Six ways to lead in an age of debossification

By Rishad Tobaccowala

1. Be Distinctive

Companies, brands, and individuals which succeed are ones that differentiate themselves.

Stand for something
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Have a distinct point of view.

Provide a different perspective.

Craft a culture and a way of working.

Build a network and teams of diverse and the different and let them be them and free to speak out if you want to have a truly different product or service or grow your own skills.

2. Be realistic but also a source of enlightenment and inspiration.

All businesses can be tough.

A leader must face and accept reality.

But also enlighten and inspire.

It is very easy to get down and be negative given all the challenges that come with great velocity every day

We can all be caught in a frenzy of urgency, twisting, and twitching with cyclonic vigor in attending to the matters at hand.

But never forget that people are looking to leaders to show the way forward.
Try to end every meeting and interaction with a sense of clarity (what to do next), belief ( the team believes in the cause and themselves) and energy ( they leave motivated and filled with gusto to tackle the challenges and opportunities)

3. Look over the horizon for what is next.

Be besotted with what lies ahead.

Tomorrow is where we and our companies will spend the rest of our lives and we need to look over the horizon.

Whenever we are surprised as leaders or companies it’s because somebody made tomorrow tangible today first while we were solving yesterday’s problems
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4. Renew. Refresh. Re-invent.

In a complicated world filled with hurly burly speed and messy things called people things often go wrong.

Snafus of communication and differences in expectations, incentives or approaches will lead to wires crossed and hurt feelings that can sever ties and relationships.

We sometimes need to renew and restore and repair relationships

We constantly change as people, and we need to see each other from time to time with new eyes.

5. Combine roots and wings.

Peoples past beats like a second heart within them just like the roots and history of brand and companies have twisted them into their current shapes.

Every successful individual, brand, and company is fed by their roots, but they aspire to change, grow, and adapt and fly with wings.

Wings without roots often get blown away.

Roots without wings wither and die.

Fusing roots and wings is the way.

6. Protect, guide and build people.

In the end as leaders our first and foremost job is to protect and guide and help grow and transform people since we scale through our people.
Companies do not grow or transform, people do.

By protecting, guiding and building not only would we do the right thing, but it is this behavior that will attract and retain talent for the long run.