Chartered Management Institute Sri Lanka branch (CMI-SL) organized a Guest Lecture and a discussion on the topic “Re-imagining Business Success” with world renowned global consultant Omar Khan.T he event took place on October 27, at Galadari, Colombo. Khan, a pioneer of neuro-linguistic programming and a leading innovator in transformational learning in the US and throughout the world, also created the concept of “Leadership Journeys” and is a thought leader in applying “Must Win Battles” to deliver strategic priorities.
He is the founder and senior partner of a global leadership development and consulting firm that operates in the Americas, UK, Asia/Pacific (Singapore), Middle East (Dubai) and South Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka). Following are the excerpts from an interview with the Daily News Business with Khan.
Q: Before you became one of the most accomplished consultants and writers and named as one of the Top 25 Consultants in the World, what was your background and how did you end up as an internationally acclaimed Coach?
A: When I was a student at Oxford University, reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics, I helped lead the Oxford “Crisis” Centre called Nightline, being trained by lay andreligious counsellors. Once I moved to Stanford Law School and then into BehaviouralPsychology, I came across the founders of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and wasblessed to work with them. Later I worked with M. Scott Peck, the author of the landmarkRoad Less Travelled and his Foundation for Community Encouragement (we broughtthem here to Sri Lanka as well), which taught me powerful lessons about buildingbridges across differences.The President of Motorola University pushed me to become a “coach” when the fielddidn’t exist, arguing that senior leaders needed trusted advisers who could help themnavigate doubts and apprehensions and challenges which they could not openly discusswith other stakeholders.
Q: You mentioned of a statement by Peter Drucker which said ‘The purpose of a Business is tocreate a customer’ and further reiterated that all businesses should be competitive, different and capability based. How can we apply this concept to Sri Lankan based organisations?
A: So you “create” a customer, not just “serve” one. You look for new value and profitpools. Then the key question, and it should be capability and passion led (both) is “Wherewill I play and where can I win?”! It is the conjunction.Competitiveness gets you in the game, differentiation makes you matter. Volume only works indeveloping economies, but to compete regionally much less globally, we need an edge.There is still too much “sameness” in the Sri Lanka economic landscape.Asia flourished by delivering stunning efficiency and technological prowess. But the realleaders in the region, Japan and South Korea, also flourished in terms of innovation.Though the Japanese leveraged their execution edge with the mantra “Imitate then Innovate”, they knew the sheer audacity of American creativity was culturally hard tomatch. But they knew, with that execution spark, they could deliver it better.We need discipline and enterprise here to be evoked.
Q: You seem like an ambassador for Growth. You repeatedly emphasised the importance of Rateof Innovation. How can this contribute to creating customers by a business?
A: The rate of ‘customer satisfying innovation’ is where real continuous improvement, thelifeblood of “kaizen”, focuses. Dramatically differentiate in creating a customer, creatingcustomer loyalty through exceptional service delivery, and keep innovating. GE in itsglory days called this “ACFC” (At the Customer, For the Customer), where you focusedon “Customer Success” not just ‘satisfaction,’ became intimate with both theiraspirations and their hassles so we could wow them by making their lives genuinelybetter.
Q: We are still going through post pandemic crisis which has affected our economy drastically. Youpointed out that Managers must find the voice within them and the ways to respond to the pandemicin a positive way in order to empower the employees. How should they start the process?
A: Sri Lankans’ caring and compassionate nature is a rich cultural gift. We can be so dismissive innormal times, but in crisis, the empathy here is palpable. The real crisis though is not pandemic caused; it has been years of neglect to fundamentals. The managers must usethis jolt to refocus on what really matters and redefine financial “health” and trulyidentify the customers and markets that will drive growth. Thus, they have to becomethe best place for the best people to develop and grow. Those people must feel genuinelycared for and they have to believe they have a future there.This is done by daily engagement, by making the “Talent Review” as crucial as the“Budget review.”
Ask the question, “Why someone should be led by ME?” Managers have to spend alifetime, all of us, in answering that.Just check out the quality of your succession planning and performance management. Ifthey are dead, in the long run so are we, the managers.
Q: How can Mangers re-imagine a business when everything around you changes? Can they stillexcel in their careers?
A: Tom Peters once said, “It’s a world gone mad” (this was many “madnesses” ago). Then he went on to say, “In an insane world, sane organizations no longer make any sense.”Consultant Gary Hamel, a futurist would point out, “There will be only two types ofcompanies, the quick and the dead.”So change is the only constant! We need our antennae to be up, we need to have high degrees of flexibility, weneed to do scenario planning, and we need an inspired scorecard. The BalancedScorecard was premised on the conviction that we need not only “lag” indicators (likefinancial results) that tell us how we have done but “lead indicators” (like brand growthand customer engagement and people development) that predict how we are likely to perform.
We all have to personally become “brands” and our “careers” have to becomesomething we take the lead in nurturing as a brand offering. A “brand” is ultimately a“promise” and the best companies will be a place where great talent loves to collaborateand can become more than the sum of its parts.Almost no company measures the quality of their “teams” versus the quality of theirindividuals. But virtually no results are produced by individuals in isolation.
Q: Developing teams and employees require finances but with the soaring inflation managers find itas near impossible to allocate resources for enhancing leaders. How can they do this with aminimal budget?
A: This is frankly an understandable but dangerous fiction. I was asked this just after thecurfews were lifted. “How can we coach; we don’t have budgets.”First of all, you create “budgets” for real development needs you could not predict and you do it then and there. Second, I asked them to find a key manager, or a key leader, who affects countless others and just gets them coached if, that is all they can fund. Anycompany can get one key person coached! And they become the conduit.Or pick a key team that has to perform and just put development focus there. The myth isyou need a deluge of “skills transfer” sessions called “training” for which no ROI isassessed. Rubbish.
You need focused development of aptitudes through skills transfer, but internalmentoring, focused external coaching, and then assessment as these people deliver theiraccountabilities. Thus, the ripples make the waves. Start with high impact teams andpeople.You convert their KPIs into a “leadership lab” and the enhanced results will pay for thedevelopment. Done right, it is self-funding! Think of it as a” programme” and you will neverget to it in a crisis. We found this out in the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis. Developing people added to the bottom line!
Give me 8 key people, at key epicentres of a business, and we can lead a transformation.
Q: United Nations introduced four (04) aptitudes which are of utmost necessity in 2025 foremployees; namely Analytical skills, Creativity, Leadership and Social Influence. Do you agree?
A: Not bad. I would love to see the definitions. Notice, not one of them says “technical know-how.” We have to face facts and understand problems and become cogent. We have to redrawthe map of what is possible and craft new approaches. Leadership is the value you add tothe assets (including people) you have been given. The social influence is your impact onthe world, but also the quality of your relationships with all stakeholders.
Q: Any last thoughts you wish to share with the readers of Daily News?
A: Be kind, be kind, be kind! Do not ask of others what you do not first demand of yourself.
There is no “perfect time” to do what you need to.Find a way to do it, even incrementally. Why does everyone always have enough “time”to do things in a botched, uncreative, dull and nullifying way and never the time tocatalyse, to coach, to raise the bar, to improve the quality of communication andlistening?
JFK asked Americans to put a man on the moon safely in a decade when being out-innovated by the Russians. They did. Sony challenged their company to make “made inJapan” synonymous with quality. They did, breaking cultural and economic precedents.Steve Jobs told Apple employees their aim was to “nudge the world a little.” They have.Sri Lanka has to pick a visionary future it is willing to take a stand for. Then, you all haveto demand leaders and commit to being and becoming leaders who will take thisbeautiful, potential rich resplendent isle there, milestone by milestone.
The writer Dr. Thesara Jayawardane is an Executive Committee Member of Chartered Institute of Management (SL) and is the Head of the Department of Industrial Management and Director-Business Research Unit of the University of Moratuwa.