Martin Levy’s Post

Does inclusive leadership + organizational agility = digital transformation success? (TL;DR - I don't have the answer...I do have more questions though) Digital transformation has been a key priority in the C-suite for about a decade....in 2022, over 1 TRILLION dollars will be spent on these efforts, yet the research shows more than 80% will fail to meet their objectives. With all the money, time and effort spent on getting this right, how is this level of failure possible? At the recent IPMI conference, Nicole Haggerty shared a truism that is also one of the major obstacles to transformation success: even if you properly prepare, plan, educate, adequately resource and train for change, change will inevitably be bumpy. Because until you’re living the change, you can’t really understand the full impact.  Nicole suggested building inclusive leadership in your strategy - for me that means the ability to listen to, empathize with and learn from the people going through the change, so that you can adapt in real-time. Smooth the bumps in the road before they become mountains. This sounds great in theory, however how do you build inclusive leadership into a transformation strategy affecting 10's of 1,000's of people? The other challenge relates to organizational agility - if you haven't built a culture that's able to adapt quickly based on new information, inclusive leadership by itself won't help you. That combination however, of listening in real-time to how your organization is dealing with change + creating a culture that has the ability to react to new information...if you can do both correctly, you'll be well ahead of everyone else. What else would you add?

I love working for a "remote-first" company.  After working in traditional offices for 10+ years in full suit and tie...  After leaving for the commute before sunrise and coming home after sunset...  the ability to maximize my productivity AND as a dad of 3 kids under 10, being there for those fleeting, milestone moments is something I will never fail to be grateful for.  (Also: sweatpants + dress shirt > suit and tie everyday) However, NOTHING replaces meaningful in-person connections, where you can engage more deeply with others navigating the same challenges and opportunities. Really evident this past week as Michaela Becker, Jon Pettigrew and I hosted a fantastic group of HR leaders at the Canucks game prior to the IPMI HR Management Conference in Vancouver. Great conversation and relationship building, good food and the game…well nothing’s perfect :)  Elaine Chin, M.D., M.B.A. Christine Bacon Anita Sanghera, CPHR Joey Brar, MBA, CPHR Debbie Beaton, MBA, CPHR, CCP, IPMA-CP Elena Bobyreva, MBA, CPHR Cindy R.S. Morris, M.HRM, CHRL LeAnne Thorfinnson Michael Hunka Naveen Rakkar EMBA Penny Farinha Niki Murphy Nilesh Daya, CHRP, CHRL (He/Him) Sharene Herdman (she/her) Femi James Letecia Rose Pina Fernandes CPHR Emilie Doré Frédéric Chouinard ThoughtExchange

I'm excited to head to Energy Disruptors next week with Dave MacLeod and Kyle Empringham to showcase the power of collective intelligence and what you can accomplish when you have the technology to include thousands of diverse perspectives in a single digital conversation....and real-time insights to figure out where there's alignment or friction. And when that conversation is on the topic of revolutionizing the energy industry...well, look out. https://lnkd.in/d9UCeBcH

Happy to share I'm taking on a new role at ThoughtExchange as a Strategic Account Executive. Looking back, the decision to join a "scrappy" Canadian SaaS start-up over 3 years ago was one I wrestled with, particularly with a young family to support and a decade invested in my prior role. With the benefit of hindsight, a complete no-brainer. One of the most fun and rewarding professional experiences to date. Looking forward to this next chapter.

Heard this today on a podcast while discussing the misconceptions surrounding how leaders become successful: “Success, most importantly, has to do with what you DON'T know, rather than what you DO know. And how you get (what you don't know) from other people, is the most important thing. And how you orchestrate those people." -Ray Dalio While I haven't transcribed the most polished of quotes, it is an idea that Ray has repeated often as a key tenet to managing risk and achieving success.  It’s also a concept that is central to the the work we do with senior leaders from some of the biggest organizations in the world. Most often (please stick with me here!) leaders don’t know what they don’t know - and if even if they DO know what they don’t know, they may not be vulnerable enough to admit it and ask for help. To make things more difficult, even if they ARE vulnerable enough, they may not even know who to ask...nor have the environment of psychological safety that is needed to surface truly candid or dissenting opinions (something Ray has strived to create at Bridgewater).  The reason this is so critical is that with organizations transforming as quickly as they are, when these leaders fail to ask the questions or make use of collective intelligence, they are often unable to navigate the big (and small changes) occurring at the edges of their companies that effect their ability to win.  Podcast links in the comments if interested... #thoughtexchange #leadership #collectiveintelligence

"Martin stop right there." Two weeks into my first sales role, I was WAY outside my comfort zone. I had finally gotten a key executive on the phone and was working my way (likely clumsily) through a discovery call when I was interrupted with the line above. Given my overall discomfort with the situation, my internal reaction was likely a sense of relief instead of disappointment...as in: "Fantastic! let's just hang up the phone and pretend this never happened shall we?" Instead, a big surprise. He complimented me on the job I was doing so far in earning his interest, said he wanted to learn more AND that he had some advice, from one former salesperson to another. We had a sidebar, then he prompted me to continue. I still think of this moment (over a decade later) and bring it up here not because of the advice (which was fine), but as a reminder that whatever the setting, a brief moment of generosity and empathy costs nothing and can have a lifelong impact.

Future of Work. Talent Retention. One of the many fun things about my role is I get to speak to senior leaders in diverse industries about the biggest challenges they're facing AND the immediate opportunities that have arisen with the shift to hybrid work. Right now, understanding what the future of work means for their organizations and how to tackle the alarming #thegreatresignation statistics they're seeing come to life are top of mind. So, we're asking a question: What do you need from your company to be motivated to stay? And the response so far shows that these two ideas are very much linked - that figuring out the future of work and an employee-centric design is critical to retaining motivated employees. Join the conversation here... https://lnkd.in/gCGajBJ