NOTABLE
» A Harvard Business School working paper once estimated that key leaders spend as much as 60% of their time in meetings and less than 4% of it thinking about the future.
A never-ending challenge for leaders is to find the right balance when thinking about the past, present, and future of their business.
QUOTABLE
» Winning Words
Of this I am quite sure, that if we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.
– WINSTON CHURCHILL
Speech in the House of Commons, June 18, 1940
The only thing we know about the future is that it is going to be different.
– PETER DRUCKER
Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices
The future will soon be a thing of the past.
– GEORGE CARLIN
Napalm and Silly Putty
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DOABLE
» 3 Key Plays
1. Learn from the past
It’s not easy to spend time evaluating the past so that we understand what to keep doing and what to change. We know it’s important, and yet two unhealthy extremes are common among leaders. One is that we obsess about the past and the other is that we ignore it.
We can obsess about failures or successes. An over-emphasis on mistakes typically creates a toxic culture fueled by criticism. Romanticizing and constantly reminiscing about our successes, meanwhile, blinds us to changing realities.
On the other extreme, we can become so visionary that were always looking through the windshield and never glancing at the mirror. As a result, we repeat mistakes we easily could have avoided.
2. Live in the present
If we’re trying to figure out who to blame for a fire or what to do once the fire is out, we can miss the opportunity to actually deal with the fire. Leaders need to effectively act on the challenges of the moment, or neither the past nor the future will matter much. That means we need the lessons from the past to inform the time, attention, and resources we devote to today’s pressing needs.
3. Embrace the future
Rishad Tobaccowala, who will be my guest on the next episode of Off the Rak, has a chapter in his latest book that explores the need for leaders to understand certain realities regarding “machine-human coexistence” in the future of work.
“The first reality,” Tobaccowala writes, “is that we don’t have a choice. AI and other technologies are going to be adopted, improved, and rolled out whether we like it or not.”
In other words, the future is an unstoppable reality, and we’re much better served by working to shape it than by responding to it after its taken shape around us.
Thus effective leadership is all about learning from the past and living in the present while embracing the realities of the future.
The Monday Playbook delivers a quick, motivational plan to help you win your week as you tackle universal challenges in leadership, business, and life.
