Tag: uncertainty | Mariposa Leadership

On “Current Events Stressing You Out? Do This for a Saner, More Focused Workday”

Keeping up with the current events this past week – natural disasters, nuclear missile threats, protests and riots – is enough to put anyone on edge and induce low work performance and burnout. Whether it’s political turmoil or a reorganization at your company, employees who are concerned about their future are likely to be distracted and unproductive.

In his recent Fast Company article, “Current Events Stressing You Out? Do This For A Saner, More Focused Workday,” Art Markman shares some practical tips to help us keep calm, and stay focused and productive during uncertain times.

What do you think of his recommendations?

October 22, 2015 / Book Reviews

Book Review | The Attacker’s Advantage

The Attacker’s Advantage: Turning Uncertainty into Breakthrough Opportunities
By Ram Charan

Head: (5 out of 5)
Heart: (3 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 out of 5)

Senior leaders are familiar with strategic challenges inherent in executive leadership, including dealing with uncertainty. But in today’s business environment, a new kind of uncertainty has emerged: structural uncertainty, which can destroy the structure of an existing market space and reduce or eliminate it without much warning. Excelling in this new reality requires honing specific strategic leadership skills and abilities which, according to the author, Ram Charan, are different than those they’ve relied on in the past. This may be the last leadership frontier to master and those who can, give their companies an edge.

This book outlines the business case for structural uncertainty vs. other uncertainties, and offers practical tools and insights to help leaders develop the skills required to lead in this new business reality, including:

Ability to recognize sources of uncertainty and their implications before your competition
Mindset to see the opportunities present in uncertainty
Ability to see a new path forward and commit to it
Adeptness in managing the transition to the new path
Skill in making your organization agile to exploit opportunities and respond to sudden shifts

In a global business environment, companies that create change become market leaders and it can happen faster than we think. Executives who want to develop new leadership skills that can help their companies deal with this uncertainty and thrive in this new reality will want to read this book. Buy it now.