Dr. Harinda K

It’s hard to ignore the events that happened on the 9th of November, 2016. Trump won. The ridicule of a party, almost seemed to become a ridicule of the nation. Or did it?

I think that in time, we will look at these elections from many angles and hopefully learn our deficiencies as people and decision makers. But in this post, I wanted to cover the macro issues that kept us all in a bubble for the last months. We, as managers, employees, entrepreneurs and more, should almost never come to this point of saying, “What happened?!”.

So, let’s take a look at what did happen and compare what happened in the elections with what happens in our every day lives as employees, bosses, and aspiring leaders.

Were you in a bubble? How many of us had Trump supporters in our Facebook feeds? Are we simply surrounding ourselves with more people like us? This is the first and worst thing managers do. If we really want to celebrate diversity, we have to accept that it exists; that people have opinions that differ to ours; and that we have to find a way to get them to work with us and for us to work with them. As leaders, you cannot and should not limit your exposure to the few people that you like. This is a false way of being informed. Social and Data science implores us as human beings to take in ALL the data and then make a selection or decision. Make sure that you always have access to as much information as is available. The 8% barrier: There was an interesting lesson we learned in Business School in a research paper written by Dean Ilian Mihov. In the long-term, nations do not grow at a rate beyond 8% of growth. This is because there are infrastructural, cultural and systemic barriers that impede massive and sustained bouts of growth. Like your blood flow, there is a regular rate and then an elevated one. Every single time, it will revert back to your regular rate. As a manager, are you trying to change too much too soon? Reflect on the changes that you are trying to implement and read the buy-in you have from your staff, customers, or other stakeholders. You can’t legislate change. Telling people that it’s illegal to be racist, doesn’t stop people from being racist. Legislation is not the final answer, it’s only a part of the solution. In a company and as a leader, you need your stakeholder’s buy-in, not just the best way forward to be forced upon them. These two are not separate. Tweeting and being a “cool” President/Leader isn’t what people REALLY wanted. As a politician, you are a representative of and to the people and the same goes if you’re a manager. While some actions may be popular, it only targets a certain aspect of the population. Make sure that you find inclusive actions to make as well. As a leader, people need to connect with you, not just listen to you. Making unpopular decisions are difficult, but understand that there are processes and ways of doing so. Invest in your people. The United States has become a Caste-system society. Central staters are considered bottom caste and are only spoken of every 4 years when they support the “unpopular” or non-progressive candidate. If you do not bring these people with you, you are only a leader to half of your team. Build the capacities of everyone, not just your top performers. Being a Progressive nation or leader isn’t done through government or your companies and it’s laws. It comes from not leaving people behind. If your own staff aren’t shouting your mission statement with conviction, you are screwed. Learn the rules of the game. Every game, be it politics or the market, has it’s own rules. Trump played the election game, not politics. Clinton played politics and thought she could garner support from the media and other political stakeholders. But the rules of the game is the electoral college and winning a majority in key states. The traditional way of doing things has to always be tested to see if it’s the best way of moving forward. Re-invent yourself frequently and stay fresh, but find out how much by listening to your stakeholders. If you look at the numbers, Trump was also able to underspend Clinton by 50%. We probably hate to admit it, but that’s pretty terrific. Change is what happens permanently, not just during your “reign”. Obama spent the last 8 years making some truly ground-breaking laws and changes. But much of it is about to get undone. The Presidency or period in leadership is not about doing impressive things that last your term, but living beyond you. Being a leader is about improving your nation, company, team through your stakeholders. If the change is not long-lasting, you were more focused on your ego: Having “milestones” during your period of rule. Instead, focus on building 100-year companies, not quarterly profits. Be highly aware of your weaknesses. Do not cover them by surrounding yourself with people that support your strengths. And make sure that you have a plan for your weaknesses so that they are addressed and your strategy doesn’t rely on you simply putting your best foot forward. Rather, that your team has a comprehensive and all-encompassing strategy that goes beyond the bounds of your own limitations as a leader. Beware in thinking that Harvard and Oxford thinking is proliferated throughout your stakeholders. People have come from different walks of life. Many of the conversations that we have had in this election is the ridicule of today’s President-Elect. If you only have Harvard people in your team, you have lost touch with the rest of the world. There are the business and the political elite. But thought leaders are philosophers and rarely practical people. Be practical. Learn how to connect the people to the philosophers. Don’t stay on the polar opposite sides, because people need to connect and not be disconnected. (No offense to Harvard. I hold the school in high esteem.) Listen. But I mean, really listen. Putting your ear to the ground of your boardroom won’t count. Have you really gotten the pulse of the demographics that you work with? That means, actually spoken to customers, suppliers and other stakeholders? Or have you been operating on assumptions? Once again, like the Harvard point above, don’t assume you know. Know. What we saw during this recently election was not a breakdown of Democracy. It was the use of Democracy to set up a Republic (Senate, House and Presidency under GOP control… I mean wow!). It was actually done in such an artful way, most people were surprised. Don’t be caught off guard. Learn from what happened outside your sphere and put the above points to practice. Getting your hands dirty is part of leadership. If you stay external to the process, you will be external to result.

I wish all the very best to my fellow Americans. It’s a time to reconcile after this exhausting race. You have 4 years ahead of you in which it’s time to get to know your Republican brothers and sisters. Don’t shy away from actually understanding them. They also stand beside you under one flag. The same goes for you as a leader.

Dr. Harinda K

Germany

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Dr. Harinda K

Germany 4K followers 500+ connections

See your mutual connections View mutual connections with Dr. Harinda Sign in Welcome back Email or phone Password Show Forgot password? Sign in or New to LinkedIn? Join now or New to LinkedIn? Join now

About

View Dr. Harinda’s full profile

People also viewed

Harinda Katugaha

Sunita Grote

Prateek Upreti

Marie-Claude Villacorta

Marco Espinheira

Rose Naula

Shibani Suri

Siri Saeed

Shahid Admani

Jenina Alli

☮️ Vipul Siddharth

Edmond Nonie, MSLIE

Miguel Bello

Silvia Sánchez Rojas

Delal Ali

Rugigana KAVAMAHANGA

Cody Levine

Branden Criss

Duncan Freer

John Ruhlin

Explore collaborative articles

Add new skills with these courses

Evil by Design: Persuasion in UX

Customer Service Strategy

Business Development Foundations

Germany

4K followers 500+ connections

View mutual connections with Dr. Harinda

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