The Inner CEO – how to take control of you

The Inner CEO – how to take control of you

Shane Cradock – ‘The INNER CEO – True Success is an Inside Job’

I think when I was given a copy of this ‘The Inner CEO‘ I assumed I would be reading another book about CEOs – how they at first failed and finally succeeded.  But the bye line ‘True success is an inside job’ – was the hint I missed. Having picked up the book at the weekend I pretty much devoured it – and my preferred bye line would be ‘take control‘ rather than ‘true success is an inside job’. The author is very much vested in the book – and starts out with his own very serious life experience. And this sense of commitment to what he puts forward is consistent throughout the book – and lots of examples drawn from his considerable experience working with business and sports people.
 

Timing for me

Perhaps the timing was right for me.  Almost two years ago I came across August Bradley and his ideas around Life Design – tracked through the Notion product. And I used this to put some structure around objective setting, daily planning and review, habit tracking, etc. and somewhere around this time I also began to build meditation into my daily routine. So when I read ‘The Inner CEO’, while I took some comfort from some of the changes I had previously made, I also saw a more holistic model for what I am trying to do – or looking for.  This book rang bells and is full of practical advice and ideas. The purpose of this review is not to summarise ‘The Inner CEO’ but to give you some sense of where it caught my attention and imagination. These days as a business advisor difficult to get away from Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, etc – today that included an excellent MIT lecture on fundamentals of foundation models, recording of Rishi Sunak interviewing Elon Musk and recording of the opening presentation at Gartner three weeks ago – AI, AI and AI.  More information overload.  And, of course, Shane references this under the ‘brains can’t cope’ topic with which we are all too familiar.  But the real point is his reference to  the ‘ability to be present and have clarity‘ as being the key skill for the 21st Centriy – for any of us.

Knowledge and AI

As I have researched AI recently I have spent considerable time thinking about learning, knowledge and ‘wisdom’ – in the context of trying to understand where we may be headed with AI – and the ongoing discussion of whether we are already seeing the first signs of Artificial General Intelligence (‘AGI’). Just reread Simon Winchester’s excellent ‘Knowing what we know – the transmission of knowledge from ancient wisdom to modern magic‘. In many ways it forms an excellent background to many of the challenges we all face in achieving ‘true success is an inside job’. When the author introduced the concept of seeing yourself as an ‘observer’ of your own mind and thoughts I was at first taken aback.  But as he explains the cocept it seemed to make complete sense. And he develops this beautifully in the book – with examples and ideas around why you want to do this and how you go about it. I remember 45 years ago learning Latin: a very smart teacher and his insistence that we did not use a dictionary in working through previously unseen texts.  Learning to sight read for piano exams something similar is required – some ability to relax and go with it (get in the ‘flow’).   Or, although was never a great cricketer, when I did get runs it was like you could not miss – felt like the bat was twice as wide and you could hit the ball anywhere. Good discussion of similar ideas in the book – and explanation of the ‘flow’. The Inner CEO has a number of ideas for assessing and addressing your mood – we all have swings (both directions).  Loved his idea about a ‘slow walk’.  I used to walk the dogs with my headphones on – listening to Audible, Spotify or podcasts.  My daughter told me that when walking the dogs I should listen to them – and be available to them.  So right – and, in many respects, this becomes the ‘slow walk’. On something similar had a discussion last week with an old friend – dumbfounded we spend so much of our ‘travel time’ listening to paodcasts – wanted to know when we listen to music.

Good models and practical advice

The Inner CEO has a number of models which I think explain why so many of us are not in control – when you read the book lookout for Projectors, Missiles and Icebergs. All good ways to explain challenges and opportunities to take control.  Each section finishes with ‘Some things to reflect on‘ and ‘somethings to sit with‘.  I am already sitting with a couple of things referenced and a couple of the ‘things to reflect on’ will be factored into my current daily and weekly reoutines. There are also a number of links to supporting tools and materials – I look forward to checking these out as I look to drive success through the inside job.          
Psychological safety at work – 3 musts to achieve the baiscs

Psychological safety at work – 3 musts to achieve the baiscs

Just came across this piece by McKinsey: ‘What is psychological safety?’ Rang a few bells for me – in the context of change, post COVID, business reorg, major projects. And also in the context of pursuits outside work e.g. finding your level in a cycling group, coaching a football team, building new relationships. Psychologicial safety at work is just a sine qua non.

Definition

Psychological safety means feeling safe to take interpersonal risks, to speak up, to disagree openly, to surface concerns without fear of negative repercussions or pressure to sugarcoat bad news‘. Seems a reasonable definition for many different settings. I think often overlooked is the responsibility of the manager or supervisor to be available to facilitate ‘speaking up’ – in different situations. Maintaining a very busy status all the time is tantamount to killing the safe psychological space.

What is the reality?

Per McKinsey: ‘Psychological safety is not a given and it is not the norm in most teams’. If you believe that psychological safety is important for the individual and important to the development and sustainability of the organisation then this assessment should be of great concern to any organisation finding itself in this status.

Leadership development

I have always thought the first basic requirement for any effective manager is to take an interest in team members. There should be time to ask how are things going, how was the weekend, how are the family – or whatever works for some genuine interaction and listening. Think McKinsey right on the requirement for ongoing leadership development:

    • Go beyond one-off training programs and deploy a scaled system of leadership development. 

    • Invest in leadership development experiences that are emotional, sensory, and create moments of realisation.

    • Build mechanisms to make development a part of leaders’ day-to-day work.

Again, if people are your number one asset, if providing a psychologically safe environment/ experience is a priority, then failing to invest in development of these skills across the leadership team is, simply, failure.

Mental health

Now seems to be on everyone’s agenda. Some of the stigma associated with talking about mental health challenges seems to be dissipating (but far from gone). McKinsey identify a number of practical steps – and I think ongoing changes post Covid, change in hybrid work and impact of AI will all drive greater requirements to understand and manage mental health.

Lower earners

Lots of good sense in this paper from McKinsey. But this last piece really caught my attention. Work is made up of people of different abilities, education, age, career direction and earnings. But all need psychological safety – all are needed to make the business work. And perhaps in the lower earning group there are greater challenges and insecurities – need to be aware of this and act accordingly. In a different environment the backs may not be making the money the forwards make but you need the whole team. In fact when the backs let you down the cookie crumbles pretty quickly.

Getting strategy right

Will be interesting to see how Elon Musk and Tesla go forward – what changes, if any, getting strategy right. On the face of it looks tricky: slowing global economies, higher finance costs for consumers, significant additional capacity coming on line, competitors catching up, Tesla cars more expensive than previously.

Musk has attracted mixed coverage for his Twitter take over – at the same time as his car company is experiencing these challenges. How much does the Twitter acquisition impact sales of Tesla cars? Are current/ potential Tesla owners concerned that the founder may be distracted? Are Tesla shareholders concerned?

But Musk and Tesla have been and continue to be innovators – and competitors should not underestimate this commitment to getting the tech right, creating new experiences for drivers. Why would Tesla not continue to deliver new ideas, innovations, enhanced experiences?

In some ways reminds me of Ryanair and Michael O’Leary. O’Leary has been the people’s champion – low cost flights, enabling travels for the masses. He has not always been popular – and some of his PR stunts have not always been well received. But he has stayed focused, he seems to have used each recession as an opportunity to strengthen his business. He has created capacity heading into (or during) downturns – only to accelerate in the upswing. He has weathered economic downturns and COVID19.

Will be interesting to see how Tesla moves forward. Reminded me of Rumelt’s ‘Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The core of strategy work is always the same: discovering the critical factors in a situation and designing a way of coordinating and focusing actions to deal with those factors. A leader’s most important responsibility is identifying the biggest challenges to forward progress and devising a coherent approach to overcoming them.

WFW (Work from Wherever) – not just WFH (Work from Home)

The game has moved on and we need to accept this. Covid19 has driven WFH (Work from Home) – or as I prefer to think of it: WFW – Work from Wherever.

The challenges of WFW

I am reading about the challenges posted by WFH or WFW. City centres are empty – empty office blocks, empty shops and restaurants, empty car parks, empty bars. Retail in city centres dying on its feet – shop owners unable to pay rent and rates.

The benefits of WFW

Those of us who need to get to work (e.g. hospital workers) can get there -no traffic challenges. Kids will be able to get to schools. Roads will be safer. And more room for cycle paths. And less pollution. And lots of us are enjoying working from home – no commute, cheaper to dress and eat, more relevant to our families (kids in the morning,drop/ collect, etc.).

Have we thought about how to make WFW work for us?

Yes – we have done the basics. Internet access, remote access to work systems, cloud based applications. conference and video calls. Some even have docking stations, multiple screens and fold away desks at home. And some are using collaborative software.

But most of this is basic. We have not yet really thought about how to make WFW work for everyone. How can all of the advances in technology be used to enable people to work MORE EFFECTIVELY by Working from Wherever? How do we do this without losing the positives of WFW? As businesses we want to be more productive and more profitable – or more sustainable. We have been looking for ways to motivate our teams, to encourage innovative thinking and to retain key talent. How do we leverage WFW without screwing it up?

Rethinking work – with teams Working from Wherever

We still want to grab market share, be profitable, be attractive to new talent, improve quality and efficiency, reward our stakeholders, grow. Can we do this more easily with a team who spend, say, 70% of their time WFW? How do we redesign processes around planning, marketing, product development, manufacturing, support and maintenance – to work better, when the team spend 70% of their time WFW?

Why digital transformation?

What are you trying to achieve through digital transformation?

The challenge is to look at the current business and think through how a new entrant, starting today, would construct a competing business – without a digital transformation, per se? The new entrant will not have the market presence, the customer base, the team, the systems and processes developed, modified, integrated over a number of years. The the new entrant may not choose to compete on the same basis.

Opportunities for new entrant

Where will new entrant prosper? Focusing on particular sectors, different supply chain, different business model, less capital investment, scalability, flexibility, different workforce structure, leveraging new and/or emerging technologies, pricing?

Why transform digitally?

If we can see real advantage for a new entrant – through leveraging digital solutions – then we probably cannot afford to ignore this. If the digital solutions will enable delivery of better services or products, more aligned with customer needs, at a discount to out cost base, then we have little choice but to transform. Otherwise we are relying on costs of entry etc. to preclude the new entrant taking our business.

What have I in mind when thinking digital transformation?

I need to imagine building my current business in today’s market place – leveraging changes in the market, in customer needs and the opportunities presented by current technology. The actual transformation bit is the important bit (if it is required) – the digital piece drives the change (ie the requirement to change) or enables the change.

Should we still be talking about digital transformation?

Probably not. I tend to think moving from paper to digital is less digital transformation than simply catching up. Writing things down on paper ad trying to share information thereafter belongs to another era. Digital capture and digital processing should be a given by now. The opportunities for transformation leverage the data being in a digital format. Many of these opportunities do not arise if paper based e.g predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, Extended Reality.

Conclusion – why digital transformation?

Being digital is a requirement – should be a given. Capture once, store, analyse, safeguard, whatever, stop wasting people’s time – empower customers and employees. If digital is a given then we need to talk about the opportunities presented through the new technologies and leveraging them differently. It’s the age old challenge of continuing to reinvent onself, seeking sustainable competitive advantage. Digital is just part of the environment and ‘digital transformation’ probably does not need to be called out as a separate or identifiable activity. Unfortunately, for now, we have many businesses who have not yet digitised – for them the challenge os one of staying relevant in a digital, data agile, world.

Unlearn by Barry O’Reilly

Barry O’Reilly has written, ‘Unlearn’, a stimulating book for anyone interested in change management or business transformation.  In every walk of life we need to be able to set aside our preconceived ideas and take a fresh look. And this is the theme of the book.

Working with IAG

O’Reilly references in some detail the work he did with the IAG team some time after the appointment of Willie Walsh.  And he obviously has a proven method – and supporting tools – for getting senior executives out of the office and into a creative environment. In my own consulting work over the years I have always seen major benefits in getting people out of their day to day working environment.  It never ceases to surprise me how reluctant many CEOs seem to be to free up the time to make this happen.

C.S. Lewis

The book draws on many experts and is full of memorable quotes.  My favourite is from C. S. Lewis: ‘You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending’.  This seems to me to speak to so much to the reluctance to change, the resistance to kicking off transformation programmes.  Do not waste too much time thinking about what went before. Preferably celebrate it. But look to what you can influence: changing the ending.

I have run many projects in the past focused on business process redesign.  More recently I have become a convert to Lean – focus on customers, constant process improvement, work in the Gemba and relentlessly seek elimination of non value add. Barry O’Reilly references Toyota in a number of places – and picks out a quote from Taiichi Ohno which very much supports the Unlearn approach: ‘We are doomed to failure without a daily destruction of our various preconceptions’.

Leader challenges

O’Reilly sets out a number of challenges for current leaders – and is not shy about their likely need to unlearn much of that they practice. I thought his reference to entities with too much focus on cost cutting was interesting: risking resulting in people who cease to solve problems for themselves and embrace disempowerment.  His definition of the job of a leader would challenge many: to design systems to enable people to experiment with potential opportunities and learn as quickly, cheaply and safely as possible while they discover how to achieve the desired outcome

In conclusion I thought this was a pretty good read – and introduces a number of interesting references.  While I thought the pace of the book slipped in the second half, I do not believe this detracted much from the value of the book as a read for anyone looking to lead change or business transformation.