Winning the Future
When the frenzy dies down and the dust settles, when the fight we’re in is over and we lower our fists, we’ll all look around and wonder, what happened? Our next thought will be, what happens next? As business leaders, executives, entrepreneurs - and as people - we’ve never experienced change at such scale and speed. If your head’s not spinning, it’s buried in the sand. Right now, we’re all focused on how to make it through. But when we find our bearings - and we will - answers will emerge and some of us will be positioned to win. The rest will be left trying to catch up.
It’s not a fortune teller with an MBA you need. Psychic powers aren’t on the menu. Looking back to see forward, though, is something we can all do.
The truth is, this has been coming. We’ve been rattling our way toward crisis for decades. Global Financial Crisis? COVID-19? Climate change? Russia? China? Trump? Things are just getting warmed up. Every 80-100 years the Western world encounters an experience so monumental, everything’s different afterwards. It’s been happening for at least a thousand years, and it’s part of our evolution. We must cast off the old to put on the new.
When it happens, it’s painful, but it’s like going to the dentist. The agony is intense; the alternative is decay. In the aftermath, you’ll feel lighter, faster, more alive. More appreciative of the little things. In the meantime, though, it’s gonna hurt.
The scenery will be different, absolutely. But some things, the most important things, will stay the same. Humans are driven by biology, and our psychological and physiological needs haven’t changed for millennia. The stories we tell around them get more sophisticated, but deep down, we want to connect, to grow, to leave our mark on the world and to be part of something.
I don’t know exactly what the future holds, but I do know this: the companies that succeed in navigating it will do three things. Those three things will enable them to attract the very best talent, align and retain the people they hire around their goals and as a result, deliver real, meaningful impact. They’ll succeed, while many around them fail.
Businesses that win the future will first give people an opportunity to be part of something bigger than they could achieve on their own. Your mission will become a critical part of your existence, and while you may hesitate in telling people that you’re trying to change the world, it doesn’t have to be as grand as that. Running an ice cream parlour that’s devoted to making your town happier, a car wash that gives its customers the sense of pride that comes with a beautifully detailed vehicle or a YouTube channel that makes people laugh is plenty big enough. The sense of contribution, impact and achievement that you give to those who work with you will determine whether they choose to be part of your journey or not.
The most successful companies and brands are already building communities, but most of them are doing it with an external focus. This will shift, because one of the major roles that employers will play in people’s lives is as a social connector, bringing them together with others who share the same beliefs and a common mission, especially those with different backgrounds. This may in fact be the most important function of businesses. We’re increasingly separated from each other, and even in the virtual world, we’re surrounded by an echo chamber of opinions just like ours. That’s not healthy. By building organisations that embrace diversity while retaining relentless emphasis on hiring those that share clear Values, we’ll enable people to connect, share conflicting opinions and work together in ways that fulfil our fundamental need for others to know and understand us, even when we’re physically separate.
Companies will also become hubs of learning and development. Too many people today start working and stop learning, but as the pace of change continues to advance, employers will invest heavily in skills development to keep up. Those that do will see their retention rates skyrocket. In the research we’ve conducted in-house at Singular, the driving force behind more than 65% of job moves is career progression and professional development - providing this development will no longer be optional. Many of our skills will become obsolete in a handful of years, if not months. That’s OK, as long as we make learning a priority and continue honing the competencies that remain, like critical thinking, communication and creativity.
Look, we’re all anxious. Each one of us is uncertain about what AI means, how the political landscape will shift, and what our place in the world will be. If we’re honest, we’re a little scared of the robots taking over the world and this fight being the one we can’t win. I believe in people, though. We’ve faced insurmountable odds many times and triumphed. We’re adaptable and creative. I believe that we’ll find our way to a future that we remain central to. And if we lose this one? Then there’s nothing we can do about it anyway.
You have a choice. You can wait until the battle is over, the rubble’s cleared and the menace and hope of the future lies before you. Or, you can start the change now. By clarifying and communicating your mission, creating connection and community among your team and guiding their development, you’ll perform better today and build the capability you need for tomorrow.
Why wait?
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