Our Views

Leadership Solutions Philosophy

Since the advent of the industrial revolution, we have built organizations based upon hierarchy and command and control structures. Capital has been superior to people talent and we have increasingly relied upon management techniques to meet performance and profit goals.

For the more advanced societies to continue enjoying their lifestyles and remain ahead of other fast up-and-coming societies – China, Singapore, Brazil, India, Eastern Europe – and to cope with increasing moves to shift manufacturing and routine technical roles (bookkeepers, programmers, administrative staff) off-shore to less advanced societies, the advanced society members have to develop workforces based upon knowledge-workers.

At the dawn of the 21 st Century examples of knowledge-workers include financial advisors, software engineers, consultants, bankers, design engineers, entertainers, professional sports people, media experts, and so forth. Companies will be distinguished by their knowledge capacity, in the form of key competencies, and their customer/marketplace skills, in the form of key capabilities.

In these knowledge focused economies, highly talented and relatively worldly knowledge-workers will have different expectations and requirements to give of their best. “Manipulate and squeeze” and “command and control” organization environments will not suffice. A typical refrain from American managers is that they experience tremendous difficulties motivating the younger generation of workers.

Against this background Leadership Solutions, Inc. ® advocates a fresh approach to growing organizations within the 21 st century. Our traditional approaches to company growth have served their time. The way organizations grow in the 21 st century will be considerably different from methods used in the past.

We believe in . .

• business community environments (heterarchies) rather than hierarchies with “command and control”, which, in the final analysis, are anti-customer, anti-employee and coercive in nature.

• strategic positioning rather than strategic planning (which is an oxymoron) as a way of creating an enervating and knowledge-worker involved environment. leadership more than management – even though we need both – since leadership encourages a “challenged and empowered” work environment focused on “innovating and unfreezing” rather than the more traditional management environment of “manipulating and squeezing.”

• companies building their intellectual capital resources as their vital competitive edge rather than their financial capital resources. Intellectual capital is a barometer of future wealth whereas financial capital is more a measure of historical management prudence.

• innovation as a sounder long term strategy than efficiency.

• an environment of continuous renewal will be far more exciting for leaders and knowledge-workers than one of incremental change.

• organizations that choose this 21 st century framework for growth will learn how to “light fires within their knowledge-workers”.

Once this fresh approach takes hold the “sky is the limit” and supersonic organizations will be born.

Principles – Our key current principles include:

• Maximizing organizational growth by utilizing 21 st Century (knowledge-age) leadership practices and tools versus traditional industrial-age management policies and processes.

• Maximizing organizational growth by optimizing its leadership capacity, both as groups and as individuals, to build greater organization effectiveness. It is our experience that effective leaders are usually pretty efficient managers.

• Maximizing an organization's intellectual capital (people talent, brainpower, and its competencies [know how] and capabilities [innate customer skills]), so as to give it a vital competitive and wealth creating advantage

• Innate (organic) growth is invariably a more powerful, natural and effective way to build a business than mergers & acquisitions, re-engineering, restructuring, and so forth. These are all manmade devices that, more often than not, do not succeed.

Breaking Through Performance Barriers

Not Previously Thought Possible

“I'm struggling to make my organization grow.” “I'm using all my mental energy to solve this organization growth issue.” “I cannot raise enough money because of the economic environment and my organization issues.” “I cannot get my organization to perform well enough.” All of us can identify with these typical laments from CEOs.

A November, 2002, issue of USA Today entitled, “Poor Leadership Leads to Layoffs”, discussed a survey of CEOs which revealed that three out of five major firms believe the unsteady economy will continue and that they will have no option but to fire people. In other words, these CEOs have embraced the conventional wisdom of Wall Street analysts that, “If you don't have layoffs during tough times; your firm isn't lean and mean and you don't have a prayer of becoming highly productive.” The article writer then posed the question, “But what if this conventional wisdom is wrong?”

In fact, the article's author informed us that he had just completed a major research project on the relationship between layoffs and productivity. He was startled to find that the world's most productive firms almost never lay off workers. Instead, they cut costs and boost demand in other ways. This viewpoint exactly mirrors this writer's experience, where all his innovative and well-led clients never even think about layoffs. They just keep plowing ahead; trimming any excesses where necessary, taking market share wherever possible, re-educating and re-assigning their valuable people resources, and bringing new revenue streams to their businesses. Why is it they are able to do this?

Without a doubt they have found the secret of ongoing business success. And, because they are eager beavers who always want to be one step ahead of the game, they will very much find themselves attracted to a new business phenomenon called the Supersonic Organization. Absorbing this concept will become their passion, as is everything else they find business success oriented. As the challenges and opportunities of the 21 st century pile up, these no-layoff leaders will quickly appreciate the value brought by supersonic organizations where their businesses will be able to perform faster than the typical speed of their business . In other words, their firms will be able to break through performance barriers never previously thought possible.

The non-layoff leaders will come up to speed quicker than others because their organizations are already built upon many of the supersonic's principles – namely, building around the right business framework, knowing how to get their people fired up, and adopting a straight-talk leadership style. Straight-talk is where the leaders are genuine, plain-speaking and sincerely interested in the value of their people. Straight-talk is also associated with leaders who are competent, approachable and can build trust around them. Above all, straight-talk leaders minimize miscommunication between themselves and their people.

More specifically, their adoption of supersonic organizations will provide their firms with fuselages and wings (business frameworks and a purpose) built for high speeds. Complementary to this, they will have super-sensitive navigation systems (with exciting business missions and positioning devices) to guide them toward lucrative markets, as well as steering mechanisms (in the form of deep-seated rewards and business strategies) that will enable them to effectively maneuver in a highly nimble fashion. What's more, they will have communication devices (for both clear internal and external messaging) to keep everyone enlightened, real-time. Talented crews will occupy cockpits (key teams for pathfinding and holding their businesses on track), along with highly capable ground support crews to keep the supersonic firm fueled and aloft.

Critical to the enterprise will be the engine power. Without an engine with enormous thrust, the organization will never break through its current performance barriers. In the knowledge/information age, where organizations rely upon their Intellectual Capital (the brains and expertise of their people), it is vital to capture the hearts and minds of their associated knowledge workers. This can be done through factors that really turn them on, namely credible leaders, challenges, learning, excellence, innovative products/services, and so forth. With the right fuel formulation and engine size, the power will be awesome. It only needs an organization to overcome its performance denial to begin making this happen.

Most current organizations are gearing up for speed but because of their endemic cultures, they are trying to fly supersonic businesses with turboprops or at best with anemic jet engines. Based upon our traditional way of managing businesses, we spend more time trying to “light fires nder people” (which includes the “holier than holy grail” incentives) rather than “light fires within them.” When those internal fires are raging, you will have no doubt about the thrust of those jet engines.

In fact, it just so happens, there are at least fifty business factors – including straight-talk leadership principles – that are required to build and propel a supersonic organization. All of these factors are known to business leaders today. It's the combination that really counts!

When it comes to intellectual capital, which is now even more crucial than financial capital in today's business world, the majority of our current organizations are like aircraft with serious pressurization leaks; where the intellectual capital is fast seeping out of every side. To combat this dramatic waste companies have to build supersonic organizations, if they are going to break through performance barriers they never thought previously possible.

The demand for supersonic businesses and straight-talk leadership is now. Firms which grasp it today – and it is not unbelievable rocket science – will be way ahead of the game. They will also generate wealth levels to make investors extremely happy and allow for reinvestment in the future – to keep their supersonic organization vital, up-to-date and fun to be part of. It only takes a few steps to get beyond a firm's current performance denial!

As the author of the earlier referred to USA Today article pointed out, “Ultimately, layoffs are not caused by a weak economy, or industry trends, but by uninspiring leadership.”

Peter Arthur-Smith, Founding Partner