Through our respective experiences with transformations (Elizabeth leading change from the inside, Brooke accompanying leaders through change from the outside) we’ve reached a similar insight: changing behaviours and improving results comes from a mutually reinforcing integration of strategy and culture.
Often, a replacement executive is brought in as organizations move through natural phases. To draw an analogy to mountain climbing, reaching base camp and reaching the summit are two different phases, each with a separate skillset and each necessary to reach the ultimate goal. However, when there’s a leadership change, it is all too easy for the incoming executive to lean into a convenient narrative: “The old way of doing things doesn’t cut it and that’s why we need to change.”
The next five years will be a critical time for talent management because by 2030 even the youngest Baby Boomers will turn 65. But there’s a persistent challenge to making the most of your people’s potential: when it’s time for change, we too often reach outside the organization, dreaming of that superstar who is just waiting to arrive – if only we can find them.
This keynote explores how successful organizations and leaders take action in these circumstances. Often, action precedes certainty, as they move quickly. But what’s more surprising is that these organizations actually use that action to generate the confidence they’re seeking, in a way that “more consulting and analysis” simply can’t.
My keynote "The Leader We Needed Was Us" challenges the traditional hero-centric leadership model by revealing how embracing collective leadership enables organizations to maintain both speed and coherence in even the most challenging circumstances. Drawing from my experience leading high-stakes pandemic response initiatives, I share frameworks for cultivating distributed leadership capabilities that serve daily operations, succession planning, and crisis response.
