The New Script For Leadership In Flux

Leading in the post-pandemic era of change

Right now, the world is changing fast. The old script that views leadership through a top-down, command-and-control lens says that leaders should move quickly to respond and “manage” this change. But traditional ideas about change management and leadership no longer work in a world of constant change, or flux.

 

It’s time for a new script that is fit for today’s world in flux, and this script says we must resist the pressure to take swift action and get comfortable with running slower.
 
If you’re reading this, you’re likely both a leader and a change catalyst. But what kind of leader? Is your script ready to lead in the post-pandemic era of change?
 
The old script has a fairly narrow definition of leadership: leaders are the people at the top of the ladder. Leaders manage, direct, command, and often control the actions of others. Leaders are expected to have answers, hold power firmly, and pursue the spotlight. In a business setting, leaders crush the competition.
 
But in a world in flux, what makes a good leader discernibly changes—in terms of both hallmark characteristics and who qualifies as a leader. Being a “great leader” under the old script is no guarantee of great leadership when the world flips upside down. In fact, the old skills can be handicaps. It all depends on your relationship to change: your ability to lead yourself and others in, through, and beyond flux.
 
For example, a 2019 study by Leaders on Purpose found that the top leadership skill needed today is comfort with risk and ambiguity. The best leaders can live with, navigate, and trust ambiguity in ways that others can’t. In other words, great leadership in flux seeks the opposite of certainty. Rather, the goal is clarity of vision, which also means knowing when to take leaps of faith that defy old-script metrics.
 
Moreover, the new script makes it clear that many people are leaders, not just those making their way towards the top of the ladder. Leadership in a world in flux can come from any direction: it is not confined to the top. It harnesses the principles of “new power” of networks, ecosystems, and collective wisdom. The strongest node in a network is no longer the biggest, fanciest, oldest, or most credentialed one. It’s the most connected one. Flux leaders seek to lead with others, not lead by themselves. And they know that leadership has more than one gear -- there are times to move fast and times to move slowly.

Many humans have a primal fear of slowing down. There’s the perceived fear of social stigma, disbelief, and condescension from others if we get off the fast track. There’s the potential loss of our value to society, for if we aren’t always on, then what are we?
 
Research has shown, time and time again, that whenever possible it’s best not to hurry. In other words, the longer you can wait, the better. This is not procrastination; this is about your ability to observe, assess, feel, process, take action . . . and pause, in order to get the best outcome possible.
 
Running slower is naturally aligned with the concept (and book) Thinking Fast and Slow, popularized by Princeton professor and Nobel Prize–winner Daniel Kahneman. Kahneman reveals how we listen too much to people who think fast and shallow and too little to people who think slow and deep. All too often, we frantically get through the day without reserving time to think, learn, and unlearn—yet this is exactly what we need to do in order to think more clearly.
 
When we’re running fast, we automatically fall into fast-think¬ing mode: we react quickly and opt for what’s familiar or intuitively comfortable. But as Kahneman shows us, being fast on your feet may make you sound smart, but it doesn’t make you wise. Opting for what’s familiar means you miss what’s new, and it does a very poor job preparing you for flux!
 
Your ability to think slower is directly related to how fast (or slow) you respond, with strikingly similar results. As Frank Partnoy, author of Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, says, “The amount of time we take to reflect on decisions defines who we are . . . A wise decision requires reflection, and reflection requires a pause.”
 
In today’s fast-paced world, the ability to delay judgment is all the more at risk. Running slower helps you think slower and delay judgment, both of which empower you to manage your time—rather than time managing you—and bring your best self to life.

Think about your typical decision-making style. Do you tend to decide fast or to contemplate?
 

 
 Adapted from FLUX: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change (on-sale August 24, Berrett-Koehler)