Daily Inspiration: Leadership & Disruption – “Be bolder, sooner!”

“Be bolder, sooner!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

I’m off to Alberta, Canada, later today, where tomorrow I will be the closing speaker for the Canadian Petrochemical Summit.

This is one of many events I’ve done in this industry – I’ve headlined leadership meetings for BASF, Dupont, the American Chemistry Society, CF Industries, Dow, and many more.

I’ve also written extensively about trends & opportunities in this sector, such as this post as to how Saudi Aramco was chasing its future, “The Amazing Math of Chemical Acceleration – And Why a Saudi Oil Giant is Realigning Its Business!”

The sector has a series of complex challenges but amazing opportunities in front of it, the latter of which are exacerbated by the fact that much of Alberta’s oil production is landlocked. It’s faced with complex geopolitical and transport issues, and challenges with growth with the evolution of an economy that is less reliant on carbon.

This means that companies in this sector must reinvent and innovate to find new and different pathways into the future, generating new forms of revenue where revenue has not existed before. The temptation though, will be to seek out a political solution to a trends problem – which, in the long run, only buys a bit of time, not a solution. Interestingly enough, my time has been moved back a few hours, because the Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, will be coming into the room for a ‘fireside chat.’ Let’s just say she’s known for seeking hard-nosed political solutions to trend problems.

That’s why I’ll carefully work into my talk the key leadership attributes that will drive this organization into those opportunities – and take a look at the mindset that will get them there. One of these is to ‘be bolder, sooner!” Companies get ahead not by deferring and delaying an inevitable future, but by grabbing onto it, innovating around it, and defining tomorrow before it defines you.

Be bolder, sooner.

It’s a good phrase for the rest of us too!