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| Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet |
Balancing stability with the need for innovation is a key obligation for leaders. The sustainability of your business depends on finding a suitable equilibrium.
Stability pays the bills, relying on structure and standard procedures to boost productivity and ensure high quality that increases reliability and reduces risk. But another consequence of this conformity is the cultivation of bureaucracy that breeds fear of failure, compromising innovation and resulting in a drift towards mediocrity. The more there is to lose, the greater the pressure not to lose it.
On the opposite side of the scale, to accelerate progress and improve results, leaders are expected to drive innovation, not merely react to changes impacting their organization. If adapting to change is your focus, then you’re already behind and your sustainability may be uncertain. It’s innovation that accelerates progress and creates your future by resolving a challenge in your market or promoting your customers’ growth. And because innovation is a truly human endeavor, enabled more by your people’s investment of discretionary effort than by data or technology, its success relies on your ability to influence and inspire.
The future is yours to create, don’t let it just happen to you. Redefine fear of failure to balance the benefits of stability with the need for innovation.
