We live in a VUCA world.

• Volatile
• Uncertain
• Complex
• Ambiguous

Brexit, Trump and Putin are delivering the perfect VUCA storm. How to respond?

Leadership is about KSA – knowledge, skills and attitude. The world is moving faster than the knowledge and skills out there… and leaders are scarce.

Leadership is the defining difference, from playing fields to battlefields, boardrooms to basements.

In a crazy high-speed world, everyone must lead.

Today’s speaker roster is seriously crazy, so this’ll be fun.

And attitude? It’s the x factor, the winning edge.

How to navigate through ultra-turbulence? The answers are in my book 64 Shots, Leadership in Crazy World.

Today I’ll condense 64 shots and 40 years in business into 5 Ideas for steering through choppy waters.

1. DARE TO DREAM

LEADERS DO TWO CORE THINGS

•  Leaders create other leaders. Bob Taylor, leader of the group at Xerox PARC, which designed the modern computer interface, said: “You can’t pile together enough good people to make a great one.”
• Leaders inspire everyone they touch to be the best they can be, in pursuit of the purpose. JFK 1960s challenge to Americans: put an American on the Moon and return him safely by the end of the decade.

KR MARTIN LUTHER KING RAP

SAATCHI DREAM RAP

“To be revered as a hothouse for world changing ideas that transform our clients’ businesses, brands, and reputations.”

RUGBY: England rugby dream: “To win the World Cup in our own country.” All Blacks dream: “To be recognised as the best rugby team that ever played the game.”

POLITICS: Hillary had a slogan. Trump had a dream: Make America Great Again – with the emphasis on ‘again’ and all the powerful emotional implication of loss this statement carries.

 You need a dream, or all the practical stuff in the world won’t add up to enough.

An Inspirational Dream expands horizon of business possibilities to create the future.

Dreams are about reaching for stars, not counting them.

 A Winning Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

 “WINNING ISN’T EVERYTHING, BUT WANTING TO WIN IS.” ESPN “COACH OF THE CENTURY” VINCE LOMBARDI

 In a VUCA world, know what not to change. Saatchi keepers for the last 20 years:

1. The “Nothing Is Impossible” mantra.

2. Only hiring passionate, competitive, restless people (VUCA Tip: hire people who love chaos!!!)

3. The belief in and focus on the work, the creative product.

Four pillars create a winning culture. Four pillars in equal parts, every day:

RESPONSIBILITY

Winston Churchill: “The price of greatness is responsibility.” A leader creates leaders. Give people responsibility before they are ready.

Talent retention: great people stay in places where they can do great work.

“I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT ANY MAN’S FINEST HOUR, THE GREATEST FULFILLMENT OF ALL THAT HE HOLDS DEAR, IS THAT MOMENT WHEN HE HAS WORKED HIS HEART OUT IN A GOOD CAUSE AND LIES EXHAUSTED ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE— VICTORIOUS.” – VINCE LOMBARDI

LEARNING

Elevated responsibility should take place in a framework of learning, of playing in positon.

Fail Fast, Learn Fast, Fix Fast. SNAKE RAP.

RECOGNITION

Recognize people personally, individually, and not just financially. Truly value them.

 P&G – play like a team and feel like a family, caring and demanding.

JOY

Ditch Command & Control. Instead, treasure and reward Collaborate, Connect & Create.

Work / Life integration is an issue facing all businesses, as millennial men and women are not driven by Darwinian or Maslovian needs.

They measure themselves more by contribution / impact / happiness / wellbeing, by making the world a better place, and less by power / status / fame.

Today’s Happiness Hunters believe in YOLO – You Only Live Once.

Leaders inspire winning behaviors.

Losing Players vs Winning Players:

• Independent – Interdependent
• Me, my, I – We, our, us
• Point the Finger – Shine the spotlight
• Fearlead – Cheerlead
• Waste time – value time
• Pass the buck – pass the ball
• Cause stress – spread calm
• Procrastinate – Instigate
• Castigate – Collaborate
• Instruct – Inspire
• Sap energy – Zap energy
• Create uncertainty – Foster fun.

 BE AN IDEAS FACTORY

 Peter Drucker: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

In a VUCA world, fight crazy with crazy. Today’s winners are creative leaders, building an ideas hothouse, and unleashing the unreasonable power of creativity.

To Be A Creative Leader:

CHANGE THE LANGUAGE – Revolution begins with language. RAP: Chief Excitement Officer / Chief Magic Officer

Apple: Think Different; Stay Hungry; Stay Foolish; Why Join the Navy when you can be a pirate?

HAVE LOTS OF IDEAS

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling: “the way to get a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”

The cultures with the most ideas are best placed to win. Have lots of small ideas, continuously. Quickly. 5 seconds at a time.

SURPRISE WITH THE OBVIOUS

Uber, Amazon, Airbnb…  Spotify and Apple music…

Build your creative culture on 4 “I”s and 4 “E”s:

• Ideas. Intuition. Impact.
• Emotion. Energy. Edge.

Enthusiasm is core.

• GO TO WARP SPEED

Be Now-driven – not consensus / process / horizon-driven.

As Shimon Peres said to me: “A leader must decide. He says ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

Relentless execution is the killer app.

Here’s how most organizations ADE, and what creatively-led organizations do:

A D E:                         From                    To

Assess                             50%                      20%

Decide                             30%                      10%

Execute                           20%                      70%

Former attack and head coach of the England rugby union team Brian Ashton describes the “secrets” of the All Blacks:

• Win the ball.
• Win the space in front of them (i.e., go forward).
• Win the battle for continuity.
• Win the fight to set the tempo.
• Score tries.

Chess Grand Master Savielly Tartakower: “Tactics is what you do when there is something to do; strategy is what you do when there is nothing to do.”

4. HAVE ICE IN THE MIND

“THE NEW PARADIGM FOR LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT COLLABORATION AND CONNECTION. BUT WITHOUT CONFIDENCE, COURAGE AND HOW TO DEAL WITH CONFLICT, THEN IT MEANS NOTHING.” – GEORGE KOHLRIESER, VETERAN HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR

Grant Fox told me the key to winning test matches was to have “fire in the belly, ice in the mind.”

Bob Seelert put on my armor at Saatchi & Saatchi. He said: every morning, “strap on a waterproof back and a bulletproof vest.”

Leaders are mentally tough, with a blue head, not a red head, a psychological edge under pressure.

Business is a blood sport; the key is to make sure it’s not your blood.

Mental toughness means always finding a way to win. 

Mental toughness is a combination of mental capacity (five C’s) and toughness capability (five P’s).

CONFIDENCE Self-belief based on prior achievement, knowledge, and clarity of personal purpose.

CONCENTRATION Shutting out distractions in favour of focusing on the immediate task; and avoidance of negative thinking or negative self-talk.

COMPOSURE Remaining calm and focused when handling pressure.

CONTROL Emotional mastery that enables clarity of thought and action.

COMPLETION Envisage the final successful act of performance.

PRACTICE A systematic pre-performance routine of listening, learning, and executing skills/drills that meld with the desired state of mind.

PRECISION Recognizing and visualizing the necessary detailed steps required to perform at peak.

PROBLEM SOLVING Systematic adoption of affirmative coping strategies using practical knowledge and mental imagery.

POSITIVE Construction of a positive mental approach and attitude to all aspects of life, savoring life’s pleasures through anticipation and reminiscence.

PERFORMER Has success systems in place while using failure as a stepping stone for future achievement.

5. RUN THE WINNING EQUATION

How does it all come together? The equation for winning is IQ + EQ + TQ + BQ, all powered by CQ.

IQ A unique intellectual point of view is tablestakes. Business IQ is ability to Fail Fast, Learn Fast and Fix Fast.

EQ Los Alamos story

High emotional bandwidth wins the day, fueling connectivity and creativity.

People like technology but people love people. Without the mystery, sensuality and intimacy of Big Emotion, Big Data is just another level of parity, a table stake.

The premium territory is beyond respect, beyond reason, beyond brands. Do you want your brand liked OR loved? A Lovemark!

We live / work / play / shop / decide emotionally.

Reason leads to conclusions. Emotion leads to action.

TQ Make technology your slave, not vice versa.

BQ The execution factor again. Bloody quick!

IQ+EQ+TQ+BQ are all raised to the CQ quotient.

SUMMARY

In summary:

• Your challenge is to create other leaders, inspire people to greatness, believe, to act and to live by the ABCs. KR RAP: Ambition. Belief. Courage.
• Use the “I”s and “E”s to forge your creative culture: Inspiration. Ideas. Intuition. Impact. Enthusiasm. Emotion. Energy. Edge.
• Slam the execution button in ADE
• Remember your Qs, IQ+EQ+TQ+BQ x CQ
• And live your life in 3D:
  • Discipline
  • Desire
  • Determination