As all great (and unfortunately not-so-great) leaders know, there are many complex and difficult aspects to leading a business in times of change.  Based on years of experience working with some of the best leader in the world and observing how large global organizations really work, I developed this Business Leadership Framework for an engagement that I recently used as part of a leadership workshop to develop enhanced business leadership skills during times of disruptive change.  The focus of this Business Leadership workshop was enhanced communication skills and we utilized one of our newest business simulation platforms to provide participants with the opportunity to immediately apply new skills and learn-by-doing.

As hundreds of millions of fortunate American workers take a break from work and other meaningful pursuits to give thanks for our families, jobs, and opportunities it’s important to pause and reflect deeper on what got us here and where we are going in the future from a business leadership perspective.

The changing role of business leadership has never been more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous than it is at Thanksgiving, 2018.  We are at a pivot point in American and global business unlike anything anyone has ever seen and in my opinion, is barely prepared for.  In addition to the global economy, geopolitical issues, domestic political issues and the increased unraveling of basic moral standards, business leaders are going to be faced with two converging disruptions they are overpowering; Artificial Intelligence and Millennials moving into more advanced leadership roles.

A business organization is only successful if it can deliver a clear and powerful value proposition to its customers.  Whether you follow the strategic frameworks of Michael Porter, Michael Tracey & Fred Wersema, or Clay Christensen, they all lead to one conclusion; the most successful organizations in the world are able to empower its leaders and individual contributors to align and execute on a strategy that sells a value proposition that is a unique bundle of price, quality, service, marketing, and other factors that prompt customers to buy.

We all hear and participate in the business jargon and have either become immune to it or are completely amused by it.  I personally like playing a silent game of “Business Jargon Bingo” in my head when someone starts spewing the terms like “we need to stay in the swim lane,” “we need to do something new to move the needle,” “let’s set some time to get to know each other more and I will open up the kimono”, “we’ve got to start innovating to get off of this burning platform,” and of course the all-time classic, “we’ve got to get more voice of market data so we can understand the entire business ecosystem.”