The undercurrent of geopolitical and economic uncertainties is disconcerting and troubling. To help myself remain centered, I’m turning toward one of my heroes - Maya Angelou. Specifically, I’m reminded of the poem she wrote and delivered at the Clinton 1993 inauguration ceremony - ‘On the Pulse of Morning’ https://poets.org/poem/pulse-morning.
The poem helped me reflect on the sense of oneness, unity, responsibility, and hope. May we all lean into each other and serve and support each other as we navigate the waters ahead.
How You Make People Feel
Maya Angelou famously said, "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." This month’s leadership blog is a list of feelings you can instill when you lead and manage well.
Safe - mentally and physically
Feeling physically and emotionally safe helps us all to show up as our best selves, in order to perform the tasks in front of us, in order to learn and grow.
Like you’re ‘enough’
Feeling like you’re ‘enough’ is a sense that the efforts you just made and can’t change are enough. This doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from our mistakes or that we won’t do better next time, but it does mean that we accept what we can’t change, and learn and grow so that we can do better, be better next time.
Included
Feeling welcome and included as part of the team helps us align to others, serve others, while making direct contributions for the good of the team.
Accepted and Confident
Feeling fully accepted for who we are, feeling supported and embraced through ups and downs, feeling that others have our back helps everyone to better think, speak and act with more confidence.
Committed and Connected
Feeling committed and connected creates a longer-term commitment to a team and a common purpose.
Curious and Courageous
Feeling connected to a team, and committed to a cause helps us be curious about how we can each make a contribution, and, if we are also feeling safe, welcome and accepted it helps us be more bold and more courageous as we participate.
Collaborative and Empowered
Feeling all of the above emboldens us to experiment with being more collaborative, empowering us to reach higher and do more.
Continuing to feel all of the above will help us be more resourceful and more resilient as we work on delivering actionable results, serving a common purpose.
As a leader and manager, you can help others around you remember you in a positive light, with fondness, by contributing to a virtuous cycle where we each feel like a part of something larger than ourselves.
Notes from last month’s When She Speaks Online Program
FountainBlue's April 11 When She Speaks program was on the topic of 'Build Customer Experience as the X Factor'. Please join me in thanking our esteemed panelists.
We were fortunate to have such an engaging, inspiring and experienced panel for this afternoon's call. They had a wide range of backgrounds, but had much in common:
They are bold continuous learners who are as strategic in their planning as they are consistent with their ability to deliver results.
They are other-centric and supportive listeners who put people first, while delivering on business objectives.
They are exceptional organizational representatives who articulate well why and how their companies are excelling at putting customers and employees first.
Below is a compilation of their advice on how to build customer experience as the X Factor.
Build Trust-Based Relationships
Relationships based on trust are foundational to any customer experience.
Focus on the Overarching Strategy, while delivering on the requirements.
Set clear expectations aligned to the customer's objectives and deliver on key metrics.
Communicate clear guardrails which are aligned to the desired outcomes, realistic on expectations, and add value to stakeholders.
Ask the WHY behind a customer request, for their request may not be the best option for addressing that WHY.
The problem, as defined by the customer, is more important than the technology, as it might apply to that customer.
Choose to Innovate.
Consider the difference between incremental, orthogonal and transformational innovation. Focus on delivering transformational innovations, collaborating with customer requirements.
Ensure that you have the required people, process and technology capabilities to deliver on customer innovation requirements.
Be bold, erring on the side of action, moving courageously to solve problems.
Fail fast and respond agilely when problems arise.
Enable, empower, engage and include your team, so that they are better able to deliver to the needs of the customer.
Be clear on roles, responsibilities and deliverables and be proactive about communicating them and shifting them when necessary.
Get to know your team and the individuals on the team, considering everyone's needs, wants, expectations, stereotypes, etc.,
Interact with radical candor - being both direct, transparent and kind, in order to raise the bar and bring out the best.
We ended by talking about how the customer wants you to 1) know them, 2) offer them choices, 3) value them, 4) trust them, and even 5) anticipate their needs.
*That* is one high bar, but imagine how much better we can perform as individuals, teams and organizations if we strive in that direction.
Notes from this month’s Front Line Managers Online Program
FountainBlue's April 4 Front Line Managers Online program was on the topic of 'Change Management Best Practices'. Please join me in thanking our panelists.
This month's panelists represented a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds, but they had much in common:
They are other-centric, focusing on delivering results for internal and external customers.
They are wise, accepting that change will happen and proactive about managing and working through the changes.
They are continuous learners, ensuring that everyone learns from changes.
Below is a compilation of their wisdom and advice.
Be the Leader.
Adopt your personal moral compass while also aligning to the corporate values, despite the constant changes impacting yourself, your team and your organization.
Monitor the market and technology trends and, where possible, manage how and when a change impacts the team and organization.
Consistently communicate clearly and transparently the WHY behind the change.
Proactively manage the communication with stakeholders to help facilitate buy-in around the change.
Distinguish between the brainstorming time, the planning time and the execution time. At the time of execution, there must be commitment, even if there's still disagreement.
Empower and Enable the Team.
Create a culture which welcomes diversity, collaboration, agility and learning.
Include the supporters and the laggards/opponents around the change.
Listen with empathy and openness.
Break up really big projects into smaller, more digestible pieces.
Encourage and support buy-in for a change, but don't insist on it, forcing a fit.
Help the team measure what matters and tweak the plan based on these measurements.
Work with the team to streamline processes and operations so all can better collaborate and communicate.
Challenge and Stretch Yourself.
Seek opportunities to learn and grow into the best version of yourself.
Learn to fail fast.
Aim for the 'aggressive' goals, but be wary of the 'impossible' goals.
Manage your emotions and focus on making measurable progress for your stakeholders.
Make connections which support your growth.
The bottom line is that we must respect that change happens, and that the pace of change will impact each of us differently. So managing change means both developing a plan *and* rolling with what actually happens, despite our best-made plans, and learning throughout the process.
Notes from last month’s VIP Roundtable Online Program
FountainBlue's April 12 VIP roundtable was on the topic of 'Leading Industry 4.0'. We are grateful to each of our executives in attendance for their insightful comments and advice on how to best lead Industry 4.0. We framed our discussion with definitions, with the support of perplexity.ai:
Industry 1.0 refers to the first industrial revolution, which began in the late 18th century. Industry 1.0 was characterized by the transition from manual, handicraft-based production to mechanized, steam and water-powered manufacturing, which transformed industries and social/economic life.
Industry 2.0, also known as the second industrial revolution, occurred in the late 19th and early 20th century. Industry 2.0 was defined by the widespread adoption of electricity, the rise of mass production techniques, and various other technological advancements that transformed manufacturing and improved overall living standards.
Industry 3.0, also known as the third industrial revolution, began in the 1970s and characterized by the widespread adoption of electronics, IT, and automation technologies in manufacturing, which transformed production processes and improved efficiency, productivity, and working conditions compared to the previous industrial revolutions.
Industry 4.0 refers to the fourth industrial revolution and represents the transformation of manufacturing and industrial operations through the convergence of digital technologies, automation, and data-driven intelligence to create smart, connected, and flexible production systems.
Industry 5.0 represents the fifth industrial revolution, which is characterized by the integration of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and biotechnology to create a more human-centric, sustainable, and resilient industrial ecosystem.
While there is no clear definition of Industry 6.0, the search results suggest it may involve further integration of emerging technologies like AI, automation, and data science, with a greater emphasis on sustainability, societal impact, and collaborative human-machine interaction.
Leading companies in the space are continuing to navigate the connectivity challenge with 5G and advanced networking innovations, and address the cybersecurity and energy generation and management challenges inherent in leading Industry 4.0.
But the theme of this month's roundtable are the stories of how organizations are building real-world use cases, leveraging Industry 4.0, including solutions below:
going beyond IT and software-only solutions to OT solutions where data collected by physical sensors are included
AI solutions which enable industrial automation on the manufacturing floor and far beyond
multi-modal solutions which integrate not just text, audio and video, but also data collected by sensors
designing predictive analytics solutions which automate the management of smart buildings, manufacturing floors, etc.,
creating solutions which leverage natural language programming, which might, for example help users more easily program robots for autonomous execution within prescribed behavior rules
Below is a compilation of advice for companies leading Industry 4.0:
Consider partnering with corporate venture as go-to-market partners, as funders, as customers.
Create smarter, more intelligent solutions which don't just automatically perform a function, but also responds to specific scenarios when the function can't be performed as defined.
Raise the bar, looking not just for the data/the report, but also ask for analysis, recommendations, predictions, and even automate actions, within specific parameters of course.
Your company doesn't necessarily have to directly lead Industry 4.0 to benefit from its expansion. Your company could offer products and services which enable Industry 4.0.
Design solutions which protect the people, protect the data, protect the equipment.
Extend your perception of Industry 4.0 far beyond the manufacturing floor, exploring how digital technologies, automation, and data-driven intelligence can create smart, connected, and flexible production systems which can help your organization be more efficient and effective.
Below is a summary of some opportunities ahead:
cognitive robotics which create intelligent, adaptable robots that can perceive, learn, reason, and interact with the world in more human-like ways
advanced, complex packaging integrating 15-20+ interconnected chips will enable much more functionality
humanoid robots capable of natural human-robot interaction and collaboration
additive manufacturing (3D printing) solutions which makes it easier to customize materials and create new structures and forms with fewer tools and less waste, which supports the flexible and customized production of Industry 4.0.
We ended this fascinating discussion with a challenging question: If Industry 5.0 represents a new vision for industry that goes beyond efficiency and productivity, and prioritizes human well-being, sustainability, and the creation of societal value, how can advanced technologies enable this vision?