An actor has more opportunities for work when they can deliver on a stage and in front of a camera. (The key is understanding the location of the audience.)- A baseball player is more valuable than others when they can bat from the right and the left side of the plate.
- The marketer who understands the nuances between print and social media drives more value to their client. (One form creates news – the other distributes it.)
Which brings us to you. The leader who is prized today is ambidextrous: They overcome disrupted supply chains, scarce resources, a shallow talent pool and achieve today’s plan – while successfully delivering innovation and developing the future talent their organization craves.
In a discussion with a leadership team we’re supporting, this nugget of wisdom surfaced: Thinking you alone must be ambidextrous is a trap (that leads to exhaustion). Driving an ambidextrous organization is the key: When a network of collaborative leaders share information, resources, and talent they free the company to rapidly shift and focus its energy where it’s needed…so it can deliver today’s targets and innovate at the same time.
Are you a part of an ambidextrous network of collaborative leaders?
P.S. We’ll be exploring specifics of how leaders at all levels in an organization can win today and deliver tomorrow in our next Collaborative Leader’s Huddle on November 2, at 10 a.m. EST. The talented Simon Yannopoulos, Sr. Dir. of Supply Chain Management at Jabil, and I will be having an unscripted, inspired conversation. I hope you can join us.
