Leadership is said to have a multiplier effect, probably because it’s contagious. What is it that leaders do that creates more leaders? Since leadership is an activity or practice not dependent on title or authority, it can be taught.
“What is really holding you back?” This was the main question Harvard Teaching Fellow Umar Shavurov posed to participants at the Asia Leadership Conference on March 1, at Sunway University.
“Be the head, not the tail nor anything in between.” This seems to be what Asian parents keep on telling their kids. For every parent, their child was “born to be a leader.”
Companies collapse because of a combination of complex factors that somehow come together to form the perfect storm. The obvious answer is that companies did not have the hustle to stay ahead of competitors. More difficult to recognize behind company failures is the powerful influence of values, attitudes, and culture.
One is living proof that prosperity is not the end all and be all of the national aspirations. Another is wracked by the undeniable deadweight of affirmative action for a racial majority. The third has been known as the “Sick Man of Asia” for decades after being an economic star in the 1960s, second only to Japan. Is there a common thread running through these three distinct narratives?
“If a man carrying half a bucket of water passes you by, you can hear all kinds of water sputtering. If, however, he carries a full bucket of water, it will be much quieter.” When it is only half full, the bucket is lighter and is likely to shake back and forth, whereas a full bucket will be steady because it becomes heavier.
At the heart of Design Thinking is empathy. What drives the other parts of the process – from prototyping to iteration – is a desire to give a seriously impactful solution to a seriously problematic pain point. And the beauty of Design Thinking and empathy is that it can be applied to increasingly sophisticated areas from products and services to culture, policies, interactions, and experiences.
The fates of these two countries seem so inextricably intertwined, thanks to shared realities that had already become increasingly complex by the time Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965 – after a stormy 23-month union.
Then, midway through mopping the dining-room area, I threw my hands in the air. Out loud, I shouted at anyone who was there to listen (just me), “Why does this matter? What’s the big deal? Why do you care so much?”
One such way is to “invest but only a little bit.” Companies need to understand that small tweaks and just a comfortable amount of investments are enough to make creative problem solving, iteration, and innovation a part of their DNA.