Re-imagining leadership: The big eleven

Hence, my Big Eleven in outline form. Eleven ideas that will inform leaders in the immediate years ahead.

1. Talent Management. It's all about "talent." Talent! What a word! Conjure up the New York Yankees. A NASA shuttle crew. The San Francisco ballet. Cal Tech's physics faculty. People who are at the top of their game, to be sure. But also people who "color outside the lines" each and every day ... as a matter of course.

As outsourcing devours millions of white-collar jobs, including the expensive ones, the "keepers" will be ... well ... special. And the "keepers' chiefs" will be the best of the best at (1) attracting and (2) recruiting and (3) keeping Top Talent. "Great Place to Work" is no longer the Mt. Everest of aspirations; it's a minimum survival requirement. (Believe it.)

2. Metabolic Management. The idea here is speed. Urgency. Quick reaction. Agility. The pace of change has accelerated wildly. Chiefs (leaders) are now responsible for setting a pace. The New Corporate Culture is a culture of speed. But it's more than raw speed. It's the ability to tack and jibe relentlessly, to adapt immediately to the slightest shift of breeze. We need Russell Crowe/Jack Aubrey/John Paul Jones/Horatio Nelson at the helm. Truly.

3. Technology Management. I'm an unabashed tech-bigot. I think the technology changes everything. Look at Wal*Mart, Dell, eBay, Amazon, Cisco, Schwab. Aging leaders need not be masters of the New Technologies, but they need to be lovers. Appreciators. They must invest ever so aggressively. When it comes to tech, boldness and first-ness win!

4. Barrier Management. The CEO/Chief needs to be a "detail man." (Or, better yet, Detail Woman.) "Most of what we call management," Peter Drucker once intoned, "consists of making it difficult for people to get things done." Cute, Peter. And oh-so-true. The new world/new metabolism will not countenance borders and barriers and boundaries. Hack them down. Whack them down. Dive into the detail ... and ... DESTROY ALL GOVERNORS ON X-FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION.

5. Forgetful Management. Learning is a cakewalk. Forgetting is nigh on impossible. Especially for successful enterprise. Yet the (wacky) new times demand ... forgetfulness. First and foremost. We must burn the battle flags of yesteryear. We must adopt the naiveté of the startup as our mantra. We must codify what we know for sure -- and proceed to destroy it. Survival is at stake! Forgetfulness is its chief kin!

6. Metaphysical Management. Yesterday's value could be captured in a Kodak Moment. Kodak is near collapse. The smokestack is no longer the source of value. IBM's "Global Services" division -- consulting, not making -- is the giant enterprise's engine of prosperity. "Brown" means "logistics management consulting" ... not so much gangs in brown UPS shorts doing business via brown UPS trucks. The world of creating value has "gone ephemeral" on us. Believe it ... or perish.

7. Opportunity Management. There is a new majority. No, not "red states" vs. "green states." But: Women boomers. Women are "Market Opportunity No. 1". And woefully underserved. Boomers (80 million in the U.S.) are "Market Opportunity No. 1A." And woefully underserved. The wildly empowered woman-boomer is "marketing's all-time sweet spot," as one expert put it.

Problem (opportunity!): To take advantage of this Monumental Main Chance requies wholesale strategic re-alignment, not a "program-of-the-year mentality.

8. Portfolio Management. I love the idea of "portfolio" or "bell-shaped curves" (the ubiquitous "normal distribution"). Effective leaders carefully craft portfolios. Of everything. Some safe bets. Some risky bets. Some way-out bets. But the idea is thinking ... all the time ... about portfolios. Are there enough "weird bits" in my portfolio of (1) employees (2) board members (3) customers (4) suppliers (5) consultants to ensure that I will be pulled/dragged into the crazy-weird future?

9. Failure Management. No failure. No risk. No survival. To fail is to grow. Period. Most enterprises live by "playing it safe." And fumble. (Mid- to long-term.) Winners stick their necks out, take their tumbles ... and perhaps live to see the sun rise the day after tomorrow. Enterprises (and individuals) who can live with screw ups that necessarily accompany risk taking ... beyond one's comfort zone ... up the odds of long-term success ... dramatically.

10. Cause Management. Causes jerk people (you, me) out of bed in the morning. The lack thereof keep people in bed. Leaders make employees long for the end of the weekend ... so that they can get back to work. No bull. Sound odd? Sound weird? Sound outrageous? If it does, Mr./Ms. Leader, you are not a leader in modern/chaotic times.

11. Passion Management. Passion makes the world go round. Period. (Period.) Why must I say more? Well, I want to say much more. Leaders who, especially in strange times, don't "get" the role of pursuing passionate causes should have their cards pulled. (As I said ... more than once ... period.)

Bon chance!