Not Like Yesterday – It is All About the People
In 9 AD the Roman proconsul Quintillius Varus, returned to the Germanic provinces with three legions to suppress a tribal rebellion occurring there. He had done the same thing three years earlier. However, this time the enemy chose not to fight in the same way and instead drew the Romans into the marshes and forests where the Romans lost their advantage. The three legions were totally defeated, Varus last cry was reputed to be ‘ne cras, ne cras’ – which translates roughly as ‘Not like yesterday’.
In the last few weeks one of our senior US team members George Flynn has been speaking to a wide range of senior audiences in the UK sharing insights from a career that involved leading six different organisational changes. Key points from his talks were reported in the newspaper ‘City AM’, a few highlights are described below:-
George began by highlighting the rate of change is accelerating at an exponential rate and that the 21st Century has the potential to bring more change than the preceding 20 centuries put together.
Three key personal learning’s were:
- That you have to understand the ‘why’ of an organisation to be able to adapt it and remain true to its purpose, culture and values,
- That you will have to keep changing at increasing speed to stay ahead of a future that will continue to surprise you,
- That the key to success is not systems, effective management or new technology in themselves, but the qualities of the people you entrust to lead the change
George went on to tell an audience of senior business and banking executives… “We will need leaders who can see and understand the future and who can develop and execute the strategies necessary, to ensure that we are ready for both what we think will happen and what will surprise and blind-side us. The key to our future is men and women with the proven ability to adapt and innovate. Proven ability to both think strategically, and effectively implement strategic change”.
View George’s full article here:
Not Like Yesterday – It is All About the People (PDF file download)