Turning the Principles into Action

It is that place in the book where we put it all together. Let’s begin with why the book was written in the first place. The world is now a very different place and many of the things that have made it different had their beginnings before the great pandemic of 2020. The pandemic simply amplified and accelerated their impact. The age of know-it-all executives no longer exists. Digital media now amplifies, distorts, and accelerates the spread of information. Good ideas and bad ideas now travel faster and farther. People have never been more informed or more misinformed. Organizations and workplaces that seemed strong and predictable now look woefully weak and chaotic. There is a growing misalignment between the workforce and the “work” organizations have to offer. All of this creates a growing context for leaders that is “out of sample”. It is something that has not been experienced before. Yet, many solutions to these challenges are mistakenly crafted from prior “in-sample” experiences. Hiring people from underrepresented communities and simply placing them in an organization that is built for the majority is an example of an “in-sample” solution to an “out-of-sample” challenge. The same is true for hiring new college graduates who are aware of and accomplished at virtual work. Today, the workplace and work have a different meaning than they did five years ago. Organizations must transform and adopt modes of innovation to match new expectations, new systems of values, and new frontiers of possibility. However, to truly achieve it, leaders must first realize that they have not encountered this challenge before. It is often a mistake to frame a challenge and extrapolate solutions from what you have seen before. Incremental changes and approaches will likely fall short of the mark; breakthrough ideas are the path forward…