Balancing short-term profitability and long-term transformation is a tricky task to tackle. However, as our guest leaders from diverse industries ranging from retail to energy demonstrated, it is indeed achievable.

Here are 5 top takeaways from our guest leaders:

1. Prepare for several different future horizons rather than fixating on a single scenario. Develop capabilities that are relevant throughout different scenarios.

2. Focus on a few selected, multi-year development tracks that address the fundamental changes the business will undergo in the next 10 years.

3. Ensure everyone understands the transformation's direction and allocate time for proper preparation and communication.

4. Make people feel that they are part of creating the change, not the target of the change. Encourage active participation and collaboration to create a sense of ownership and commitment to the transformation process.

5. Change requires more energy and effort in the beginning. Ensure there is ample time at the start, as resistance to change often stems from packed schedules and to-do lists.

One of the central themes of our discussion was the importance of choosing the right direction for growth. How do you determine where to focus your efforts and which visions to pursue? How can you anticipate and prepare for future changes?

Rather than viewing the challenging environment as an obstacle to overcome, our peer leaders emphasised the opportunity it presents for growth and renewal. Being bold with prioritising is hard, but needed, according to our peer-leaders.

A concrete way to make room for new is to feel no mercy when cutting off previous development tracks that simply do not create fundamental value to how the business operates in the future. Leading the act of prioritising and letting go becomes equally as important as starting new. This also gives employees time to focus on what truly matters.

Growth and transformation require the right capabilities. We delved into the challenge of developing capabilities that address the current demands and also foster new opportunities for the future.

As people, physical machines and digital technology all have a different frequency for change, finding the right rhythm between all the different capabilities is a true challenge. Our peer-leaders stressed the importance of understanding what the critical capabilities are and what they mean in practice, concretely on a role description level. Too often the discussion on capabilities is on a too general level.

No matter the challenges, the future appears bright as we listened to our guest leaders’ discussion. While obstacles are certain, there are just as many opportunities to enable new horizons.

The future is formed together and we encourage all leaders to regularly spar with a peer from another industry. It will leave you inspired, we guarantee!

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