18 mar. 2019

This is leadership disrupted

Our new book reveals for the first time a first-hand account of the disruption hitting business and how APAC business leaders are responding.

Disruption in the business world is nothing new. Regulatory change, demographics and politics can wreak havoc on some businesses. But, right now, one common disruptor is universally impacting every single organisation at speed. This exponential acceleration of pace, driven by new technology, has now overtaken our ability, as humans, to adapt. It’s the subject of Odgers Berndtson's new book ‘Leadership, Disrupted’.

Too fast, too furious

Imagine driving your car around a race track at a constant 30kph. Anyone can do this. No stress at all. Then, every lap, you increase the speed slightly. On each new lap, the complexity of your world increases. At some point, your ability to process the faster pace and control the car will fail you. This is how the pace of change in business is challenging its leaders. The pace of change is creating a level of complexity that is overtaking their ability to process and make effective decisions.

Life in the ultra-fast lane

We interviewed 70 APAC leaders, face-to-face, of big-name, highly-successful global companies, across multiple industry sectors. Their companies have a combined revenue estimated at over a trillion dollars. There were also a handful of CEOs' of global companies, who had moved their HQ’s to Asia.

We asked them two questions:

Are you talking about disruption, and if so what are you talking about?
How are you responding to this disruption as a leader?

We learned enough to write a book

Our in-depth interviews identified three common themes that are consuming leaders operating in this disrupted environment. The complexity they face comes from the fact that all three themes are multi-faceted and are all equally demanding at the same time.

We’ve packed our insights and examples into an easy-to-read book. For more detail about the blur of change hitting business and its leaders, and what to do about it, read ‘Leadership, Disrupted’. It’s available for online reading now.