In the summer of ’97, while I was enrolled in an advanced strategy and business economics program (SBEP) at the wonderful University of Asia Pacific, we were busy forecasting the impact of the upcoming presidential elections in the Philippines.
Several groups of executives from different industries huddled up, crunched numbers, argued and came up with two outcomes at the end of a harrowing afternoon. First, the Philippines’ Peso which was at Pesos 37 would cross Pesos 40 to 1 U.S. Dollar before Christmas that year. Second, Senator Joseph Ejercito Estrada would make a dandy President for the country. Well, one of the two predictions did come true.
Scores of times since then I have seen businesses and business heads come together every year and figure out what the future holds for their business and how, precisely can they forecast, see ahead of the curve and drive their businesses strategically and fruitfully. It’s a great exercise and, well again, usually one out of their two predictions comes true. And, that is a good thing.
A better thing might be if leaders and organizations focus a lot more on exploiting the future that is happening right now in the here and now. Many a times, no, most of the time leaders of organization get so taken in by their intelligences and plan that they, in a way, put on blinders towards all else that may be happening right now and within their reach and scope. Innovation need not, always, happen in idea-generating rooms or forums. Innovative leaders need to keep a sharp eye out for what is happening in the marketplace in terms of change in demographics, weather, competition, technological advances and in the political arena. Our plans of action and our goals need to be placed in right front of us. Our hearts and hands need to be occupied with what is being created and, yes, our ears need to be kept on the ground because many a times the future that we plan to exploit is occurring right here and right now.
Raju Mandhyan
My upcoming open to public events:
11/17/15 Communicating and Leading across Cultures in Dubai: http://goo.gl/ajjp2l
12/14/15 Inspire Like a CEO in Mumbai http://www.genesistrainingevents.com/inspire.html
12/21/15 Appreciative Leadership in Bangalore http://www.genesistrainingevents.com/Workshops/ai-mail.html
Books on Amazon: http://goo.gl/OZSMj8
Posts on Facebook: https://goo.gl/MXQEqU
Talks on You Tube: https://goo.gl/dVclfm
Choice Clips from ExPat InSights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjf3sHaZBSo