Rapid change. Radical disruptions. New developments that roll in like waves - and give many people the feeling that they are being swallowed up. Because they don't understand the changes. Because the world they live in suddenly looks like a different one. Because they don't feel able to find a way of dealing with this constant "change".
"What can we do when we feel powerless, helpless?"
"What can you do to find and follow your own path in a world of change?"
For me, asking these questions leads to the core of what I set out to do: To enable people and companies to make change the core of the system and to put their own stamp on a world of change. To empower them so that they learn to follow their own vision, implement their mission and create benefits for others, both in the small day-to-day aspects of our work and for the whole of our organization.
Empowerment - a fashionable term?
Empowerment has now become a fashionable term. It was different around ten years ago when I was thinking about the title of my first book. Back then, empowerment was a term that was primarily associated with integration and the women's movement.
Applying the term empowerment to leadership was - in my opinion - ahead of its time. A glimpse into the future ... that anticipated what would one day be the central task facing leaders, facing every person as a personality, facing companies as living organisms: empowering themselves in order to shape change.
Empowerment may be a fashionable term, but the core of the concept is more important than ever - as the development of AI, which often seems overpowering, shows: empowerment is the central theme. So if we understand what this can mean: "empowerment" - then we can get a better grip on the world ...
Because it's about more ...
Sometimes we feel like a small light, not big enough to make a contribution. We see the really big players in and outside our organization, as a small organization we look at the really big players and think, yes, they have made it. But that's the same as my house, my car, my boat. But it's about much more ...
Everyone has a story to tell that has created and continues to create value for others in their lives. If we now make change our friend, understand that it is the core of the system in the future, we can integrate change into our story.
I know and have experienced this myself: when change happens, we have a tendency to flee, play dead or fight against it. But certain things are unstoppable and these include developments in AI in particular.
So it doesn't help to bury our heads in the sand or fight against something that is already there. But if we understand and accept that change is at the heart of the system, then we can shape the future so that we can surf the AI wave instead of being swallowed up by it.
I want to contribute to this and simplify and democratize access to AI. Everyone, not just AI experts, should be able to get the best out of AI and use it to write their own story, because then I'll be the designer of my life again, no matter what field I'm working and traveling in.
What does that mean for you? Empowerment ...
Understanding what is happening is of fundamental importance for all of us in order to avoid becoming a pawn in the waves of change. And the more people share this understanding, the more effective they are when they act together as a team.
In kick-off meetings that I lead, we first create a glossary. And quite a few people look strange. But as soon as we get started, most people quickly realize that what Schopenhauer said applies: "Everyone lives in their own world." Because it quickly becomes clear that the participants use terms, words and descriptions differently. Perhaps just a touch differently. But different. And this "different" means that not everyone can follow the path that is effective in shaping the mission and vision.
In any case, empowering ourselves means, as a first step, agreeing on a common context, seeing whether we all speak the same language and understand each other. So that we can then define the path we need to take together. I have already emphasized the importance of questions for the process of understanding and empowerment elsewhere [LINK Blog 1 Season August 2024 He who asks, learns and leads]. But I would like to emphasize the importance of asking questions together, of struggling together to clarify concepts: We need clarity in what we say and what we understand: Because this clarity makes us more effective. Because we must never forget what Schopenhauer said: we all live in the same region, but each in our own world.
If you are a manager, empowerment means that you invite the people in your area of responsibility to understand the context together, ask questions and clarify ambiguities.
When processes and structures change, in a world of permanent change, it is crucial - for you as a manager, for companies in general and for us as human beings - that we use the potential that is available. So first understand what these potentials are (my compass is valuable for such an understanding, which you can find here ...
When we realize how much power we can unleash, when we unleash our full potential, discover our hidden skills, overcome barriers in collaboration, learn new skills, then we shape change.
Understanding the world means shaping the world - and I am firmly convinced that this is best achieved together, which I would like to invite you to do:https://democratizing-success.com/einladung
Torsten Osthus