How successful leaders look forward, not back

Our latest book, Now what do we do?, is all about how business leaders can, and should, take the first step to respond to this disruption. In the midst of all the change and uncertainty, we’ve been helping our clients find their feet. The book shares the process that we know works, and stories from organisations that dare grab the opportunity to build back better. To mark it’s digital launch, we brought together hundreds of change makers, innovators and business leaders to swap notes on making 2021 a success.

Bernie Hickman, Margarete McGrath, Sharon Cooper, Tom Whitwell and Jenny Burns at Fluxx Talks.

Here’s our top takeaways from Fluxx Talks.

1. Tom Whitwell, Fluxx’s Editor in Chief, started writing the 2020 book back in January. Inspired by Apple’s story of the first ipod that took 49 weeks from inception to the shelves, he’s used to working fast and lean. By March the book wasn’t relevant anymore so it had to be rewritten.
2. The working title of this year’s publication was originally ‘Stop F*cking Around’. It would have been a collection of stories about leaders and organisations who make stuff happen. Now what do we do? is all about finding the opportunities and ways of being successful in the new world.
3. Legal and General recognise that climate change is the biggest challenge this generation faces. They announced their ambitions to become net-zero by 2030 just before the pandemic hit. They could’ve pulled the plug on the project that would deliver on their goal. Instead, the project became even more important, as they prioritised and drove what was core to the business’ values, and sent a clear message to employees and customers that the climate couldn’t wait, not even for a pandemic. (Bernie Hickman, CEO of Legal and General Insurance. Read more.)
4. Making change in large, complex organisations can be done, but it isn’t easy. All organisations are complex, no matter what the size. Understanding what makes them complex and working out how to focus on that is a great starting point. Being laser focused on simple, incremental transformation creates lasting movements for change. (Sharon Cooper, CDO The Economist Intelligence Unit).
5. Less presenteeism, more trust. Effective leadership in a hybrid working world calls into question traditional notions of ‘Productivity’. In the future we’ll see greater employee autonomy and organisational silos disbanded. A resilient workforce needs to have responsibility (and ownership) of decision making spread across a business, not just at the top. (Margarete McGrath, CDO of Dell Technologies also cited this article.)
6. Creating local, global cultures. By celebrating local cultural events as a global team, the Economist has fostered inclusion and connection. City drinks have gone virtual and global. With team members joining from Tokyo at 2am when they can’t sleep. They might be having a cup of tea instead but it’s really nice and a new kind of office ritual.

It’s been a hard year for everyone, and it’s also a year of change and opportunity. So we asked our business leaders what they would take into 2021:

“Collaboration, and the momentum from this year.” Bernie Hickman

“The connection with my colleagues, it’s the more human touch and I don’t want to lose that.” Sharon Cooper.

“Balance. It makes me a better leader.” Margarete McGrath

Thanks to everyone for joining the discussion — it doesn’t end there we’re kick-starting the new year with a toolkit of curated events brought to you in partnership with some Fluxx Friends. Join LinkedIn, Miro, Bupa and Telefonica O2 amongst other speakers at the Work Reimagined Festival from the 18th January 2021. The virtual festival is designed to help businesses and individuals set up for success. For more info an to sign up to one, some or all of the sessions head here.

Jassi is Marketing Lead at Fluxx, a company that uses experiments to understand customers, helping clients to build better products. We work with The Economist, Mars, Bupa, Condé Nast, National Grid, BEIS, Severn Trent Water and others.

Here are some useful links. Got thoughts worth sharing? Let’s have a virtual coffee — jassi@fluxx.uk.com.