by Jamar Wright – Mind Food International
[KINGSTON, Jamaica] – On the front cover of Forbes Magazine in 2007, A question was printed across its page, it was a feature story of then global juggernaut of cellphone manufacture Nokia. It read, “Nokia one billion customers, can anyone catch the cellphone king?” The question speaks to the dominance Nokia had. But if a leader or any organization is not careful their own success can become their tombstone instead of a steppingstone. Nokia and its leaders were blinded by their own success. They didn’t feel the wind of change approaching over the horizon. The wind of change was swift, Nokia was left blindsided by innovation and lost it dominance. Once the cellphone king, now forgotten in an era ruled by iPhone and Samsung.
Recently a leader shouted, “This is how it’s always been done.” but little did he know that this statement signals the beginning of death of an organization or any institution in a continual changing world. Global competition, a recent pandemic and a rapidly changing consumer demand will force leaders to become innovative or die.
Success
Every leader should do an autopsy on his or her success. What brings you success last year might not bring you success this year because the global landscape is always changing. The greatest threat to tomorrow’s success and innovation is yesterday’s success. Many leaders have allowed last year’s success to paralyze their growth, they are busy worshiping last year’s success until it has become their graveyard.
As a leader do not let your last big thing be your last big thing. Who remembers the almighty Blockbuster who was dominating the movie rental industry? They didn’t see change coming and neither was Blockbuster innovative, they were living off decades of past success until Netflix emerged and forced Blockbuster out of business in 2010. What got you and your team here won get us there. You can be cutting-edge today and irrelevant tomorrow.
Parting Ways with Yesterday Success
To avoid this deadly trap of complacency, a leader should not sit on their laurels, but continue to growth and improve themselves in order to take their institution to the next level. Every single leader has a lid on them. And the institution they are leading cannot go beyond their leadership lid or capacity unless that leader grows and improve.
- Arrogance
We have arrived mentality. If a leader is not careful and level-headed then they will be swept away through arrogance and pride brought on by success. Leaders who are so impressed with themselves and what they have done that they stopped doing anything new. Like water eroding the bank of a river, so does stagnancy and comfort over a period erode the effectiveness of a leader to nothing.
- Unwillingness to Change and Learn
Blockbuster was faithful to whatever gave them success in the past but they missed a shift. Alvin Toffler, once said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Leaders’ ought to always be learning and growing. This place leaders in a better position to sense a shifting coming and make adjustments.
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Myopic View
Past success can cause a leader and their team to have a myopic view. In life and business its dangerous to have a myopic view. The music industry was shortsighted on selling records that they didn’t see streaming and Apple apps store coming which left music store selling records obsolete. The book publishing industry was fixated on selling hard copy books, one morning they woke up and found the industry completely transformed by Amazon Kindle. Books were now in e-copies and gave birth to a rapidly growing self-publishing industry. The brick and mortars are gasping for air as the mighty shift rolls in.
He who worships the past will remain in it. Leaders should never turn past shine into shrine, keep moving there are new territories to be conquered. Learn from past successes and kiss it good bye. Head into new frontier.
For Corporate Trainings, Leadership Events and Engagements, contact Mind Food International where they “Develop Leaders to Transform the World Around Them”. Visit them at www.mindfoodinternational.com or email them at [email protected]
