{"id":2728,"date":"2020-07-09T00:25:01","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T22:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/?p=2728"},"modified":"2023-11-01T15:49:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T14:49:57","slug":"this-is-urgent-we-must-be-patientby-stefan-stern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/this-is-urgent-we-must-be-patientby-stefan-stern\/","title":{"rendered":"This is urgent. We must be patient<\/br>by Stefan Stern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In an \u201calways on\u201d, digital age, the deadline \u2013 it so often seems \u2013 is now. Churchill famously called for \u201caction this day\u201d. Today\u2019s demand is for \u201caction this minute\u201d. Why have you not replied to my email? Have you seen this tweet? What\u2019s been happening to the S&P 500 in the last few minutes, or seconds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many crisis management has become a default setting, and the short term has got even shorter. But paradoxically, this is precisely how to bring the next crisis closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drucker Forum 2020<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>
\n

This article is one in the \u201cshape the debate\u201d series relating to the fully digital 12th Global Peter Drucker Forum<\/a><\/span>, under the theme \u201cLeadership Everywhere\u201d on October 28, 29 & 30, 2020.
#DruckerForum<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, different leaders have adopted their own approach to tackling this challenge. Urgent action has been required. But the \u201cfalse urgency\u201d \u2013 proud boasts, unlikely claims, theatrical pronouncements \u2013 chosen by some leaders has proven confusing and counterproductive. Others, though, have displayed a more sustained and systematic approach. They have taken decisive action but also measured their results, altered their response according to the data and focused on long term solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These leaders have displayed what Prof John Kotter has called \u201curgent patience\u201d. This too sounds paradoxical, but Kotter defines it precisely: \u201cIt means acting each day with a sense of urgency but having a realistic view of time. It means recognising that five years may be needed to attain important and ambitious goals, and yet coming to work each day committed to finding every opportunity to make progress toward those goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In business, urgent patience provides an antidote to the unthinking pursuit of \u201cmaximising shareholder value\u201d, a false god which can also encourage ultra short-term behaviour and ultimately value-destroying choices. Leaders should teach their shareholders to be patient. Real and lasting value will not usually be created quickly. And the idea of sustainable growth implies an acknowledgement that rushing to generate large profits can end in failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past year there has been some excitement that the Business Roundtable in the US, as well as some leading voices at the World Economic Forum in Davos, have embraced the concept of stakeholders, in contrast to a more narrow focus on shareholders. They reminded me of Monsieur Jourdain, Moli\u00e8re\u2019s \u201cBourgeois Gentilhomme\u201d, who learns to his delight that he has been speaking in prose all his life. (Will Hutton\u2019s \u201cThe State We\u2019re In\u201d, which promoted a stakeholder approach to business, was first published in 1995.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let us embrace even a belated conversion, if that is what it is, to a more balanced, urgent yet patient ethos in the matter of leading businesses. Urgent patience can also help us in the goal to promote \u201cleadership everywhere\u201d. Because it is the support and approval of our peers at work that can cement lasting improvements and competitive advantage. Particularly in the time of Covid, we want our workforces to feel the urgency of the moment, while displaying the patience that is needed to achieve wider and deeper goals in the longer term. We must make haste slowly \u2013 or \u201cfestina lente\u201d, as the Romans used to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Autho<\/strong>r:
Stefan Stern <\/strong>is the author (with Prof Cary Cooper) of “Myths of Management: what people get wrong about being the boss” , and also of “How To Be A Better Leader”. He is Visiting Professor at Cass Business School, City, University of London, and a former Financial Times columnist<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is one in the \u201cshape the debate\u201d <\/strong>series relating to the fully digital 12th Global Peter Drucker Forum<\/a>, under the theme \u201cLeadership Everywhere\u201d on October 28, 29 & 30, 2020.
<\/em>#DruckerForum<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an \u201calways on\u201d, digital age, the deadline \u2013 it so often seems \u2013 is now. Churchill famously called for \u201caction this day\u201d. Today\u2019s demand is for \u201caction this minute\u201d. Why have you not replied to my email? Have you seen this tweet? What\u2019s been happening to the S&P 500 in the last few minutes, or seconds?[\u2026]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":""},"categories":[277],"tags":[278,23],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2728"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4368,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions\/4368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}