An excerpt from Transfluence: How to Lead with Transformative Influence in Today’s Climates of Change
Most leaders will tell you that the world is moving faster than ever—that the pace of work and the pace of change is creating unpredictability like never before and that tomorrow things will only move faster. There’s little comfort in the fact that the world—good, old planet Earth—is actually moving slower. Atomic clocks indicate our days are about 1.7 milliseconds longer than a century ago.
Great! That’s nearly two extra milliseconds to squeeze in more of… something!
One of the consistent markers of the human race is our insatiable drive for progress. And yet, progress requires change, and change is uncomfortable. With every decade, change comes faster and faster. We welcome the advantages and conveniences that change can bring. If we stumble upon an unfamiliar word, we can ask our phone—or some other voice-activated device that’s connected to the Internet of Things—and have an answer within seconds. Artificial intelligence is advancing so quickly that one of your devices might be reading—and having emotional responses to—this book that it will share with you in your book club. Much of the developed world has speed-climbed Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. We no longer spend days traveling a few hundred miles or wait weeks for a letter so we can learn the “latest” news from friends and loved ones who don’t live nearby. Everything we need, and most of what we want, is available and convenient. With the basics taken care of, we can devote our energy to esteem and self-actualization.
But many of the world’s advancements have us wigged out. Artificial intelligence and automation, for instance, breed fears among those who see them as a threat to their personal livelihoods. Consider the typical account representative at a large company who has traditionally taken and managed client orders over the phone. Now those clients can place and manage their orders online and track them on their phone or tablet. Rather than engaging in the changing world and finding a better place in it, those account reps, and workers in similar situations, face a temptation to resist—to isolate themselves, withhold information and ideas, or disrupt progress in hopes of building job security.
Even those who are willing and able to adapt to the changing times fear that they might lose their jobs in favor of younger, more tech-savvy workers with less experience but smaller salaries. And there might just be some merit to those fears. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty told attendees at the IBM Think 2018 conference that business and technology are converging in ways that happen about once every twenty-five years and that, “it has the potential to change everything.” That change will cost some workers their jobs, she admits, but it also creates the need for what she calls, “new collar” workers who have the “ability to work with technology in everything you do.”
The blazing speed of the modern world keeps us well-informed, which can lead to more timely decisions and, especially for nimble organizations, pivots that create tremendous competitive advantages. At the same time, the accelerated pace creates pressure to act without context, which often results in flawed decisions.
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While instantly accessing boatloads of information can help us respond quickly to challenges, its pounding presence can create a distraction that diverts our focus toward the trivial and away from people, rest, or purpose. We have less time for others, or even for ourselves, while pouring our attention into the information that arrives non-stop at our fingertips.
The pressure to work non-stop can erode work-life balance and creates a heightened pressure to perform or risk getting left behind, especially in sectors like tech and finance. In some cases, people are working themselves to death. The Japanese actually have a word that describes this: karoshi, which literally means “overworked death.” There were 189 deaths in Japan in 2015 that were attributed to karoshi, ninety-three from suicides and the rest from heart attacks, strokes, and other illnesses directly related to overwork.
Despite the ever-so-gradual slowing of the earth’s rotation, leaders are squeezed for time when it comes to adopting to the new environments that define how work gets done. All of this makes disciplines like rest, reflection, and contemplation difficult to embrace, even though, paradoxically, they are central to wise decision-making and healthy leadership.
Psychologist Stephanie Brown, author of Speed: Facing Our Addiction to Fast and Faster and Overcoming Our Fear of Slowing Down, says the culture of instant gratification and no limits actually creates an addictive high.
“What are the costs of speed addiction?” Brown asked. “We live under a weight of demands, real and imagined, that is debilitating. We see an alarming increase in stress-related disorders of all kinds for all ages, beginning with elementary school-age children who are struggling with obesity, depression, anxiety, attention disorders and all kinds of learning disabilities, a list of problems for all ages.”
Acceleration creates a vicious cycle, she said, because it promotes overstimulation and overscheduling that create stress, which affects our health, moods, and behaviors, and so we try to work faster and harder (and we likely overmedicate), all in an effort to keep up with expectations, real or perceived.
Given all of the challenges associated with greater access, growing diversity, and the pace of acceleration, the world craves leaders who demonstrate a high degree of empathy, transparency, and authenticity. Leaders who look outward to others and not inward to themselves. Leaders who can hold diverse groups accountable and yet be sensitive to their changing needs. Leaders who can demonstrate quick thinking and decisive action with informative openness during the process. And leaders who demand excellence at high speeds but also bring a sense of balance and purpose to their lives and the lives of those around them.
That’s all easier said than done, of course, but transfluence isn’t impossible, and it’s certainly worth the effort. It begins with a simple, timeless premise: Leadership is not about you; it’s about the influence you have on those you touch. From that starting point, we can follow a prescriptive path of self- discovery that unpacks and applies the universal truths and innovative best practices. These values weren’t born in the digital age, but they provide the foundation for managing access, diversity, and acceleration in ways that build trust and serve the greater good. Thus, they shape our quest for transformative influence within the complex climates of our modern world.
Lead with Transformative Influence
Transfluence shows leaders how they can have transformative influence by overcoming their fears and pride, building transparency into their leadership, developing a strong core of authentic values, and passionately pursuing a meaningful purpose.
Available Now.
