Better Business AG
“Business leaders need to make conscious and informed decisions about the right organisational set-up and the right culture and capabilities to improve resilience and enable a new level of innovation for an exponential and uncertain world."
RALF SCHNEIDER
Managing Partner
Better Business AG
Location: Zurich
LEADING FROM THE FUTURE Part II
FRAMING THE CHALLENGE:
WHY NEXT GENERATION BUSINESSES WILL BE RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE
“I have been speaking about next generation business and advocating next generation leadership for some 20 years. The writing has been on the wall since the 1980ties and 90ties. At that stage, I was a researcher at a university in Munich.”
I was looking at the impact of complexity on the structure and operating model of knowledge-based network-organisations and their performance and culture. Since then, business complexity has been increasing exponentially, fuelled by globalisation, the IT - revolution, the internet and warp-speed digital innovation. Now that the age of complexity has arrived, businesses need to think about how to survive and thrive in this new normal, while responding to the growing expectations of societies relative to their role and their contribution to the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve. Much has been written about this, some progress has been made, most work still needs to be done. Conscious, responsible leadership is the key to open the door to that future and make it inhabitable for all of us.
In the first part of this series we examined how, over time, the change in business context has driven organisations to upgrade their operating model from a First Generation towards a Next Generation model. Most businesses still have a long way to go on this path. We concluded that sustainable competitive advantage and performance in the digital economy, and successful business transformation and innovation requires a Next Generation culture and leadership mindset.
COVID 19 has heightened the urgency for business leaders to rise to this challenge. Apart from the negative impact on people, societies and the economy, the crisis seems to have elevated the awareness and willingness of organisations to review some of the old behaviours, ways of working and assumptions at the core of First and Second Generation operating models.
In this second part of our series on ‘Leading from the Future’ we frame this challenge and examine what it takes to build a resilient Next Generation business. We take a closer look at the underlying dimensions and dynamics of the required transformation towards a purpose-driven and agile organisation, specifically from a culture and leadership perspective.
We will look at the required qualities that determine Next Generation organisational capabilities and outcomes. This will provide a framework within which to explore the emerging role and capabilities of Next Generation leaders and the conditions under which successful cultural transformation can occur...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ralf Schneider is the Founder and Managing Partner of Better Business. With an academic background in business, he has spent more than two decades in leadership roles as Partner and Senior Executive in the global professional and financial services industries. As an executive, he has led large scale culture and leadership initiatives transforming global industry brands. As a thought leader he has been contributing to the development and practice of Responsible Leadership as a new model of leadership for Next Generation business. He has spearheaded award-winning talent and leadership initiatives linked to building leading global industry brands. He works with C-suite executives and their teams to shape and implement strategy and culture transformation. As the Chairman of the International Consortium for Executive Development and Research (ICEDR) and a Founding Board Member of the European Corporate Learning Forum Ralf takes an active interest in the development next generation talent and leadership practices. He is a frequent contributor at international conferences, publications and corporate leadership events in Europe, Asia and the US with a focus on culture and leadership transformation.
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