, we must also reflect on the kind of skills we will need in the future to thrive, innovate and grow. Never has the war for talent waged so furiously, and never have the skill gaps been so great!

This BBC article headlines: UK 'heading towards digital skills shortage disaster': 

We are emerging through a vortex of change, health, climate, technology, and deep inclusion. Baby Boomers are retiring & entering more purposeful work and phases of life. Tertiary education enrollment is dropping globally and employees are no longer “lifers” with many more turning to entrepreneurial pursuits and lifestyles.

So how do we fill this chasm of opportunity in the talent market?

These are the top 10 job skills of tomorrow, as stated by the World Economic Forum: 

Whether it’s creativity, originality and initiative, resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility, or social influence and communication skills we can start with small steps on the path to honing these capabilities particularly the critical human and life skills as AI and ML change so many roles.

I also found this infographic from Visual Capitalist really interesting. It lays out the 20 fastest-growing jobs in the next decade and maps the constantly changing employment landscape for the future. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there will be 11.9 million new jobs created from 2020 to 2030! So let’s dig into these fascinating - and worrying - predictions.

Nine of the top 20 fastest-growing jobs are in healthcare or related fields (blue bubble). Home health and personal care aides will account for over one million new jobs in the next decade, and almost 10% of all new jobs created between 2020 and 2030! Yet, these workers are the lowest paid on the list. Isn’t this deeply troubling, especially in our times when healthcare workers are already underpaid, and overworked? Many of them must leave the profession due to working conditions and low pay. This issue must be addressed!

Another interesting point is the decline in office and administrative support (purple bubble). This is concerning, as this category currently makes up almost 13% of employment in the US - the largest of any major category! Having been an executive for many years, and incredibly grateful for the work of administrative support and assistance, this raises the need for improved admin and diary management software/capabilities and C suite execs learning to use them effectively!

Production of goods and services (green bubble), as well as sales jobs, are also seeing declines. These account for a huge proportion of current jobs, which begs the worry of mass unemployment! Thankfully, new opportunities will arise, for instance, computer numerically controlled tool programs. But this means acquiring the skills that the world needs tomorrow! 

See my newsletter on this topic!

What will happen to craftsmanship, as mass-produced items eventually kill off handmade work? How can we protect our watchmakers, jewelers, and shoe repairers?

The pandemic provided us all with an opportunity to rethink our lifestyles, what we buy, how much we consume, and whom we value in our societies. Can we reimagine a better post-Covid future, where professions are fairly remunerated, and the value of human labour is appropriated, recognized, and valued?

IV. STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

One important aspect I wanted to delve into, is stepping out of your comfort zone. Part of riding the wave and allowing yourself to generate innovation-led growth is stepping out of your comfort zone. This is something I’ve had to do so many times in my career, and I wanted to highlight this fantastic graphic, which reminds us all of the power of pushing through our fear and stepping out of our comfort zones! It is so crucial to seek out what seems unfamiliar, unsafe, and uncomfortable once in a while. It allows us to gain self-confidence, live life more fully, and ultimately build better relationships with ourselves and others!

So, push through that fear, acquire new skills, and begin to find purpose! Without taking a few risks, you won’t discover your true self! Which comfort zone are you currently in? 

Stepping out of my comfort zone always reminds me of my wonderful maternal grandmother. She was Welsh, beautifully dressed, worked in the advertising & could cook brilliantly! Her big message to me was “Don't be around people who think you are ordinary, you’re not!” plus “Don’t pick at your food, we need plucky girls, not picky ones”. I totally love this quote from Alexandrea Borstein, an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. 

Borstein voices Princess Reina Fellow Princess on Destiny's Side and Lois Griffin on the animated comedy television series Family Guy and won a Primetime Emmy Award for the role. Here’s why she advocates stepping out of line! Gave me Goosebumps - You? 

V. CHANGE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE 

One of the topics I write the most about is leadership, and it fascinates me to think about ways to adapt our leadership style when experiencing great change. How do we lead change? And how can we lead to encourage innovation? 

With my Historian Hat on, I just finished “The Age of Austerity 1945-51”, by David Kynaston, a striking nonfiction epic (which I highly recommend) on the post-Second World War period in Britain.

History has brought us many examples of individuals who displayed extraordinary leadership under certain circumstances but were unable or unwilling to subsequently change their leadership approach. This superb article from MIT by Tom Hunsaker and Jonathan Knowles underscores my own experiences of profoundly changing approaches to leadership in five different industries, in businesses at very different stages whilst living and working on four continents.

“The enduring requirement of leadership”, the Sloane Review highlights is to be “contextually effective. Effective leaders it seems are those who adjust their leadership approach to suit the context and challenges they face."

Here are the Top Three imperatives for leading effective change in yourself and others. Together these three actions can create the conditions that we need right now, and help us achieve the Nirvana of Innovation Led Growth.

1. Drawing the map

Great leaders recognise an issue before it becomes an emergency. They consistently map the changing dynamics of the company’s environment and create a clear, prioritised vision for where the business should be heading.

2. Establishing the mindset

Ensuring that the executive team has more than just a cognitive understanding of the map. The leader’s mindset drives a shared conviction about the necessity of change and enthusiasm for the improvements that successful change will bring about.

3. Communicating the message.

If the map credibly identifies the needed change, and the mindset creates the appetite for change, the message is the key tool for activating that change among the broader population of employees.

Throughout my personal and professional journeys, my leadership style has certainly changed significantly many times, as I adapted to my environment, audience, and the needs of my co-workers.

IV. ACQUIRE AN ADAPTATIVE, POSITIVE GROWTH MINDSET 

So much has been written about the importance of mindset or a mental frame/attitude particularly as it relates to innovating and learning. To ask 'where can I learn more' is, I believe, critical for a growth mindset. The importance of always wanting to learn more, and to do it with real vigour, can help us achieve so much in comparison to those with a more fixed mindset. 

I strongly believe that a focus on an inclusion and diversity mindset is also a vital accelerator to growth and allows great leaps in productive learning. Teams made up of individuals bringing different cultural experiences, varying cognitive skills, fields of expertise, and demographic experiences to problem-solving can create extraordinary new services, products, and solutions to huge problems.

This is so important as we emerge into 2023:

1. How is mindset impacted by our abilities?

With a growth mindset, you are in control of your skills. You believe that abilities are built vs born and your focus helps you to learn and grow.

2. How important is an effort in a new mindset?

An effort is one of the key ingredients to growth. Just like training for a marathon, skill-building is a process that requires endurance to become better!

 3. Can a growth mindset and a fixed mindset co-exist?

As complex cognitive creatures, yes, we can demonstrate a growth mindset around for example new tech and skills but be a little fixed and unlearning in our approach to certain relationships, rituals, and habits! 

 4. How can failure be positive? 

With a growth mindset, you bounce back from failure, using it to learn more and fast! Some of the greatest inventions were once thought to fail – airplanes, light bulbs, pacemakers, and penicillin!

As we strive to embed a culture change in our lives and work via a growth mindset we are going to need huge help from boards, senior management, and all of our colleagues but what an exciting quest!

For me being adaptive and having your own set of personal learning strategies is fundamental to my 2023 growth mindset approach 

Another important aspect of innovating and adopting a growth mindset is remaining positive! I am generally a glass-half-full sort of person, bursting into each day with energy, gusto, and momentum, and I think that now more than ever, people should maintain positive mindsets! This Daily Telegraph article on rebooting your brain to gain a more positive mindset is terrific! It reminded me that we can rewire our brains and that we are totally in control of our own mindsets.

I have also been using many great tips from this fantastic Fast Company article over the past year. 

1. Choose to be a tank filler ⛽

Imagine that you and everybody on your team have an emotional fuel tank that they carry around with them. When a team member’s tank is full, they’re recharged, excited, and ready to get to work. But when their tank is drained? It’s tougher for them to muster up motivation and enthusiasm. You can’t always do something about the external factors that deplete people’s emotional tanks. However, you can focus on being someone who helps fill tanks back up during your time together!

How to fill your own and your teams’ tanks:

🗣Offer truthful and specific praise and appreciation

👍Provide recognition for a job well done

👂Actively listen to people

😃Use positive non-verbal communication, such as big smiles or providing your undivided attention during a Zoom call

2. Encourage Psychological Safety 🧠

In all the teams I have worked in, I’ve tried to create an environment of fairness where everyone is a favourite and all views are welcomed. Importantly, I’ve always kept my teams deeply inclusive, diverse, and trusting. With individual & collective trust, you can be yourself and a fabric of psychological safety is woven that allows all to focus & excel on the mission.

3. Emphasise Learning Over Winning 🥇

Team members of all ages, need to feel they are learning daily in structured and unstructured activities. Providing skill-based programs, shadowing days, internships, assignments & sabbaticals creates loyalty & focus that propels success.

4. Identify and celebrate little victories ✌

Stop often to shout about the successes calling out rockstars, heralding the team, the wins, & the delights!

Would love to hear your ideas and how your mindset and that of your team are shaping up!

VII. WORK ON YOUR COURAGE AND RESILIENCE 

Resilience is central to this newsletter. Without resilience, we cannot generate innovation-led growth. While it is necessary to have a strong level of resilience in ourselves so we can continue to learn and grow,  we also need productive happy groups to drive our purpose-led ventures in these tumultuous times of change. 

In my opinion, at the core of high-performing teams lies resilience, and here are my and HBR’s Top 5 Tips to keep your team resilient. I have found across 4 continents and in 5 different industries that following this guidance creates high performance, the results required, and great joy!

1. Resilient teams are richly diverse, brought together because of their age sex colour, physical & cognitive abilities, and gender identity.

2. Resilient teams profoundly love the mission and understand the deliverables and crucially their roles and responsibilities.

3. Resilient teams know that collaboration doesn't equal meetings! Design Thinking collaboration and then bringing the output to share and iterate.

4. Resilient teams build caring, supportive relationships with each other, with a strong emphasis on EQ and opportunities to demonstrate empathy.

5. Resilient teams feel a collective responsibility to lift each other's energy and well-being, always thankful for each other in every role.

This article is a very useful resource!

Building resilience also means managing stress better! In the last weeks, I’ve been reflecting on two big learnings: 

1. I need to improve still further my relationship with the control
2. I need to better understand root causes and link learning with action

As a deeply researched resource, this HBR article has proved v helpful, and is worth digesting:

On control - being able to separate out what you can and cannot control is essential. When you’re overwhelmed, it’s easy to assume you can’t change your situation. There are issues that may always be outside of your control. Ask yourself, “How close am I to the root causes or decision-makers in these circumstances? Do I have the skills, information, resources, or relationships that enable me to change or influence this situation?”

For elements that you can’t control - recognise that you do have the ability to choose how to interpret or frame them!

It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, emerges.

This super New Yorker article delves into how people learn to become resilient and how perception is key. I found the research into child resilience deeply intriguing...

"From a young age, resilient children tended to meet the world on their own terms.' Though not especially gifted, these children used whatever skills they had effectively. Perhaps most importantly, the resilient children had what psychologists call an ‘internal locus of control’, they believed that they, and not their circumstances, affected their achievements."

I love this perception and mindset and have started using it in a much more deliberate manner to help frame my perception combined with one of my favourite Chinese Proverbs, "All things are difficult before they are easy.”

What advice and techniques for resilience can you share? 

Resilience comes hand in hand with courage, and I really enjoyed this Harvard Business School article and graphic on courageous leadership, and what courageous leaders do differently. Give it a read! 📚

I have distilled my own insights from running businesses on a very large and small scale across four continents and five different industry sectors, from the highest of tech and the most complex of global Supply Chains to the hardest of travel, airlines, and hospitality roles.

Here are a few tips that I have drawn from my own experiences, on how to be a courageous leader:

1. Treat no one or everyone as favourites.

2. Admit when you don’t know, or make a mistake.

3. Make tough calls & communicate as if everyone was a family member.

4. Share openly when You need more learning and information.

5. Always hire those stronger than you in their key areas.

6. Fight to ensure true diversity, inclusion, and equity in all hiring, progression, and retention decisions.

7. Always stand up for what you believe is right for the mission: leadership isn’t a popularity contest.

8. Demonstrate deep empathy and consistent compassion for your teams.

9. Confront poor behaviour however strong the performer.

10. Be known for your ethical core whilst driving innovation-led growth

Adapting to change and generating innovation-led growth may require some patience - and let me tell you, I am not blessed with much patience. My energy and commitment usually galvanise significant sustainable change pretty fast but it seems some great things take time. In Indonesia, they sometimes say “Patience is the Weapon that Forces the Hand of Deception!” But I have never experienced this! 

I’ll be honest with you, Mission Beyond is a perfect example of this. We are focused on investing a lot of time, volunteering human capital and energy to ensure that we achieve a big societal and cultural change, creating opportunities for many young people - and we are doing this with our brilliant National Digital Infrastructure Open Doors. 

It's challenging and taking slightly longer than anticipated but we are determined to keep forging ahead and make this change happen. I talked about how I must improve and adapt to rise to these challenges and my Mum reminded me that diamonds are created under pressure so I keep driving forward and it will be our time at Mission Beyond time to shine and deliver Open Doors, delivering good jobs to millions of people in the future! 

Thanks to Manny Amadi , Marie, Catherine, Ged, John, Vicky, Michelle, Ella, Jawwad Marta Isobe, all at Avanade , Microsoft , Greene King , and the many other wonderful giving souls who are helping us. 

VIII. FIND YOUR  JOY AND SUCCESS AT WORK!

I wanted to end on this amazing graphic 10 Ways To Be Sensationally Successful at Our Jobs! Whatever work we are doing, we want to be great at it right? This Top Ten List is not only fun to apply, but highly effective! 

My favorite ways, that I live and breathe on a daily basis are:

1. Go the extra mile early and often

2. Find a way to stand out

3. See your manager as a person you help, not someone who tells you what to do

4. Never forget why you were hired

5. Create your own project

Perhaps one of the most important elements in the search for effectiveness and innovation in leadership and business is to find joy in what you do! Without joy, you cannot truly fulfill your tasks with the required level of energy and drive to succeed! I really enjoyed this HBR podcast, which delves into ways to improve the role you have, and find joy in your job! Here are my main takeaways from it: 

1. It is crucial to be vocal to your managers about what you like, or don’t like doing! A simple “Hey, I really enjoy this!”, or “Is there an opportunity to do less of this?” goes a long way. Your firm will come to a better understanding of what you are good at, and where you wish to progress in your career.
2. Your dream opportunity might be available to you within your firm, and you are not aware of it! Before leaving your job, did you consider asking your boss if there was an opportunity that matched your interests more than your current one? 
3. I loved the wonderful Marcos Buckingham’s advice to have more intention and more vividness at work. Don't just put 20% of your energy into your work! Can it be 50% that day? Or better yet, 100%! Take initiative! Don’t wait for somebody to give you permission because they can’t read your mind. Instead, can you take it upon yourself to learn something that elevates a natural love into a contribution?
4. Some people say, “You should do all the things you hate first so that you’re then rewarded by doing the stuff that you love.” Mark advises the opposite! He starts with all the things that make him happy, so it gives him energy! Then, once he has this energy, he can confront the unpleasant tasks. 
5. I have often shared that the concept of “work-life balance” is flawed, stressful, and misunderstood: “Nothing healthy in nature is balanced. Everything in nature is moving!”. There may be moments when your work takes more of your time and others where you can concentrate more on family. Don’t try to strive for a perfect, constant balance: things change, so go with the flow!

I hope to have given you the courage and strength, as well as some useful tips and advice to march through this period of profound change with resilience, flexibility, and adaptability, and to truly drive innovation-led growth! ! Let’s all keep Lakshmi’s words in mind as we strive to do our very best at work, and adapt our business and leadership styles to fit the world’s deepest needs. These times may be difficult, but I have always believed that the challenges life brings us are always here for a reason: they allow us to grow, learn from our mistakes, and prove our abilities to the world. As always, do share your tips and insights! 

How are you adapting in these times of change? 

How do you personally drive innovation-led growth?

What have you learned from last year’s hardships? 

How do you plan on making 2023 your best year yet?

Love it when you reach out with ideas and inputs as always, I send you my warmest wishes to you!

Harriet Green