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I recently saw Cirque du Soleil’s Love in Las Vegas — a show that combines the troupe’s famed dance and athleticism with a reimagining of various Beatles hits — and there were two messages that I think executives should remember.
First, it’s the title of the song “All You Need Is Love”, and secondly, Lennon’s famous lyric from “Strawberry Fields Forever”, which reads: “Life is easy with your eyes closed.”
Why CEOs Need ‘Love’ In Order for Organizations to Survive and Why raise them?
My job is to strategize with leaders so that they can adapt to the necessary organizational, environmental and social shifts towards the UN 2030 Countdown. environmental agenda. Now, you may have already switched to “living with your eyes closed” just by reading this, and thought about moving on to a less conflicted topic instead, but the core messages remain: love, denial, and avoidance.
Simply put: in order to survive, we need to start over.
Many people struggle with work. Polycrises, seemingly endless stop-and-go changes, fears of going back to the office, injustice, new market forces, looming layoffs, and reliably depressing climate reports have left too many of us living in “survival mode” and that’s it. not suitable for business. But truth be told, love is all we need if we want to succeed in the world of work. When we “fall in love” with a tangible, unified company whose mission is connected to our reality, we are all together – and the result is very similar to … well … love. We make a commitment, we grow, we fight for what’s right, and we create the feeling that we can achieve anything, whatever the weather. Add organizational environment psychological safetyand you have exponentially expanded opportunities for collaboration and innovation at their best.
Connected: 10 Billionaires Fighting Climate Change
How eyes open
My job is to help leaders move from “eyes closed” to “inspired.” Executive coaches like myself (with a career leading economic shifts since the 90s) naturally turn to the tactic of providing leadership “stem cells” (aka a renewed sense of energy) to organizations ready to reinvent themselves.
To help with this, companies such as McKinsey, PVC And HEY provide data on new economic realities for organizations to adapt and move forward. And at least one aspect of our future is clear: the era hypergrowth during Covid-19 passed. We are now in an environment where it is vital to build a business that can survive in new and challenging times.
Simple Scalable Model: OGSM
I currently work with François (not his real name), a senior executive at a major global energy company who is driving innovation in the face of significant post-pandemic global forces and through disruptive reorganization. As I learned during my program at MIT in 2022, energy is everything, so I knew only too well that his work was important to every person on the planet. In our discussions, François described the former boss as a narcissist and gaslighter who seemed to be caught in a loop of creating disharmony in his team and organization. Critically speaking, this boss’s narcissistic behavior loop actually set world back.
This was followed by restructuring, including greater internal staff mobility. François is now with a new team that uses OGSM (for “objectives, goals, strategies and indicators”). framework take important strategic steps so that the reformed organization can operate in various horizontal sectors.
With this new role, François feels at home. He feels “loved”, is happy to contribute, and is in a psychologically safe environment that promotes anti-competitive plans and market leadership. Now he feels completely authentic to be in “quadruple espresso mode” to test the future – for both his global organization and its clients. Be free to communicate withradical frankness“and strategic rigor allows him to do what he’s always wanted to do: change the world for the better.
Connected: Is green hydrogen the future? The Minnesota Gas Company thinks so.
How the model works
The OGSM model is simple and scalable and is essentially a reminder for the entire organization to rally around the CEO. Important components include:
• Objectives of the CEO
• Objectives of executive management
• Strategies of the same executive management team as well as directors and managers.
It is imperative to remember that the activities of the OGSM must be interconnected so that each part influences the other so that the organization can move forward as a whole. The “O” (goal) must also be declared by the CEO, so that each C-leader is responsible for fulfilling this mandate. This “O” runs through every goal, strategy, and measurable outcome.
How can leaders reset their style?
Leaders do choice of leadership style every day, and their behavior indicates their style. The narcissistic leader advocates legacy processes, systems, products, and methodologies to stay profitable, and their teams often feel disrespected and confused about the company’s direction. At the same time, authoritative, obedient, transactional, and empathetic leaders choose to grow and define key goals for success while quickly socializing them and revolutionizing their organization for the environment in which it operates. The problem is, with so many conflicting goals in an age of perpetual crises, it’s time for leaders to get back to basics—and that’s not a task to laugh at.
Ever since I worked at the Sony PlayStation division in the 90s, I have found that the most successful leaders quickly adapt to new environments. They prove that their goals will be right in the coming years and demonstrate that they are in line with the core goal of the CEO. Such a person initiates change and will communicate with every business group to evangelize and communicate, ensuring people understand both the mission and direction.
Connected: Smart tips for setting and actually achieving your business goals
The OGSM cycle is a delightfully simple yet extremely effective approach that keeps everyone in sync to keep the organization on the right track.
Key aspects:
• Understanding the main goal of the CEO
• Creating strategies that fit (or go beyond) this goal to achieve competitive advantage and long-term sustainability.
• High transparency on goals and how they are measured every quarter.
• Review them with the coach and senior manager every 30 days to see if they need to be adjusted.
• Reporting on market forces that will affect the Big O of the organization.
• Repeating the above steps after presenting each important new idea and/or piece of data.
• Supporting other colleagues in understanding the main goal and being willing to debate fearlessly to avoid defensive and destructive thoughts and behaviors (beware of people defending old beliefs that are no longer relevant to the CEO’s goal).
Now get on with your mission, get back to loving your job and do it with your eyes wide open!
Keep in mind that common side effects of OGSM may include: employee engagement, motivation, and loyalty; a surge in customer sentiment; renewed sense of purpose; feeling of happiness (even love); and saving the planet.