What is this book about?

 

Natures challenge of unchecked global warming, effects of pollution and water scarcity are forcing nations to make costly self-preserving decisions they did not consider important half a century ago. Governments are seriously talking about the weather, and urgently investing in earth stewardship policies and values they ignored as inconsequential not too long ago. International business practice is adrift with powerful undercurrents of protectionism, exploitation, subsidies and trade barriers alongside the power struggles of technology, politics and brazen survival economics. Disruptive events like wars, drought and other disasters create overnight market shifts the produce what economist call the “butterfly effect”. In theory, the flutter of this tiny insects’ wings in an isolated part of the world can cause tidal waves half way around the globe. At the local level unstable economic performance, lacklustre policy formulation, numbing poverty and a lack of foresight force political administrations to restart the economy with every election cycle rendering strategic planning a nightmare. Meanwhile, everyone in industry, businesses, traders and the stock market are looking for signals of near-term (given up in long-term) direction to get an idea where to invest their funds, determine which products to sell and yearn for stable raw material and input prices to hopefully predict realistic profit margins. The problem is the signals keeps changing. The impact of this global and local (glocal) environmental turbulence hits the leader mid-stride in the course of his or her executive duties having made a commitment to the employer to deliver the organisation goals - the board is earnestly waiting for a premium return on its investment. However, under these conditions, failure to achieve goals may not be as much due to a lack of the leaders’ competence as much as it is because the goal posts keep shifting and the world won’t stand still long enough to get a clear shot at goal.

The purpose of this book is to empower leaders (readers) with an understanding of how to navigate turbulent environmental conditions. It provides them with a tool kit to successfully navigate the ever changing global and local landscape as it impacts organisation survival and growth, business operations and profitability, leadership team effectiveness and powering employee performance in a volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. 

It is about placing in the hands of a leader skills to navigate work related business challenges that arise due to the environmental impact and fallout facing organisations in VUCA conditions. It is about developing skills to avoid knee-jerk reactions to regular and irregular organisation problems and reducing the amount of time spent firefighting crisis. It’s about studying the environment and making reflective and strategic decisions that transform a business to fare better in the face of prevailing environmental change. This book is about revising business objectives in order to realize transcendent performance. It's about people and the culture that drives them. It’s about business renewal and organisation sustainability. It’s about making leaders out of followers and “following leaders”. It is about engaging our God given gifts of ideation, innovation and creativity to resolve persistent and pervasive problems. But then again, it’s about unravelling complex problems as opportunity for growth. One could also say it is about adopting a transcendent leader mindset that enables business transformation and organisation success. In a nutshell, I would say that is what this book is about.   

Scheduled for March 2024

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