Francis Wade | Thinking big and going long

You are a corporate or national leader. As such, you are deeply concerned about the future of your enterprise and country. Unfortunately, the high engagement you see in other places is missing, but you ask why.

Perhaps the last time Jamaicans were hopeful for what lay ahead was just prior to 1962. I wasn’t born, but elders say we had a powerful future to live into: independence.

Before then, Marcus Garvey, Sam Sharpe, Norman Manley and others took risky stands to articulate a vision for the Jamaican people. They did so knowing that these would not be realised in their lifetime or even within decades.

We love them because they made an unselfish stand in spite of poor odds.

In today’s world, we longed for such clear examples. We want to see men and women unencumbered by greed, political gain, and self-interest. Instead, we have become accustomed to pointing fingers. To many, leadership of any kind is synonymous with corruption.

However, the irony is that even the most venal of leaders can ‘think big and go long’. In spite of their shortcomings, they are able to model our National Heroes. Where should they start?

First, understand what really motivates people.

Consider that we humans are creatures of our imagination. Furthermore, our motivation at any moment is heavily shaped by the imagined future.

This channels our experience in the short and long-term.

For example, most of your staff are highly motivated when they are first hired. Maybe even excited.

Over time, this thrill fades as negative experiences accumulate. They pollute their own imaginations, especially in organisations which are transactional. They are told that their work is being traded for cash.

purposeful engagement

Your Gen Z employees may be adamant: “That’s not enough.” Instead, they call for purposeful engagement. There are two things leaders must do to respond.

Second, think big and go long.

Most leaders simply don’t foresee either big or long. Often, they are just talkers whose selfish ways are magnified by their titles. This means they want game-changing stuff to happen but only before the upcoming fiscal year, during their tenure as CEO, or ahead of the next IPO or election.

In the past, this may have worked.

But in today’s world, your audience of staff members, customers and citizens despises such duplicity. Why?

Like never before, their lives are bombarded with “Buy Now!” advertisements. In response, they habitually ignore such promotions. Consequently, only the gullible believe that a stranger’s random phone call can bring instant riches.

Therefore, leaders who try to forcefully “sell” followers on short-term impossibilities earn their contempt. Their self-interest is too blatant to overlook.

The essential truth? Leaders must own the fact that thinking big actually means going long at the same time. Cases in point: Richard Williams’ 78-page, 25-year tennis plan for his unborn daughters, Venus and Serena. Or GraceKennedy’s 2020 vision.

By contrast, you can find the opposite on Company Man’s YouTube channel. The video creator details stories of long-term failure by global brands such as K-Mart and Nokia.

Each disaster clip is a model of repetitive, short-term decision-making. The result? Loss of market share, destroyed shareholder value, and jobs eliminated by the thousands.

Sadly, someone will be producing such failure videos about entire nations. Why? There are some 30-40 national plans like our Vision 2030 Jamaica, which are nearing their due dates. Similar to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, many are off-track.

But modern employees need more than their leaders’ long-term, big thinking.

Future focused

Third, rescue people’s minds from the past.

You may have noticed that even when there is good news, some staff remain unperturbed in their cynicism. In other words, their bitterness around previous disappointments prevents them from being hopeful.

One way to deal with the issue is to engage in brutal truth-telling. For example, I visited South Africa during the 1990s Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.

Carried live on television, I found the testimony gut-wrenching and could only watch a few minutes at a time. The tales of torture and murder were too much to bear.

But the underlying principle was sound. Radical truths set people free. In our case, the forward from “Vision 2030 Jamaica”, cast 15 years ago, is blunt and timely:

Partly due to our neglect of long-term issues, our nation has suffered from a number of inadequacies.

Previous planning efforts floundered ...

Jamaicans have expressed a clear wish to break out of this vicious cycle of low performance and build a quality society.

The point is that when your organisation engages in such frank and ego-threatening public discussions, it demonstrates that a regrettable past need not pollute the future. This allows staff or citizens to hope.

And ultimately, it frees them to think big, and go long, once again.

Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity. To search past columns on productivity, strategy and business processes, or give feedback, email: columns@fwconsulting.com