In fact, futurist Peter Fisk says markets are accelerating four times faster than they did 20 years ago, based on the accelerating speed of innovation and the diminishing life cycles of products. As a result of this and the rise of automated solutions, the McKinsey Global Institute has predicted that 375 million workers worldwide will be forced to differentiate occupationally by 2030.
This unparalleled journey we are on poses the challenge of where to go for support, and with this in mind, five experienced business leaders and experts – all contributors to Success Secrets of Disruptors – share their wisdom on how to navigate the shifting ways of working and living into the new year.
Perfect your use of horizon meetings
Meetings are often boring, long and ineffective, with the main outcome being to have another meeting. In times of systemic change, we need solutions to complex problems. For communication consultant, Kate Faragher, the answer is horizon meetings: meetings that require decisions to be made about problems on the horizon.
“The secret ingredient to great meetings is to be both confused and conflicted. A good horizon meeting needs to feel messy and uncomfortable. Participants should feel a level of confusion. If you allow the discomfort, you allow new ideas to emerge”, she explains. “As well as this, positive conflict requires everyone to be able to voice their discomfort. To facilitate conflict in meetings, set out some guidelines to help people know how to communicate during conflict, use visual prompts and ask people to build on ideas rather than state opinions.”
“The secret is to navigate our confusion, feel comfortable with conflict and facilitate braver, better solutions by thinking together.”
Getting out of your own way
“You have a power flowing through you that, if you harness and cultivate, can make all your dreams come true. However, you must win your inner game with your thoughts and feelings and win your outer game with your words and actions. You can turn any limiting conversation into a powerful roar”, says Marilise de Villiers Basson, high- performance coach and TEDx speaker.
She emphasises that people must use their mental faculties to help them get out of their own way and achieve their dreams.
“If you’re not happy with your current results, it’s time to disrupt your mind. You have an extraordinary mind, with six higher mental faculties, your superpowers – imagination, intuition, will, memory, reason and perception. You’ve been gifted an intellect, and by using your six higher mental faculties you can tap into this thought world to dream big and build ideas. To change your results, you are going to have to change your thoughts, feelings, words and actions. It’s that simple.”
Making the most of technology
For Anthony Basker, a tech founder who specialises in digital transformation, to be successful, disruption has to have a widely adopted benefit, and technology is often the partner disruption needs to take root.
“The technology for the fax machine – the electric printing telegraph – was invented by a man called Alexander Bain in 1843 whom nobody has heard of. It wasn’t until Xerox produced the first fax machine in 1964 and sold it into business communities the world over that a successfully disruptive event occurred”, he explains.
“For many people, technology is disruptive in its own right. However, technology can also be seen as the servant of disruption, a means of delivery developed in response to resolving a frustration. Another way of looking at it would be that technology is the partner of disruption. When you consider the fountain of disruption that is Apple, it seems evident that the devices they produce, while beautifully designed and engineered, are developed as servants of society.”
Stop looking for a purpose
Jane Young, highly acclaimed speaker and future of work expert believes that the process of disruption to create a better world begins with the creation of a better self. To do this, there are three steps, beginning with no longer looking for a purpose:
“On a personal level, the search for purpose brings existential angst to many a disruptor. For most of us, the search for an answer to the question ‘How do I find my purpose?’ induces a tortuous tailspin that depletes our energy and culminates in endless false starts that erode self-belief and hamper the realisation of our disruptive potential”, she says.
The second key is crafting a bold and epic tale of disruption”, she continues. “Disruptors are visionaries: they see things that others don’t. As agents of change, we need others to see what we see too. It all starts with crafting a narrative so meaningful and moving that it induces belief-shifting epiphanies. Once the epiphany has occurred, the practice of behaviour change begins.”
“Thirdly, create feedback loops. Agility is about a ‘test-and-learn’ approach, seeking feedback as early and often as possible to optimise what we’re doing and stay on track.”
Try new sales techniques
“An experienced and successful salesperson will tell you that relationships are the key to any sale, and that trying to challenge or teach the customer is likely to lead to reactance and defensiveness”, explains B2B sales performance specialist, Tim Robertson. Tim emphasises that changing the way we approach established practices such as sales can provide the disruption workplaces need.
He continues: “challenging this narrative, the best salespeople are those who can challenge their customers’ assumptions without offending them. By showing empathy for your customer’s position and then showing them an alternative view through storytelling about another customer similar to them, you can help change their perspective.”
Conclusion
The way we work is continually evolving, with many leaders worldwide feeling the pressure to make the right decisions. It is the ‘disruptors’ – those that challenge the status quo – that will lead people in the right direction and create the change society needs.
The contributing authors for Success Secrets of Disruptors are Anthony Abell, Anthony Basker, Marilise De Villiers, Kate Faragher, Daniel Hammond, Roddy Herbert, Chris O’Hare, Owen O’Malley, Barry Paisley, Paula Petry, Sarah Piddington, Anthony Pollock, Tim Robertson, Malcolm Tullett, Jane Young and Mark Young. They are all members of the BIP100. Standing for 'Business Is Personal', the BIP100 Club was founded by Penny Power OBE and Thomas Power and is an exclusive community of like minded experts, professionals and business leaders.
