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Traditional sources of competitive advantage (CA) focus on relatively static aspects that allow companies to gain greater market share. Proprietary assets, distribution networks, access to customers, and ability to scale are the goals companies set to better position themselves in the market. How can Artificial Intelligence (AI) reframe a company’s competitive advantage?

I am often asked what is purposeful leadership, and why is it the focus of the Bonar Institute? These queries have inspired me to revise an article I published on purposeful leadership following the founding the Institute in December 2014.

Organizations that enable employees to feel respected as individuals, as professionals, and as members of a team, also trust them to fully develop the potential of their skills, talents, and creativity. 

Idea: Remote employees and virtual teams need continual alignment with your organization’s values, vision, mission, and strategy (VVMS) to optimize performance. Employee alignment with your VVMS mitigates some of the inherent performance challenges facing individual remote workers and virtual teams. The Bonar Institute offers a wide range of VVMS, diagnostic, coaching, and mentoring solutions that optimize remote work and virtual team performance.

When COVID 19 hit several months ago, the words we heard most in our collective lives were “disruption, chaos and disaster”. No one knew or could even imagine how the next few months would play out. At that time, we had no doubt that we would get back to our lives and businesses very quickly. When that did not happen, it became clear that to survive; businesses had to adapt and do it quickly.

Issue: The breadth and depth of risks facing businesses cannot be overstated. Seismic disruptions resulting from technological innovation and the instantaneous dissemination of data and information are transforming economies. Interconnectivity results in today’s crises being truly global - with no country or market spared. The nature of work itself has been dramatically changed due to novel critical risks facing organizations. 

Idea: Multiple internal and external stakeholders increasingly insist that businesses address ESG issues. Leaders must apply emotional intelligence and change management skills to actualize ESG goals within their organizations.

As we all struggle to come to grips with the human and economic devastation caused by the ongoing evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the most insightful leaders are identifying ways forward. They are adept at adapting their organizations’ established contingency measures to the unprecedented existential challenges they are facing. They reinvent themselves and their organizations. They have a roadmap to create a new corporate culture capable of surviving the crisis and ultimately to thrive. These leaders require emotional intelligence (see my March 29 article, Managing in Times of Crisis).

Issue: Running a business is predicated on two things:

• Making decisions

• Executing the decisions made well

The importance of rational, effective decision making in a crisis cannot be overstated and the biggest impediments to making such decisions are risks and uncertainty. The breadth and depth of risks facing businesses today are immense. Profound disruptions resulting from technological innovation and the instantaneous dissemination of data and information are exacerbated by the global economic crisis caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With so many critical corporate risks facing organizations, what mitigating strategies work best?

Issue: The current pace of change is unparalleled in human history. This is due to exponential technological advancements coupled with the instantaneous dissemination of data and information in our interconnected world. The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning heralds the “fourth industrial revolution”.

Idea: Maturity models are a powerful visual aid for all leadership development stakeholders to benchmark leadership development progress for organizations and the individuals that they employ.

“I have had a number of executive coaches in the past, but in the end of the day they went nowhere. I need real, lasting results!” We have heard this refrain from corporate, government and non-profit clients at the Bonar Institute. To ensure productive executive coaching, we offer clients our proven, customized six-month results-driven program - with clearly defined SMART Goals. We focus on client accountability and meaningful application in the execution of our clients’ managerial responsibilities.

Our org chart has so many vacancies that our senior people have to fill multiple roles. And, in some cases, they’re even unaware of all their managerial responsibilities! Does, this situation sound familiar? If so, you are not alone. Many organizations are reeling in the turbulence of exponential change and relentless transition in today’s rapid-fire world.

The role of an executive in today's global economy is not for the faint of heart. The pace of economic, technological and social change is unparalleled in human history. Executives must also keep pace with a flood of instantaneous gathered, disseminated and analyzed data and information. Many are left with a sense of insufficient time and lost opportunities.

One of my clients recently shared with me her frustration on being passed over for a promotion in her hoped-for ascent up the corporate ladder. A very capable executive, she is well liked and would appear to have all the requisite experience for a more senior management position. So, why didn’t it happen?

In my experience advising and coaching leaders, I have learned that the most successful executives lead through the power of influence. They inspire others to willingly implement their ideas. They have high-stakes influence conversations with their superiors, peers, direct reports and stakeholders. They maximize their probability of success by setting out specific goals for these conversations. There is no substitute for a thoroughly planned approach - including anticipating possible objections and rehearsing messages to be delivered in a concise and effective manner.

 All organizations need leaders to provide focus, purpose, strategy and tactics. While there are undeniable differences and critical nuances among corporate, political and spiritual leaders, they all share fundamental challenges, including: vision, belief, courage, resolve, resilience, and authenticity. Such leaders strive to evoke in others the purpose and meaning which inspire themselves.

“I hate to have to speak to you about this Paul [all names have been changed]… but I feel I have to... I can’t go on like this… Sarah’s bullying is too much for me”. Sarah reports to Paul and is his star performer. “She often humiliates me in team meetings: ‘You’re dropping the ball Jake! You’re letting us all down! Hell, you’re letting me down! Get a grip!’ Paul, it’s reached the point where I can’t sleep at night. I’m stressed out … It’s affecting my home life…”

Some of my executive clients share that they are attracted to government by the desire to improve service to the Canadian public in a more cost efficient way. They appreciate not being chained to quarterly results, allowing for more considered long term goal setting. They complain, however, about their difficulties in transitioning from the private sector to the public sector. They are challenged by what they perceive as the inadequacies and ineffectiveness of public administration. Some have argued that government should adopt standard business practices. One client related that it took him a full year to transition from the private enterprise to his new public sector position. He had been hired chiefly due to his business expertise as a results-oriented executive. Once on the job, however, he found the corporate public sector culture averse to his management style. He concluded that he was failing. It took time and considerable self-awareness for him to understand that he would have to adapt his leadership approach to be successful in his new reality. Having worked in both the private and public sectors, I understand the challenges these executives face and the frustrations they feel.

As I have previously written, organizations need to develop new ways of adapting to prosper in our complex, volatile and hyper-connected world. (See my August 27, 2017 article Surviving or Thriving? Prospering Through Purpose.) They need to foster greater corporate consciousness based on a deep understanding of their core personal and professional values. This is the essential first step towards defining their purpose, which in turn will guide the refinement of their corporate culture. This process will greatly improve their prospects of thriving over the long term.

As an executive coach, mentor and management consultant, I work with leaders who are required to manage complex legal and regulatory issues on a daily basis. In my experience, clients who have acquired a solid understanding of their legal responsibilities as managers - or owners – are more effective in leading their organizations. On the other hand, I have seen too often costs to organizations resulting from their leaders not knowing the legal issues they are facing, the pertinent legal questions to ask and not consulting their internal legal team, or outside counsel, in a timely fashion. For instance, there are many legal risks that should be factored into management’s decision-making when entering into contractual negotiations with vendors, joint venture partners and acquisition targets. There is an ever expanding array of liability issues associated with human resources management, environmental regulations and intellectual property issues.

An old friend asked me recently how many of my coaching clients can tell their value story convincingly? I asked him what precisely he meant by value story. He responded that in his experience as a corporate executive, impactful value stories have a powerful influence on people’s decisions and behaviours: “Facts tell, but stories sell!” Presenting the competitive benefits of a product or service is necessary, but not sufficient.

Many of our executive coaching clients report feeling overwhelmed due to the daunting challenges of dizzying technological change coupled with instant dissemination of vast amounts of information -- and increasingly, disinformation -- in our hyper-connected world. The current rate, magnitude and complexity of change we are experiencing are unparalleled in human history. The business paradigms that worked well in the past no longer apply, leaving many executives uncertain and adrift.

I was speaking recently with a former colleague who is between jobs. He is an experienced and highly respected senior executive who is struggling to know what to do next. He shared that he wasn’t particularly happy in his previous job, and that he wants his next opportunity to have purpose and meaning. He emphasized that it would have to be in keeping with his values.

We have been reflecting on the threats and opportunities the environment poses to economic sustainability. Many have noted the economy is increasingly removed from nature and natural processes. Our natural resources are being consumed at an unsustainable rate. The Earth’s ecosystems cannot survive relentless growth in economic production and consumption. The environmental impact of unbridled economic production and global consumption is well-known (see James Bonar’s February 19, 2017 article, Economic Sustainability & the Environment). The related problems of waste and contaminants, however, are complex, often contentious, and in need of urgent solutions.

The current pace and scope of global change are unparalleled in human history. This dramatic upheaval is largely due to dizzying technological development that enables instantaneous global sharing of information.

If you are in a rut and feel stuck in your job, you are not alone. Research shows that up to 40% of managers and executives in the US are dissatisfied in their jobs (Pew Research, October 6, 2016). There are many reasons for this dissatisfaction ranging from stress, issues with your boss, not feeling valued, work environment, poor salary and benefits, office location, etc. Some reasons are much more serious, such as burnout and severe stress reactions such as anger, anxiety, depression and substance abuse.  These problems may even require therapy. Approximately 20% of the population in North America suffers some form of mental illness, but fear of being stigmatized is often a barrier to receiving appropriate help.

Today's volatile and complex global economy creates significant corporate risks that executives must effectively manage and resolve.  The most prominent risks are financial and cyber threats. Others though, such as leadership, strategic and succession planning and execution, team building, and corporate reputation are perhaps less conspicuous, but are no less ominous.  Indeed, leadership is the greatest single risk facing organizations today – bar none! (See my January 8, 2016, post entitled CEO Performance and Board Oversight).  Ineffective leadership can ruin even great companies over time.

Our approach to executive coaching is based on the firm belief that each client is unique and has specific needs, challenges, opportunities and practical goals. One size doesn’t fit all!

The pace of change we are currently experiencing is unparalleled in human history.

This is due in large part to exponential technological change coupled with the instantaneous dissemination of ideas and information across an increasingly connected world. (See Duleesha Kulasooriya and Maggie Wooll, Unlocking Human Potential: Proactive Practices for Individual Elasticity, Deloitte University Press, 2017). The options available to meet our needs and pursue our goals are evolving in extremely rapid and often unpredictable ways. New business models are sprouting seemingly everywhere. For some executives, this is a step into a new world full of excitement, vitality and promise. For others, there is distress over the unknown. They worry about what (and how many) jobs will remain in the age of intelligent machines and rapidly improving artificial intelligence. Some envision our changing world as a kind of hyper-connected technological wasteland where their connection to others – and to themselves – is being lost.

One of my coaching clients asked me recently if a company can have a soul. This question is very common in today’s fiercely competitive business environment - witness a recent search on Google came up with over 100 million results.

Based on my experience with executives and a review of the best thinking on leadership and governance, I have identified the following characteristics of a company with soul. By soul, I mean a broader, higher purpose than just more robust quarterly results.

This is the fifth and final post in our series on stakeholders’ value creation in volatile times. It deals with the threats and opportunities the environment poses to economic sustainability.

This is the fourth in a series on stakeholders’ value creation.

The case of customers as stakeholders appears self-evident. Simply, a company cannot exist without customers. The purpose of every business centers on creating customer value. Forgetting that customers are the ultimate decision makers of what they will buy can be fatal. The premise that customers are stakeholders is more complex however. Where do a company’s interests intersect with those of its customers? Corporate boards and management are focused on financial performance, stock prices, and maintaining sustainable and profitable growth objectives. Customers want products and services to meet their standards, expectations and needs at a price they are willing to pay. In addition, an increasing number of their buying decisions are influenced by whether a company’s values align with their own (e.g., fair trade coffee, the green revolution etc.). The challenge is to ensure that the needs and wants of the company and of its customers are met simultaneously.

This post is the third in a series on stakeholders’ value creation in volatile times.

As traditional and social media unfailingly reiterate, we are living in turbulent and potentially dangerous times. Traditional spheres of political and economic power are mutating rapidly. Established values are being shaken. The certainties of yesterday are falling away. Managers and employees are increasingly stressed out and disengaged.

The gap between economic winners and losers is widening. Some evidence suggests that wealth inequality measures are the greatest ever recorded. This can lead to the social and political unrest stirring in many advanced economies. (See my October 24, 2016 post, Value Creation in Volatile Times: The Case for Ethical & Socially Responsible Companies).

This post is the second in a series on Stakeholders’ Value Creation.

Large publicly traded multinationals are considered by some to be the real centres of power of the global economy in the 21st century, where technology and innovation are integral to success (See James McRichie, The Individuals Role in Driving Corporate Governance, The Hand Book of Corporate Governance, Wiley, 2016). If true, this is both a challenge and an opportunity to shareholders’ long-term value creation.

The primary goal of CEOs is to leave a meaningful legacy, something greater than themselves and the organizations they lead. They aspire to accomplish the extraordinary. Today’s legacies differ from yesterday’s. We are in the midst of a historic transition where old paradigms are giving way to new challenges and innovative possibilities.

At the Bonar Institute for Purposeful Leadership, we work with executives who are dealing with the demands of increasingly complex problems in a volatile and uncertain global economy. The most recent example is the immediate and dramatic global reaction to the “Brexit” result. In the past, issues were generally more straightforward and could be solved more quickly and efficiently. Today, executives face problems that typically have no single right solution. How, for example, to respond to the ultimatum from a major client for more customized (and expensive) products at significantly reduced prices? Or, how to square increasing shareholder returns while simultaneously raising employees’ salaries? According to David Dotlich, Peter Cairo and Cade Cowan, these types of issues are paradoxes: Problems “complicated not just by a single set of contradictory forces but by many” (The Unfinished Leader, p. xi, 2014). Our focus at the Bonar Institute is to help leaders effectively manage these issues by helping them accept their inherent complexity and ambiguity, and then develop strategies to move forward.

The dynamics underlying the everyday business situations of companies in early stages of development is a particular focus of the Bonar Institute for Purposeful Leadership. We are currently working on developing an effective and practical customized Leadership Risk Mitigation Program to help investors identify and mitigate the leadership risk component of their investments.

In today’s highly complex, volatile and uncertain economy, risk and expected ROI are very much on the minds of investors. While risk is unavoidable, it can be significantly reduced. The most serious and difficult risk factor facing potential investors in start-ups and businesses in early stages of development deals with the founder-CEO. Investors’ expectations for the business prove over time to be significantly different than those of the founder. In the case of ROI, entrepreneurs often make decisions that conflict with the wealth-maximization principle of the investors (Noam Wasserman, The Founder’s Dilemma, HBR, February 2008).

In our volatile, uncertain, complex and inter-connected world, the challenges facing corporate executives are often outpacing their cognitive abilities. This is undermining the sustainability of companies across North America, Europe and Asia. The need to find the right leader to navigate their corporations through these unchartered waters, teeming with unknown dangers and new opportunities, is paramount.

Increasingly, companies are hiring internal candidates for their top executive positions. Research reveals that CEOs brought in from outside the company succeed less often than those who are promoted from within. (Joseph L. Bower, More Insiders Are Being Hired and That’s a Good Thing, HBR, March 18, 2016). Hiring external senior executives is warranted however in some cases; for example, bringing in a Chief Digital Officer to overcome organizational inertia and to lead digital transformation and innovation. The ideal CEO is one who is promoted from within, but with as wide-ranging experience as possible working in different cultures and countries, a passion for deepening his or her knowledge and a rich network of contacts to broaden perspective. The ideal CEO looks at the “world in a way that allows one to weigh on opposing and contradictory demands and manage them on an ongoing basis.” (David L. Dotlich; Peter, C. Cairo and Cade Cowan 2014, The Unfinished Leader, p. xi) Companies with a history of success and innovation over the long-term, such as Johnson and Johnson and the Royal Bank of Canada, have placed the development of their next generation leaders at the top of their agendas.

The challenges facing today’s corporate leaders often outpace their cognitive abilities. Errors, failures and chaos are an everyday occurrence in the life of an organization – some are small, others are catastrophic such as the 2008 Wall Street debacle. Calamities occur because executives are unable to foresee clearly the emerging issues that will impact their organizations. They lack awareness and/or the skills to chart a different course. These executives are afflicted with what Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal (2003) call the “curse of cluelessness”. They are not the innovative leaders that their companies desperately need them to be.

Corporate governance is under increasing scrutiny. Intense competition, a shifting marketplace, increased regulatory review and activist stakeholders - these are the hallmarks of the myriad complex challenges facing today’s corporate boards. Directors are the stewards of their corporations. They are elected by shareholders to oversee the management of their organizations with the goal of increasing long-term shareholder value.

Many believe that business leaders have the requisite competencies to manage their companies capably. Ah, but do they? At the Bonar Institute for Purposeful Leadership we see many clients struggle, some stumble, as they move into new management positions.

In a recent issue of The Economist (October 10th, 2015), we read that “confidence in business leadership is at a record low”. Fewer than 50% of respondents in an opinion poll trust CEOs. (Endelman, 2014). And, according to academic literature, one in two leaders is deemed a disappointment, incompetent, mis-hire or a complete failure.

Today’s headlines point to an economy in a state of unusual volatility and uncertainty.

The ongoing energy sector meltdown, the decline of metals, minerals and gold prices, weak aggregate demand, as well as a Chinese growth and currency crisis have all been contributing factors. The mixed global economic outlook led the US Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen, to announce that the Federal Reserve would not increase interest rates following its most recent Board meeting. The Bank of Canada twice this year lowered it overnight rate target – it now stands at just one half of one percent. The current macro-economic situation is, no doubt, posing additional challenges for many senior executives of North American corporations.

In my coaching practice, I encounter executives who are confronting unexpected crises, some which even threaten the ongoing sustainability of their businesses. The pressures on these leaders are great. They feel an urgency to act - quickly - to mitigate the risk to their organizations; and, longer term, to implement strategies and tactics to avoid any recurrence. They also feel compelled to be seen by their superiors, boards, markets to be on “top” of the situation. They feel their careers depend on successfully dealing with the problem; and most often they are right. Typically, these leaders’ instincts are to rush to action. I can relate to such scenarios, having managed similar situations during my career.

In my coaching practice, I see organizations struggle because they fail to offer key executive hires the support they require to successfully integrate into their new organization, their new position, and to learn the intricacies of the corporate culture. This support is a process called executive onboarding; it aims to build new executive hires’ effectiveness and impact on the business as quickly as possible. This is especially important if the executive is an external hire from a different industry. In the case of external hires, executive search firms normally do an excellent job in identifying well qualified candidates to fill key executive positions.

In a world that is becoming ever more turbulent and complex, organizations are pervasive and dominant. The challenges facing leaders often outpace their cognitive abilities. Indeed Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal (Reframing Organizations, 2003) speak of the “curse of cluelessness” that afflicts many leaders. These executives have great difficulty in “surrendering ingrained mental models instead of seeing old problems in a new light or finding more promising ways to work on perennial challenges.” They inevitably do more of what they know. In the end, irrational forces most often prevail. And more often than not, the companies they lead founder due to managerial error. (See Charan and Useem, 2002.)

What a wonderful metaphor for the coaching experience. As the sacred practice of alchemy transforms base metal into gold, and transmutes physical consciousness into higher awareness, the experience of being coached by a master fosters the personal and organizational transformation of even the most successful executives as leaders.

"Ruthless compassion” may appear to be an oxymoron. But, if we think of it as a form of “tough love” adapted for executive coaching, it takes on real meaning.

The role of an executive coach is to ask powerful questions and to provide meaningful feedback in the form of observations and assessments. This allows the coachee to identify what is holding her back from taking successful, sometimes transformational, actions. But, what is holding back our leader? Often, she cannot see herself as others see her. She fails to detect and correct her errors because she is unaware of them.

As an executive coach, I recognize the importance of work-life balance. I even offer a program to help stressed-out executives manage the tension, often dynamic but sometimes toxic, between work and personal time. Then one day, a prospective client told me pointedly: “There is no balance where I work, period! The best I can hope for is to survive. I regularly leave home Sunday night on business trips in various cities, with meetings typically starting at breakfast and ending with a late dinner. Then, I get back home on Thursday night, and have to be back in the office at 8:00 Friday morning for a management meeting.” She went on to say, “Show me how to survive and I will gladly give you my business!”

During a recent coaching session, an executive complained of a phenomenon in her company that is limiting revenue growth: younger employees’ poor sales skills. We explored a number of possible reasons for this ranging from inadequate hiring practices to the need for better training to improved mentoring of younger employees. All had been tried, with little success. According to this executive, the problem goes beyond her company; she feels it is an industry-wide issue.

In the past while, a number of my executive coaching clients have shared with me their experiences with skill shortages and ageism.

Only a few years ago, the world was, some say still is, facing an unprecedented war of talent and competencies. Two critical shifts in workforce demographics were creating an alarming brain drain throughout the world: First, the retirement of the baby boomers, the workforce’s largest segment. And second, the declining birth rates in Western countries. These shifts lead to severe labor shortages and a critical loss of both skills and corporate knowledge.

One of the mantras we hear most often in business is that we need to innovate in order to compete and to be viable. In scouring the best thinking on business innovation, we have discovered that innovation is not a revolution; it is evolution and execution. It is the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. It is about challenging whether the business has the right business model. Consistently successful organizations have clear processes around innovation.

An executive once shared with me the debilitating stress, the pain, he was experiencing in his work environment. He wondered how he could continue to lead his organization when he was feeling as badly as he did… And his deep-seated, unspoken, fear was that he couldn’t.

I am often asked what is purposeful leadership, and why is it the focus of my institute? Based on my work with executives and the review of some of the best thinking on the subject, it has become clear to me that purpose is central to effective, principled, leadership. For successful leaders, defined purpose is the real source of their energy, focus and power. A leader’s creative spirit is renewed when they reconnect to their genuine professional and personal values, and to their unique talents. Purpose inspires their spirit to believe that their vision of the future is worthwhile and attainable.