Patient Persistance

 There is a thing about change one should always remember - "Change takes patient persistence".

Sometimes, you might feel things are taking too long but in many cases that is just part of the process - small changes add up to a bigger one in the long run.

Take one for the team

 Sometimes, you need to take one for the team. To raise your hand at a difficult question and to say "I'll do it!" even though you know you are not the right person - but there is no one else. And to try your best at something you were not really built for.

So, a huge shout out for Jolien Boumkwo, a Belgium shotput athlete that volunteered to replace an injured athlete and... run a 100m hurdles race at the European Games. She finished last - and still won!

Psychological safety

A quick word on leading a team? Let me actually share two - "psychological safety".

"Psychological safety is the individual perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk". According to a (very cool) research from Google , that's actually the main factor that determines a team's effectiveness.

And it makes sense. In harsh words, "psychological safety" means an individual believes it's safe to take risks within their team and speak up without being labeled as incompetent, negative or disruptive.

On teams with high psychological safety, there is a higher diversity of opinions, opener and richer discussions, conversations that are both more natural and assertive - leading to better solutions. It's your responsibility as a team leader to foster it.

Does forecasting work?

How do you predict the future? One way is to forecast - to go through a forecasting exercise, based on your and the market's current situation. This typically works very well for the short foreseeable future.

But what if you need to look beyond that? If you need to make a strategic decision, a capex investment, that will take years to bear fruit - how can you predict the future in a way that it can minimize your risk?

I once came upon an opinion from Mike Rosenberg that said that forecasting doesn't work for anything that matters (yes, I believe he was being a bit dramatic!) and that for strategic decisions you should rely on scenario planning, imagining the world as it could look like and then to work backwards to see what your strategy should be. And that should be way you look at a company's sustainability strategy.

You can't buy company culture

 You can buy almost anything in a business. Infrastructure, talent, strategy (yes, you can hire talent or a bunch of consultants for that),... you name it. But you can't buy company culture.

Company culture is the ingredient that will make things happen the way you want them to (and beyond that). And it is something that you can't throw money at to change - all the parties, workshops, fancy motivational boards, speakers... they won't really move a needle on corporate culture.

Corporate culture is probably the most important unwritten responsibility of a Board. It's a prime duty, something that will make an endeavor make or break. So... work hard to make it worthy and real.

Should people agree with you?

A word of advice on people and relationships. Let me excuse myself on what I am saying next: You are a fool if you think people should agree with you in everything.

Cherish the differences within your team as they will allow you to deliver on your objectives (especially if you keep people focused).

But if find yourself having to deal with a person that is very different from you, either in business, ideals or ideas, just remember the "simple but profound idea that you don't have to agree on everything if the one thing you do agree on is important enough". This is also valid for discussions on digital and the social media space, by the way.

(The quote? It's from Bono, yes, that one from U2)

Upload? Think again, please!

 It should go without mention, but let’s be clear. You shouldn’t be uploading sensitive information to an AI system. The risk is simply huge.