Two Way Thinking

In sports, players who play both offense and defense are often referred to as “two-way players.” Business leaders exhibit two-way thinking day-in and day-out.

Likewise, I see in people who exhibit a “prepared mind.” Prepared for what you ask? Prepared to deal with both challenges and opportunities, the two basic reasons why we need leaders in our organization.

Want a couple of examples? Let’s take a look at a hypothetical retail organization and TJ, a mid-level leader.

Challenge: declining sales in a major retail company

How might TJ think about a year-over-year drop in same-store sales?

As a systems thinker, TJ might take a look at the entire retail ecosystem, including suppliers, competitors, customers, and internal processes to see how changes in part of the ecosystem might affect store sales. For example, a shift in customer base from Boomers and Xers to Gen Z might change customer attitudes about brick-and-mortar stores.

As a critical thinker, TJ might want to challenge the company’s assumptions about target markets and the responsiveness of the supply chain.

As a skeptic, TJ might question existing beliefs about consumer behaviors and whether or not the company’s model is attuned to the evolving set of behaviors or  has stayed with the “tried and true” for a bit too long.

Using foresight, TJ might look for clues about future retail trends such as augmented-reality shopping experiences or Gen Z and Gen Alpha opinions about ethical consumerism.

As a design thinker, TJ should empathize with existing and new customers about their needs. For example, some consumers are worried about the inability to recycle “fast fashion” clothing and have quit buying new clothing – they shop for used clothing to minimize the impact on the environment.

Opportunity: Artificial intelligence in retail

ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022 and the “AI goldrush” has been with us ever since. Every consulting practice is now positioning itself as having AI expertise and every software application is ripe for AI exploitation. However, industry best practices are only slowly emerging. Our friend, TJ, has to do some thinking about this magic elixir.

As a systems thinker, TJ might consider how AI implementation affects, or will affect, various components of the ecosystem and how feedback loops might trigger changes in other parts of the system. For example, how might AI-driven consumer insights allow for personalized marketing strategies?

As a critical thinker, TJ might want to dig deep into AI’s feasibility, costs, benefits, and alignment with the company’s strategic objectives. TJ will want to challenge assumptions and assess vendor claims about the effectiveness and ROI of their solutions.

As a skeptic, TJ will want to question the business necessity and timing of AI implementation for the company. Now is not the time to “fall in love” with this technology. TJ will want to look for evidence supporting AI’s expected benefits for the retail sector.

Using foresight, TJ will look for clues and emerging trends in retail technology and consumer behavior. How much flexibility will be needed for company-wide implementation? Will AI support the current strategy, or will the strategy have to morph to take advantage of the technology?  

As a design thinker, TJ will want to engage with all stakeholders (customers, staff, and technology partners) to ideate and consider prototyping of different AI solutions. This might mean pilot projects in some stores or regions to test AI in real-world retail settings.

Reflection-in-Action

My exploration of the five thinking disciplines over the past weeks was triggered by a term that I’ve pondered on and off for almost forty years – reflection in action. This term/concept centers on Donald Schön’s idea that professionals often engage in a continuous process of reflecting on their actions while they are occurring, which helps them adapt and respond to complex situations.

I first came across the term when I slogged my way through Schön’s 1983 book by the same name and I think it applies more than ever in today’s global, political, wicked, AI-obsessed, Boomer-out, and GenZ-in business environment. (BTW, the book is good, but a tough read.)

Its elements include “thinking on your feet,” adaptive responses to unique situations, building of tacit knowledge, continuous learning, and improvisation.

Essentially, reflection-in-action is about being mindful and observant about what one is doing while engaged in the action itself. Sounds like leadership to me and the five thinking disciplines just might help.

So, where might this lead? To a course that we will pilot in early fall.

Prepared Mind Accelerator

This five-week course is focused on tools and techniques you can use to move your career into the future. It consists of short videos, articles, application assignments, and a weekly cohort coaching session. Here’s the general outline of the five weeks.

1. The challenge: Thinking through time
2. A useful tool set
3. Detecting the past
4. Escaping the ambush of the present
5. Getting to the future early

Interested? Send me a note.

Cheers,

Bill