Breakthrough Thinking
The Legacy Leader's Role in Driving Innovation
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To begin the process of breakthrough thinking in an organization or team, the leader has to first understand six simple, but nevertheless profound, drivers of breakthrough. They are:
Diversity of Thought
Awakening
Learning to partner effectively
Having a “failure is not an option” attitude
Ask for the Impossible. Settle for the Improbable.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff”
Use the “third eye”
So lets begin by looking at these individually.
Diversity of Thought
The concept of diversity has been a part of the corporate organizational culture and landscape for more that a decade now. In the early 1990s, many companies began to embrace diversity as a necessary, albeit painful, business process. The overall objective was to drive personal behavioral change that would make the workplace a more effective place, and therefore a more productive environment. There was a time when managing diversity was the subject of many executive board meetings of the biggest, and most successful corporations.
I can point with pride to the Office of Diversity at Johnson & Johnson headed by Mr. Frank Bolden, as a shining example of the commitment made by the J&J Executive Board to the diversity process, and to deal with, manage, and use diversity as a tool to fuel business growth for the corporation. Some would be tempted to point to such commitment by corporations - who apply a great deal of resources to managing the process of diversity - as trying to avoid legal liability and criticism for not offering equal opportunity to people of different backgrounds, sexual orientation, race, or other differences. I suppose there could be an element of truth to that; however, this author would argue that the benefits to the corporation, and to the individuals would be positive just for having an emphasis on the process of diversity. Therefore, rather than look too deeply as to the reasons why the corporation is embracing such a process, we ought to look with investigative eyes as to the positive outcomes that result.
There are many dimensions of diversity. The obvious ones are race and gender. By far, these two get the most play with our contemporary media and literature when the subject of diversity is discussed. However, clearly, there are other dimensions of diversity such as age, education, religion, sexual orientation, physical handicaps, language, and appearance to name just a few.
Not surprisingly, most of the dimensions of diversity have a negative connotation associated with them. We think of race in terms of diversity, and we may first consider that someone is being discriminated against because of his or her background. When the gender issue is raised, we may first lean towards thinking that women are paid less for similar work
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About the Book
The most significant obstacle to teams achieving breakthrough results is the inability of people to believe that achieving the breakthrough results is possible. The most significant failure of a leader is letting them get away with that attitude. This author is convinced that unless the leader clearly, unequivocally, and passionately, makes the statement that the organizational culture will be one in which breakthrough thinking will be the only acceptable standard, the organization will never take on that attitude and exhibit the behaviors necessary to drive breakthrough results. Moreover, if the leader fails to get other leaders in the organization to firmly believe and support a breakthrough thinking environment, and not just talk about it, then the concept of breakthrough will be unsuccessful. Without the leader’s relentless commitment, it will become the management “buzz-word” of the month, doomed to meet the same fate that so many other management fads have. Breakthrough thinking is more than that. It is real. The results that can be achieved are real, and anyone who says it can’t be done in our organization because our processes or products are “different”, is wrong. Breakthrough Thinking is not about products or processes. It’s about leader’s behaviors and the environment they create. It is also about the team member’s attitudes, beliefs, and the behaviors that result from these.
About the Author
Anthony López is the author of The Legacy Leader: Leadership With A Purpose, Breakthrough Thinking: The Legacy Leader’s Role In Driving Innovation, The Leader’s Lobotomy: The Legacy Leader Avoids Promotion Induced Amnesia, The Legacy Leader: 2nd Edition, and The Leader In the Mirror: The Legacy Leader’s Critical Self-Assessment. He is also the author of two Christian books titled: See You At The Wake: Healing Relationships Before It’s Too Late and Jag: Christian Lessons From My Golden Retriever. He is a popular motivational speaker, and is a recognized expert on leadership and management. Tony began his career as a US Air Force officer where he served as a flight test director and program manager. Tony later served as a human resources officer in the Air Force Reserves. He joined Johnson & Johnson in 1991 and held leadership positions in corporate engineering, manufacturing, marketing, communications, and general management. Later he was global vice president for marketing at ConMed. He served as Senior Vice President and General Manger for CareFusion Respiratory Systems from 2009-2011, and is currently the President of Ansell HealthCare, Medical Solutions. Tony is also president of L&L Associates, a leadership and management consulting group he founded in 2000. He was an adjunct professor at the Richard T. Dormer School of Business and Management Sciences at Indiana Purdue University. Tony holds a BS in electrical engineering, an MS in engineering management, and is a graduate of the Department of Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute. You can contact Tony at: ablopez85@yahoo.com. For more information, please visit www.thelegacyleader.net.