Ready? The 3Rs of Preparing Your Organization for the Future

What do Indian tractors and iconic America ice-cream companies have in common? Why are leaders of Unilever, Nestlé, and many other global companies redefining their futures? Why does this matter to you?

The world is shifting and it’s fast and furious. The world is more connected every day. Global challenges are multiplying – and the institutions that we expect to take care of these issues can’t do it alone. Are you – and your organization – ready for this world? If not, you had better get ready – if you don’t rethink your business, someone else will.

From interviews with 156 CEOs and senior leaders of organizations from around the world and our work with top teams of leading companies, this book offers insights and practical tools for leaders preparing their businesses, and themselves, for the future. The focus is what actions can be taken today to prepare – including how to bridge the gap between delivering today and succeeding in the future.

Business leaders today live in two worlds, the immediate and the long-term. Given intense and growing pressures for immediate results, many leaders are caught up in a short-term trap, and many organizations are becoming exhausted with activity. But is this activity really preparing them for the future, or are they just trying to hold onto the past?

On the other side, there are fundamental trends reshaping the world in which business will compete in the future. These changes include falling boundaries between industries (e.g., with banks competing with telecommunications firms), a shifting economic center of gravity, and changing expectations – or demands – from consumers, employees and even society as a whole. Incremental change from current business models and mindsets will not adequately prepare businesses for this future.

So the question facing leaders today is how to prepare their organizations for the future, while continuing to deliver current results. This challenge is the focus of Ready? The 3Rs of Preparing Your Organization for the Future.

With a foreword by Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, the book highlights 5 major challenges facing senior business leaders today:

Bridging the gap: Understand and address the causes of the short- vs long-term trap in your organization

Rethinking your playing field: Analyze the trends reshaping your future and define the implications on your business

Redefining your ambition: Address the need to clarify your vision and purpose as fundamental building blocks for preparing for the future

Reshaping how you work: Highlight the use of two directional thinking to clarify your “sprints” and “marathons”, explore the need to move from transactional to a relational mindset in your interactions, and move from an organization based on complacency to one with the courage, capacity and commitment to challenge and move your organization forward.

The 3Rs of preparing yourself for the future: Understand and address the challenges facing you as a leader in preparing yourself for the future.

Are you ready?

Thomas W. Malnight is Professor of Strategy at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne Switzerland. Among other work, Tom is the co-author of Must Win Battles: How to Win Them Again and Again. Previously Tom was on the Faculty of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has a DBA from the Harvard Business School and an MBA from the Wharton School. He works extensively with top leadership teams in challenging how they view their changing competitive landscape, how they shape their future and strategies for moving forward, how they engage and align priorities and actions across their organizations, and how they work together as a high performing leadership team.

Tracey S. Keys is a Director of Strategy Dynamics Global SA, publisher of www.globaltrends.com. Previously, Tracey worked with senior executives at IMD, and has held senior roles at the BBC, Booz &Co., Deloitte & Touche and Braxton Associates, as well as advising a number of start-ups. Tracey is a Fulbright Scholar and holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania where she was distinguished as a Palmer Scholar. She is a co-author of Must-Win Battles, and co-editor of Mastering Executive Education: How to Combine Content With Context and Emotion. She works with senior executives and leadership teams globally on complex issues of strategy, preparing organizations for the future, and developing perspectives on global trends, as well as engaging in public speaking on these topics, and consulting on executive education programs.

Kees van der Graaf In 2008, at the pinnacle of his career, Kees took early retirement from consumer goods giant, Unilever. His career there spanned over 30 years, culminating as the President of Europe and a member of the Board and Executive Committee. During his final years at Unilever, he completely overhauled the European business and brought it back to growth. Since retiring, besides spending time with his family, Kees’ top priority is to support the FSHD Foundation, which he and his wife founded to help find a cure for FSHD. Kees also spends time at IMD, where he was an Executive-in-Residence from 2008 to 2012. He serves on several boards, engages in public speaking, and through his consultancy – Los Gravos BV – advises organizations, including many international fast-moving consumer goods firms on complexity management. All of Kees’ activities are aimed at raising funds for FSHD Research.