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By Dawna Jones

Monday, August 8th, 2016 we used up all the resources generated by Earth in a year. Humanity’s annual demand for what nature can generate for our existence has been exceeded. Out of what Earth generates, according to the “World Resources Institute (WRI), roughly one-third of all food produced worldwide, worth around US$1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production and consumption systems.” Reliance on a linear model of production has resulted in an estimated $70 billion worth of rare earth minerals in landfill from discarded electronics. In the U.S. 58% of energy produced is wasted. Concurrently, as if hypnotized, companies strive to make quarterly revenue targets wasting even more energy: Nature’s and human potential. Expanding leadership consciousness to create workplaces where people can contribute full throttle is the highest leverage for business to do better for society, the economy and for all of life. Business leadership and commitment could do much to create prosperity and abundance.

In Seizing the Executive Imperative to Expand Consciousness I described the leadership consciousness gap as a chasm between an old view of the world, where linear and analytical thinking worked to make sense, and today’s reality, where business faces bigger, more complex issues. Decisions are still being made using habits and beliefs that resist innovation and constricted by fear. Yet in forward thinking companies of all ages, a higher order of thinking and caring is being activated.

Humungous planetary and social issues are propelling business smack into a collision course where seeing systems is a requirement, not optional. What skills do leaders at every level need to redefine company value and contribution as a measure of its capacity to sustain life on the planet as a whole?

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About the Author:  Dawna Jones sees the underlying forces impacting what you see on the surface. She works with leaders and decision-makers to update skills and expand access to their wider intelligence. Working with individuals, teams, companies or at a global level gives Dawna insights into scaling mindset, innovation and transformation through leadership and decision-making. Contact Dawna on her website or follow her on Twitter.

By Dawna Jones

Are company decision makers setting executives up to fail?
Or is something else going on?

Fifty to seventy-five percent of newly hired executives fail in the first eighteen months. Apart from predictable reasons such as inadequate formal development, absence of coaching during the adjustment combined with insufficient understanding of the role, executives, experienced or not, are no longer standing on anything resembling familiar territory. The entire context is changing fast. So fast that you cannot assume anything from the past, apart from your ingenuity, applies. Increasing complexity makes mockery of past practices or best practices particularly when dealing with surprises such as tech innovations obliterating business models overnight. It’s the fork in the road separating old paradigm leadership consciousness with the choice to dive deeper into expanding consciousness and leadership built for complexity.

An Overview of the Consciousness Levels – Leadership Mindset

Richard Barrett defines consciousness as ‘awareness with a purpose’. From my personal experience awareness is the driver of decisions and all actions, whether you are aware of it or not. When you are not aware, it is hard to achieve personal and professional fulfillment. Instead, you wind up doing the same things over and over again until a new and scary experience interrupts all assumptions about how the world works. Marital meltdowns or loss of financial security are two of the many ways offering a chance to rethink and refresh perception of your world.

Bill Torbert’s model, ably described by MetaIntegral Associates, complements earlier work done by Richard Barrett mapping consciousness developmentally (and fairly predictable organizationally). Vlatka Hlupic’s recent research on leaders mindset builds on a similar foundation, not surprisingly since being human is the common thread. The conclusions in Torbert’s work point to U.S. adults and refer to what people actually do when confronted with issues of power and timing, which are equally relevant in personal and professional working relationships.

Roughly speaking the levels break down into what decisions are focused on. (See HBR for the full article or MetaIntegral.)

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About the Author:  Dawna Jones sees the underlying forces impacting what you see on the surface. She works with leaders and decision-makers to update skills and expand access to their wider intelligence. Working with individuals, teams, companies or at a global level gives Dawna insights into scaling mindset, innovation and transformation through leadership and decision-making. Contact Dawna on her website or follow her on Twitter.

 

By Dawna Jones

Making money in business isn’t what it used to be. Exponential entrepreneurs move an idea from startup to billion-dollar company in short order. Business models are easily rendered irrelevant. Why are so many companies sticking to routine business making decisions as if nothing has changed, as if complexity has no impact? What do upstart startups, select mid-sized companies and agile business units of large companies see others don’t?

Is Profit the Result or the Means for our Business to Achieve Bigger Goals?

On every executive decision maker’s list of priorities you will find three priorities: increase revenue, mitigate risk and cut costs. Yet, hidden decision-making habits sabotage achievement of those same goals.

That is exactly what is happening when decisions are based on one glaring and flawed assumption: profit is the purpose of a business. A narrow focus is too narrow a frame in the context of complexity, where relevant data exists beyond view. Companies restrict and limit growth, leaving employees disengaged, but busy. Without a wider lens to see the big picture, the default is to solving problems and putting fires out. Instead, converting problems into business opportunities inspires engagement.

Assumptions are beliefs, sometimes rigidly held, assumed to be true but they might not be. While useful to compensate for insufficient information, left unexplored or unnoticed, assumptions increase risk and obscure clarity. In the traditional way of thinking, profit is the result of a company’s endeavour. In the contemporary mind, profit is the support a company needs to achieve something bigger. Fulfill a vision. Contribute something significant to the world.

If making grand assumptions is one risky routine habit, what else sabotages profitability?

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About the Author:  Dawna Jones sees the underlying forces impacting what you see on the surface. She works with leaders and decision-makers to update skills and expand access to their wider intelligence. Working with individuals, teams, companies or at a global level gives Dawna insights into scaling mindset, innovation and transformation through leadership and decision-making. Contact Dawna on her website or follow her on Twitter.