The leadership dipstick: Are you business-ready?

In many fields of professional work, processes are instituted with relevant checks. Airline pilots obtain weather reports before putting aircraft in the air. Medical doctors conduct tests before making diagnoses and offering prescriptions. Musicians and sound engineers set up for concerts by carrying out sound checks. Ship captains do not leave seaports without completing pre-departure checks. Builders examine soils prior to laying structural foundations. These professionals do not fly blind or speculate about their outcomes. Furthermore, nations advertise their economies as business destinations with the expression, “ready for business”.

Leaders need to be ready for business by running checks on themselves and the companies they lead. As pilots use weather reports to be flight-ready, leaders should deliberately perform business-readiness verifications. Leaders like nations should be ready for business. This article offers four prescriptions which leaders can apply to be business-ready.

 

The Leader’s check

The first check to be business-ready is the leader’s readiness. A pilot has to be in a state to fly a plane before getting on board. If a pilot is unwell, tired or distressed in any way, the proper action is to opt out. Leaders have to engage in regular self-assessments. Leaders who do not want to be on the journey should not commence it. As Genghis Khan says, “The merit of an action lies in finishing it to the end”. Disengaged leaders are like pilots who are not flight-ready and elevate the possibility of a crash.

Personal business-ready tests for leaders include passion for the assignment, alignment with organisational objectives, having the appropriate behaviours, knowledge of the business and not the least a minimum level of competence. These tests are not one-off tests any more than a pilot will attempt to use last week’s report for today’s flight. Without business-ready leaders, businesses are merely getting ready to flounder. This idea strengthens the argument for organisations to intentionally prepare leaders for the responsibilities assigned to them.

 

Be environmentally-savvy

 

The ever-changing nature of the environment often makes the business terrain similar to a war zone. This similarity implies that leaders cannot stand still and be safe. When leaders fail to scan the environment for potential effects, disaster is often round the corner. Consider how an organisation moves from market leader to market laggard or even market graveyard.

 

A good case study is that of Nokia, which in 2007 accounted for more than 40% of worldwide mobile-phone sales. As customers shifted base to competitors, Nokia’s market share and revenue rapidly diminished such that by the end of 2013, Nokia had sold its phone business to Microsoft. This outcome emerged from the failure of the company’s leaders to be environmentally-savvy. They were not business-ready because they had wrong notions of the conditions in which the company was operating.

In the Nigerian context, we have witnessed banks such as Afribank become victims of ancient assumptions which did not translate to modern success. Leaders watched as the business climate eroded the organisation’s position and future. This former market leader ended up under regulatory control and eventually as an item of purchase for another bank.

 

Lead in the present

If the now of business is not taken care of, the future will never unfold. To be business-ready, leaders must have clear ideas about what is important for the present and how to translate these ideas to advantages. Without knowing what to do in the immediate to short term, the medium to long term is less likely to materialize. For example, sudden significant shifts such as increased regulatory capital or policy requirements will necessitate immediate action. In such circumstances, leaders cannot justifiably be conferring on the future without first securing the present.

 

In discussing current business challenges, the CEO of one of Nigeria’s oldest and leading conglomerates said, “We’ve been around for a long time and we’re in it for the long haul. We just need to provide leadership to get people through the storm.” This captures what it means to lead in the present.

 

Be a Chief Customer Officer (CCO)

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) title is much revered in the business world. For many climbers of the corporate ladder, it is the pinnacle of individual achievement. As desirable as the CEO title is, CEOs would do well to mentally, if not practically relinquish or alter it. A more appropriate title would be Chief Customer Officer (CCO) and this suggestion is not to detract from the well known roles of Marketing or Sales Directors.

To be business-ready, leaders should be devoted to how the customer is getting value and being served. The downfall of many corporate entities begins when they lose focus on the customer. Conversations about figures and profits that are devoid of the customer angle are subtle signals of corporate trouble. Profits are the result of interactions between customers and organisations. Business-ready leaders are customer-centric.

 

Ready for business

The words “ready for business” are not only for advertising nations but for leaders to announce to their stakeholders that they are business-ready. This calls for deliberate action. Assess: are you and other leaders in your organisation business-ready?

 

Weyinmi Jemide