Great Leaders Are Ambidextrous, Are You?

November 17, 2014 / G C Network / Comments Off on Great Leaders Are Ambidextrous, Are You?

Enomaly: Startup of the Week

By G C Network | November 18, 2008

Congratulations to Enomaly and Reuven Cohen for being named Startup of the Week byInformationWeek !!! Reuven and I collaborate quite a bit and his blog, Elastic Vapor, is a staple for anyone interested in…

Cloud Computing at DoD, DISA, DIA, CENTCOM and NCOIC

By G C Network | November 17, 2008

At CloudCamp last week, Military Information Technology distributed free copies of it’s November issue to all attendees. The issue contains a very informative article by Cheryl Gerber titled “Computing in…

Last Night’s Camp Out !!

By G C Network | November 13, 2008

Check out Tech BISNOW for more on CloudCamp Federal! Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson

CloudCamp Federal was AWESOME !!

By G C Network | November 13, 2008

Just got home from CloudCamp Federal. What an event!! The over 100 attendees definitely made the statement that the Fed is interested in cloud computing. As expected, cloud security was…

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By G C Network | November 12, 2008

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Today is CloudCamp Federal !!

By G C Network | November 12, 2008

Today we kick of off the first CloudCamp Federal. Reuven Cohen, Bob Lozano, Brand Niemann and over 150 other cloud computing enthusiast are expected to attend. We also plan to…

CloudCamp “Sold Out” !! More Tickets Added

By G C Network | November 11, 2008

We are happy to announce that CloudCamp Federal (aka DC), taking place tomorrow at Apptis headquarters in Chantilly, VA (directions), is sold out. But don’t fret, we’ve added 25 more…

President-Elect Obama: Good for Cloud Computing

By G C Network | November 11, 2008

In his article, “What Does Obama Revolution Mean to Cloud Computing“, Krishnan Subramanian lays out a rosy picture for cloud computing: Protecting the openness of Internet: crucial for cloud computing…

Only 9 tickets left for CloudCamp Federal !!

By G C Network | November 10, 2008

Only 9 tickets left from the original allotment of 150 for CloudCamp Federal this week. We’re working to free up some more, but don’t leave it to chance. Go to…

Valiant Angel – A Perfect PED Application for Cloud Computing

By G C Network | November 10, 2008

A few weeks ago in an article title “Why the Cloud? Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination“, I described two instances where the newspaper industry used cloud computing in order to process,…


By:
Melvin Greer
Managing Director, Greer Institute


https://www.greerinstitute.org/
 There are many important characteristics of great leaders. Team players, good listeners and visionary are clear hallmarks. But being ambidextrous is required now more than ever. Ambidextrous leadership is a balanced approach where flexible leadership behaviors that lead to better business outcomes are the rule. 
Ambidexterity is the ability to engage in innovation (exploration) and operation (exploitation) equally well. But these are two very different yet complementary leadership behaviors.
  • Exploitation: Reducing variance, adherence to rules, alignment and risk avoidance  
  • Exploration: Increasing variance, experimentation and failure, value alternatives and risk taking

And why is ambidextrous leadership required now more than ever? Leadership is in crises and leaders are facing an increasing set of complex issues. This crisis manifests itself in a lack of employee engagement and retention along with lower market share and business performance. According to 2013 Ketchum Leadership study there is an unambiguous crisis of confidence in leaders.
According to the survey, just 24 percent of people around the world believe leaders overall are providing effective leadership. Poor leadership directly hits sales, and in 2012, 60 percent of people boycotted or bought less from a company due to poor leadership behavior. This assessment indicates that we are experiencing an innovation gap where today’s leaders have neglected leadership behavior that fosters innovation in favor of operational performance.
What makes ambidextrous leadership hard is that innovation is a complex and non-linear activity. There is a dynamic lifecycle and pace of innovation, combined with situational variability. This requires leaders to develop temporal flexibility—the ability to know when to do what for maximum business impact. Given the focus on innovation, today’s leaders are encouraged to develop a 21st Century Leadership model, which emphasizes ambidextrous leadership.
So what does it take to become an ambidextrous leader? Here are some key first steps:
1.     Develop an ability to harness disruptive innovations. I’ve identified four disruptive innovations that are impacting leaders and leadership. IT knowledge has traditionally been confined to the IT department, but not anymore. Today any leader should be able to read a P&L or interpret and operate a balance sheet; they should be able to understand how technology will impact the business strategy of their organization.
2.     Drive innovation via workforce and talent. Innovative leadership requires systematic innovation; a tight linkage to the development of a strong workforce and the development of future leaders, students via a robust science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) pipeline. 

https://www.greerinstitute.org/21st-century-leadership/
The book, 21st Century Leadership, drills down to illuminate what makes leaders so good at innovation and talent, and describes how to move an innovation strategy from “chasing shiny objects” to a powerful, sustainable cultural change and create a magnet for great talent. The goal is to mature new leaders and inspire future innovators. This is how we, as leaders, turn this disruption from a challenge into an opportunity for business growth via innovation.
By taking these steps we can close the innovation gap and avoid leadership behavior that atrophies innovation in favor of operational performance. We can truly have ambidexterity leadership and engage in innovation and operational activities equally well.

The Boston Consulting Group in its top 20 most innovative companies for 2014 (https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/interactive/innovation_growth_most_innovative_companies_interactive_guide/) listed firms like Samsung, Tesla Motors, Dell and Intel.  These companies are working to drive operational performance and innovation to their clients benefit.

 

( This post was written as part of the Dell Content Partners program, which provides news and analysis on technology, business and gadget-geek culture. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent Dell’s positions or strategies.)

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