YOU NEED TO BUILD CAPABILITY NOW. A CEO’s TRUTH.

I am surprised I’m seeing the level of tokenism in some organisations to address what are very real and significant challenges, issues, and opportunities.

What do I mean by this?

You know you live in a world full of complexity. One that is rapidly evolving. That is opening up new challenges and opportunities on a minute by minute basis. Yet I am seeing, too often conversations happening without follow through.

It is tokenism. Paying lip service. There is head nodding accompanied by statements like, “Mm, these are issues we need to address”, without any action.

The thing is, this kind of an approach will not save you. It will not keep you relevant. It will not keep you current. It will not allow you to be at your best., participating and contributing in your particular sector. And the same goes for your organisation.

If you are not keeping up, if you are not looking to the future and being proactive about the decisions you make and the action you take, in line with a bigger vision, then you will be left behind as a leader, as a member of a team, and in your contribution to your organisation.

Leaders must create the future now, not wait and see what will happen, how it will happen, and where they and their organisation end up. That is not a strategy for success.

“The future is up for grabs. It belongs to any and all who will take the risk and accept the responsibility of consciously creating the future they want.”

~ Robert Anton Wilson, American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic

Over 40% of CEOs globally believe their organisation needs to change the way it operates, in order to stay relevant and commercially viable. The World Economic Forum has suggested that more than 50% of the global workforce needs to be reskilled by 2030. And a further 40%+ will need to be upskilled. This is huge.

This year, 2024, is the year that will set the course for the next decade. It is a foundation year and it is the year that you need to make a difference. A token approach will not make enough of a difference for you. Now is the time to build capability, to invest in your people so they can contribute to creating a valuable future.

I don’t mean just a token half-day masterclass, I mean serious, sustainable capability building that will bring a serious return on investment for your people, for you, for your organisation, and set up your future.

Now is the time to build your capability so you can address the opportunity and challenge that is, for example, AI. Do you have a strategy? Do you have someone creating a strategy? Do you have a Head of AI Ethics or AI Curation? Who owns this in your organisation?

What about cyber security? How are you building capability in this area? What is strategy and implementation approach?

What about the need for human leadership, as the expectations of leaders continue to change? You know you need leaders who are equipped and skilled with universal skills to lead into the future.

And of course, now is the time to up-level your own leadership. To create your own future.

Of course, you still need to consider the challenges and complexity arising from ongoing burnout and fatigue in the workforce, from supply chain issues, from attracting and retaining quality talent that is going to support what you want to do. There is the evolution of the workplace, the new world of work from home, work in the office, work from anywhere, and all the different platforms being used. These are important things for you to lead, rather than wait and see what happens. Because when you wait and see what happens, you have no influence or control over your destination and where you fit in the world.

Now is the time to up-level your own leadership capability.

Waiting to address these things and the many others you need to consider, simply means the gap is widening between where you are and where you need to be. Over time it becomes harder and harder to close this ever widening capability gap.

Where to from here?

Pick something, anything, that means you are making a difference and building capability, in particular in your people. Capable people are more confident to participate in finding a way forward. To contribute, to adopt change, to bring their ideas and initiative to the table, to ask questions, make suggestions, to listen, to be open to new ideas, to collaborate, to engage and perform.

We need more of all this in our organisations.

I’d love to know your thoughts.