IIs sports legend footballer Ablett a Typewriter ?
Many of yesterday's heroes are today's typewriters: still useful, still functioning beautifully, but very very limited.
You may know a few. You may work for one. You may be one. If so, you are recognised in the corporate world as successful senior management, having risen to the top through hard work, good skilling, and diligence to the business at hand. Top stuff.
You have done everything right. And that is the problem. You are a talented doer who practiced and perfected your skills to be very very good, maybe the best, at what you do.
As a highly respected great achiever you have done everything right, except for one thing. You have done an Ablett. You have not recognised and moved quickly to the new changes.
The Gary Abletts of the corporate world remain masters of their games, performing stunning feats of dexterity and virtuosity based on years of experience and know-how. But the new game is no longer their game. The new corporate world is no longer your corporate world.
And perhaps the Abletts' brilliance at what they do for their game is the precise reason why they have not translated their excellence to the new game. The fact may be that the better you are at an old skill, the more difficult you will find changing to a new skill.
Watching Gary Ablett in the AFL finals match between his Cats and the Eagles, I could not help but wonder why he never seemed to turn on the reliable old Ablett magic, that amazing ball handling and kicking ability so beautiful to see.
Certainly he was heavily covered by the Eagles, but Ablett several times had the ball in his control. He did nothing much with it at all; very un-Ablett.
He seemed to be in a state of bewilderment, just like many corporate leaders today. What happened ? Ablett took his magnificent abilities and his worldly wisdom of footie out onto the field only to discover that the Eagles were playing a different game.
The Eagles' game had new positions and new roles for their players. Offence acting like defence and the mid field popping up all over the place - that is not how the game is played !
How, if you are Ablett, are you going to use your great skills if the other players are behaving in an unexpected and unfamiliar way ?? You are a master of the game the way it has been played for decades, for your whole career.
You know the moves of that game so well, in fact, that you do your most brilliant moves automatically. If you have to stop behaving automatically, and have to watch, think about, and learn new things that are going on around you, you lose that brilliance. And sometimes you are so shocked at the newness, and possibly at not being brilliant, that you may lose the ability to do anything.
Why haven't you seen the changes coming ? Has anyone else on the team seen these changes before ? If so, why haven't they told you about them ???
Aha...another big problem facing the corporate Abletts. You are the experts, the heroes, the leaders, the gods of your business/game. You are looked up to with respect, even awe. You have shown that you know how to do it all much much better than anyone else.
Or you did yesterday. Now, suddenly, everyone is not too sure. A change appears in the business game plan but you do not adjust your skills and know-how to the new one. Some of you just keep doing it your usual way as if the changes are not occurring. But the younger team members are living the changes as part of their normal world. They are puzzled by your denial of what they know as the real world.
Others of you do an Ablett, which is run around in a bewildered state looking for the old patterns of behaviour in the game so that you can get on with your old behaviours that worked so well for so long.
WHY HAS NOT ANYONE TOLD YOU ?
For two reasons:
1. You are known as the best; you are not expected to suddenly become less-than-the-best. Followers expect their leaders to remain in the lead, not to fall by the wayside when faced with new situations. So no one thinks you need to be told. They expect you to see, understand, and accommodate the changes before they do.
2. You god-leaders are often such awe-inspiring heroes that the rank and file members of the team do not know how to approach or speak to you about the new game, their game. What should they say : "Excuse me, god, I think you may have lost the plot" ? Very difficult.
And if some brave soul did speak up, how might you respond ? You, as a corporate god, are not accustomed to losing plots, and would rarely have an appropriate script ready for the occasion, and certainly not a rehearsed one. You might over react, you might eliminate the messenger, you might deny everything being said, and so on.
Not cool god behaviour. So everyone keeps quiet, waiting for you to quickly see what's what and then expertly adjust your godly behaviour to the new situations.
So what can you corporate Abletts do to stay in the forefront of the game ?
Most importantly, ask yourself : Am I a typewriter ? Have my know-how and skills been surpassed by new developments in my industry ?
CORPORATE TYPEWRITERS HAVE TWO OPTIONS :
1. Recognise that as a typewriter in the electronic information technology age you need to up date your skills and knowledge base, rapidly. Find the hot fast-tracking players in your industry who can coach you up to speed.
Most of the best ones are self-employed and willing to help. (Surprisingly, the best are not worried by any competition; their world is changing so quickly that they are confident of retaining their position at the leading edge.) If you run harder than you ever have before, you might just catch up.
Two, re-position yourself within the game to still use your relevant management (particularly people-management) experience but recognise that your younger players are familiar and comfortable functioning in the new game. Take advantage of their knowledge, enthusiasm, and experience of the new by delegating authority and responsibility to them accordingly.
Run beside them, not in front of them. Let these bright, energetic, differently-skilled team players greatly influence how your team plays the game. Listen to them. Watch them play. Learn from them. Give recognition and reward to their skillfulness. Encourage them (and yourself) to continue learning new ways. Support experimentation. Applaud risk-taking. Welcome change with a passion.
You do have a third choice. That is, continue life as a typewriter. You will probably find the occasional useful thing to do. Address envelopes, that sort of thing. While you still have a business to do it in, that is.
Good typewriters do not fade away, they just get put on the shelf. Maybe Ablett will shelf himself. Should you?
Business Directions 4 Oct 1994
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