Notebook 2038: A prototype of a custom development program for next generation executives

With this article I will complete a short trilogy on next generation executive development, covering why foresight should be elevated as a focus in such programs, what I learned from working with business schools over many years looking after executive development programs at a large global company, and what I believe a contemporary next generation program should look like.

What is set out below is a set of ideas for a prototype of a program, as yet unfinished and lacking details. I would love comments and feedback as to whether there is something to this and how it could be strengthened.

First, some thoughts on the phrase 'next generation executives'. Not too long ago, it described the next generation of leaders in a given company, those who would take over senior positions in the organization in an orderly fashion when ready to do so. The prerequisites for reaching those top jobs, besides being smart and well-educated, were organizational knowledge of different kinds, strong social equity and attachment to the company culture and its executives, and commitment to a long career in the firm. There was an implicit belief that rational planning could select successful candidates from diverse countries and that grooming them for future success was a corporate responsibility necessitating significant investment. My own career in executive education was formed in such circumstances.

For me, the term 'next generation' has taken on a different meaning. We are now talking about the firm and business environment that is next generation, not just the leaders themselves. The world is no longer a stable place offering steady progression toward the mountain top; it is more like a jagged and uncertain terrain of flash floods demanding the skills of agility, risk taking, the capacity to learn and adjust, and the ability to galvanize teams around fresh and fleeting possibilities. It is a world of ubiquitous talent, endless opportunity and frequent failure. The question is how can executive development help leaders increase their chances of success in a world like that.

When I speak of leadership, I mean the ability to get things done with excellence through people and machines, especially in businesses that are digitizing. Sustained leadership is the ability to succeed repeatedly while developing others to carry on superior performance. In a volatile environment such as today's, it strikes me that two overarching questions guide executive leadership development. The first is 'What is going on?' And the second is 'What am I going to do?' It is the completeness, depth of thought, clarity and conviction of the answers that mark a leader that others choose to follow. Essential qualities aside, like courage, confidence and interest in people, leadership is largely a game of seeing, reflecting, thinking, articulating and communicating. That assumption lies at the basis of my proposal.

The successful executive needs to be able to see far in many directions. This is because so much is going on so quickly in so many places that have instant repercussions. The first question breaks down into 'What is going on in the business and the environment?'; 'What is going on with the people around me?' and 'What is going on with myself?' Any investment in development should aim to increase the quality of answers to these three questions. What is different from the past is the emphasis on the outside world over the inside game of company strategy, implementation and process, areas that business schools cover well. For many, leading today feels like being a startup entrepreneur between successive rounds of short leash capital.

The second big question breaks down into three more questions that mirror the first set. What am I going to do in the business? What am I going to do with regard to the people around me? What am I going to do with myself? What is different from the past is the focus on the leader as a quasi independent agent, a learner and designer of experiments rather than someone whose role is clearly circumscribed by the organization's grand strategic plan. And what is driving that is demands on performance, uncertainty and the speed of change.

These questions are not mutually exclusive or exhaustive. They are simply categories to be ignored at risk. Failure, ever present in any case, will be guaranteed through ignorance of the world around us, ignorance of the people we work with and serve, or ignorance of oneself as a leader. Ignorance is not bliss; it is fatal.

My aim is to offer a program for leaders with a strong focus on these questions through a process that is indirect, unrehearsed and somewhat uncontrolled. My belief is that exposure to others who can speak to important dimensions of these inquiries, in a high-energy and diverse metropolis like London or New York, combined with dialogue among peers, guided reflections and the writing of a daily diary, will result in lasting insights. The skills of deep listening, applying a learner mindset and a generosity of spirit, are what it will take to benefit from the approach I am proposing. These skills can be taught and enhanced and will serve a leader's development for many years to come.

My design principles are these: first, after initial online readings and expectations setting, the program would be face-to-face and based on a series of personal interactions, essentially conversations. Second, it would last six days and be one module only. (There would be ample opportunity and motivation to keep the group actively engaged afterward as part of a network of learning and support.) Third, to be able to appreciate the essence of the human voices at the center of each encounter, and connect with people in their fullness, there would no technology in the conference room.

Here are a few of my biases to give a flavor of activities that I believe should be included. To understand oneself better, articulating one's purpose in life or crafting a leadership credo is of greater value than physically demanding outdoor team-building activities that are devoid of reflection. A deep study of an organization in a completely different sphere will lead to more profound insights into the orthodoxies of one's own firm than the same amount of time spent on one's closest competitor. An impromptu encounter with a leader or leaders in such an organization will provide richer learning than a perfectly packaged set of leadership verities from a professor who is used to speaking about the subject to various audiences. Finally, I believe there is great value in writing, old fashioned writing in full sentences and paragraphs, neatly captured on attractive paper in a beautifully bound notebook.

I propose a design that aims to answer the question of what the world will look like in twenty years time; twenty years being the timespan in which young leaders spend the bulk of their careers and in which they seek to satisfy the urge that prompted them to be leaders in the first place. Those twenty years are when they have their greatest chance to make a difference. And no one should be admitted to such a program unless they carry that aspiration.

Toward the end of the program, the contours of this 2038 Future will be designed, articulated and shared imaginatively with those who wish to know what these leaders are thinking and where they are staking their bets. It would embrace the business environment, the world outside and the lives of the next next generation. It would form the basis of a workshop with a mixed group of students and invited senior executives.

This would not be a technology-centered vision of the world, rather a human one, providing answers to the questions of how we will be living, working, caring for others, learning and co-existing. It would be multi-disciplinary and holistic - the ultimate answer to the question of 'what is going on' and an invitation to reflect on 'what I am going to do to seize the opportunities which the picture presents'. Experts with polished models of the future would not be invited to present their ideas. This future is bottom up and composed of synthesizing weak signals of change, soft carom shots off the green velvet sides of the billiard table rather than direct shots into the pockets.

The program will conclude with how each one prepares for success on their own terms within the picture they helped create. It would lay out an agenda for learning, for creating nourishing networks, and for strengthening habits that lead to reflection and growth such as keeping up the old fashioned diary that is the totemic device at the core of the process.

The first four days would be full of encounters with interesting people. Each speaker or session would be focused on both the present and the future: 'What am I doing now and how do I see what I am doing evolving in the future?' Here are thirty-five ideas for speakers and sessions: a winning politician, a losing politician, a researcher in biology, a researcher in the social sciences, an expert in social media, an expert in how to communicate abstract ideas, a student from Uganda, a professor of strategy, a homeless person, an entrepreneur who failed, someone working with children to reduce bullying at school, an organization fighting terrorism, an organization fighting social exclusion, a successful sports coach, a student of public health, a musician in a large orchestra, a migrant, a rooftop farmer, a film maker, a senior civil servant, an artist, someone just let out of prison, a doctor from Doctors without Borders, an executive board member of a large non profit, a student of literature, an architect, an Uber driver (providing she can just go park her car and take half an hour to meet the group), a real estate developer, a priest, the director of a children's nursery, a chef, a child psychologist, a newspaper editor, a married couple over 90 years old, a senior business executive. My preparation for such a program would be an exhaustive search for articulate and authentic speakers who could cast a beam of light from their experience - the program director as journalist from the Metropolitan Desk of the Daily Planet.

Each day would begin with reflections on the day before. Each day would end with personal reflections in the leather bound diary. The reflections would cover thoughts about what is going on, what is happening between people and what is going on with oneself. I would prompt the group to think about such questions as, 'What does perseverance look like?' What does courage look like?' What does failure look like?' 'How does it feel to look at hopelessness close up? 'What drives this person's success?' 'What drives that person's frustration?' After forty-five minutes of reflecting and writing, groups of three would read their entries to each other. There would be no sharing of thoughts with the whole group other than about the day as a whole and the setting of expectations for the day to follow.

I would seek out an end-of-the-afternoon environment in a comfortable library and use public transportation or walking to go from one place to another. By no means would attendance at sessions be limited to those in the privileged group of participants. If there were opportunities to invite students along, we would do so. Students from the London School of Economics or The Chelsea College of Art and Design, for example, would be most welcome. I would decorate the walls with the key questions we were seeking to answer and put up memorable quotes and photos the day's speakers and I would check in with the group to see if they felt they were making progress.

The fundamental belief behind the design of such a program is that the future is the subject of greatest interest and greatest utility to those whose job it is to achieve success in the years to come. We would not be satisfied if we could not forge and communicate a compelling future; one that was created among peers and inspiring enough to share with others interested in knowing how the group viewed the world of 2038 and how they meant to make a difference. This future and the commitments made to securing it would be the ultimate answer to What is going on? and What am I doing to do about it?

To make sure participants listened effectively and openheartedly, asked stimulating questions and wrote in the diary in an inspiring way, I would spend a great deal of time training people to be ready for all they were about to experience. The Learner's Mindset would comprise the most important skillset which the program transmited for there is no real long-term growth without it.

A working name for the program is Notebook 2038.