Leadership is really hard even when things are going great.  It’s even harder when things are not going so great.  And unfortunately it is inevitable that there will be a technological disruption, a downturn in the economy, a natural disaster or something else unexpected.  Great leaders lead through the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly.

It is one of the most difficult leadership challenges faced everyday by leaders of people, leaders of leaders, and leaders of businesses; how to connect the minutiae of managing daily tasks to the global business strategy that is being executed by your company.

In the world of a “typical” employee, there are many distractions including the global 24/7 day, too much work to manage with limited resources, social media, unlimited sources of news, family obligations, and regular life (like banking and getting dry cleaning).  The challenge to leaders is how to create a culture and support it with processes to make sure there is alignment, collaboration, focus, and ultimately the best business results.

We wanted a nice quiet and pleasant dinner at a great restaurant so we could prepare for the next days’ big day of delivering Business Acumen for Sales Professionals at a client’s Global Sales Meeting.

As we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by three hostesses that checked us in.  It became quickly apparent that each one of them had some sort of pre-scripted greeting;

• One asked us if this was the first time at the restaurant (it wasn’t)
• Another asked us if we would like to go to the bar first or sit down (we just wanted to sit down)
• The third asked us if our party was all here (no, actually we were going to be 4 instead of 5)

Part 4 of 4 on Understanding the 2016 Business Headwinds and Tailwinds

Five Things to Think about from a Business Acumen Perspective: Part 3 of 4 Covering Understanding the 2016 Business Headwinds and Tailwinds

In part 1 of my 4 part series on what will cause business headwinds and tailwinds during 2016 and what they mean to you from the Global Business Acumen perspective, I discussed, The Age of Emerging Market Urbanization. In part 2, I discussed one of biggest challenges on almost every CEO’s list, the effects of accelerating change of technology in the business world.