Leading When the Paradigm Shifts
As leaders we face change on a regular basis. One of the reasons we are leaders is because we can often deal with the change that confronts us. Most of those changes are relatively small, such as the coming and going of employees, new government laws, or even new competitors into the market. Even when there are more major issues that arise, the issue is normally based around the workplace, even though it may feel like our whole world has shifted. However, most of us have never had to lead through a global paradigm shift.
A paradigm shift is best described as a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. However, for us as leaders it refers to a change in perspectives or worldview, particularly in the way a person or society views and approaches a particular idea or phenomenon. In short, a paradigm shift represents a significant change in the way people think about and understand a particular subject and how they use new technology, such as cars and artificial intelligence.
How the car changed the world
Over the years there have been a lot of paradigm shifts in the world. A great example of this is moving from horse and cart to the automobile. The invention of cars didn't just create a different means of transport, it totally changed how the world operated. It forced governments to rethink transport and create better roads to accommodate heavy loads as well as fast moving vehicles. New laws had to be created to govern high speed traffic. Other infrastructure had to be built and connected, including petrol stations, traffic lights, bridges and tunnels.
The paradigm shift from horse and buggy also changed the way people thought about travel. They could now drive themselves to work instead of walking or waiting for public transport. That meant they could live further out of the city, meaning the quick expansion and rise of suburbs. Now more people could own a home instead of living in apartments. Plus, better cars and the development of highways meant people could now travel further for holidays creating holiday destinations that did not exist before.
The car changed the world in more than just creating a new means of transport, it changed a lot of the fundamentals of how we live as our lives became centred around owning our own means of high speed transport. It also brought around the end of the horse and buggy market. A lot of people in that industry were soon unemployed and had to find new work.
However, that is the very nature of a paradigm shift, it ushers in the new era and drives in the last coffin nail of the old, and it normally happens quickly and catches a lot of people unaware. Just like how cars quickly destroyed the horse and buggy market, computers killed off typewriters very fast and businesses were expedient in restructuring their systems and business models around them. For the general public, computers also changed how we bank, shop, book holidays and so forth, and a lot of industries are still affected by them.
And now, we are about to have one of the biggest paradigm shifts the world will ever see. The rise of artificial intelligence.
A.I. and the World to Come
There has been a lot of talk about the release of the artificial intelligence ChatGPT and what impacts it will have. I was going to try and explain what Chatgpt is but I thought I would let it explain itself.
“ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) architecture, which uses deep learning techniques to generate human-like text. ChatGPT is trained on a massive amount of text data, and is able to complete a given prompt or answer questions by generating text that is coherent and contextually appropriate. It is used for a variety of natural language processing tasks, such as language translation, text summarization, and conversation generation”
Now if that all seems a little wordy, let me break it down to simpler terms, ChatGPT is smart, very smart and it's not the only A.I. system like that out there. Google, Amazon and Facebook are all working on their own A.I models that will soon be released to the public. Then there are picture generators that create images from a request that you put in, and some of them are amazing in what they produce, and there is still more. Yet all of these things are just the tip of the iceberg. I don't have time here to go into robotics, including self driving cars and self cooking kitchens.
At the time of writing this, most of these A.I. units do not have access to the internet yet and are just there for people to play around with, however, this year, 2023, most will gain internet access. This is where the paradigm shift will kick in. Very soon you will be able to talk with the A.I. of your choice and it will know what you what and how you want it, and this is going to cause a lot of disruption in business. From copywriters, digital graphic designers, teachers, marketers and so many different types of jobs will soon either be reduced in numbers as the A.I. will do the bulk of the work, or it will completely replace them. This disruption will require you as a leader to know how to deal with this.
Be the Rock and the Water.
In a time of global change, we need to be as solid as rock while being as flexible as water.
The Rock
In a time of massive change people always look for a strong leader to help get them through. This means that they are going to be looking directly to you for direction and signs of stability. They will be looking to you for reassurance that their jobs and careers are safe and that you are there to help and support them. In troubled waters they want a solid rock to grab hold of to stop them from drowning in all of the changes, rumours, lies and uncertainty that changes always creates in the workplace, and that rock has to be you.
This means that as a leader you need to have a vision for what is going to happen for the future of your team and develop strong emotional intelligence so that you can remain calm at all times. If people see you worried or acting irrationally they will start to panic themselves. They will also panic if they feel that you don't know what you are doing. A directionless leader does not inspire confidence. They just crumble and they are no longer a rock, they are barely even a pebble.
When Covid numbers in Australia started to climb there was a lot of misinformation, rumours and lies being peddled around via social and mainstream media. Very soon lockdowns started to be announced and fear levels rose. Within the school environment many teachers were uncertain how their jobs would be affected. Through the entire system there were no rocks to be found. I watched (so called) leader after leader become frustrated and start to panic. This only made the situation worse for everyone else and fear and stress were at an all time high. In the end, it took someone from outside of the school that was higher up the chain of command to take control and get things sorted. All because the leaders weren't the rocks everyone needed.
The water
While you need to be the rock that people require, you also need to be like water in the situation. That is, you need to remain fluid and be able to adapt to the changes that are going on around you. You need to be showing people that change can be handled in a positive and mature manner if they are willing to be flexible.
Your team needs to see you not just going with the flow of the change, but knowing how to navigate it. They want to see you float past the big waves, gently manoeuvre away the eddies and glide across the various currents. Yes, you may be pulled under at times by the unexpected events and require recusing, but your team will see that as just another person just like them, trying to learn the new way. What your team wants is to see how you deal with the changes so that they can follow suit.
Just as I saw leaders crumble with the onset of Covid I also saw leaders deal with the situation with humility, grace and strength, just like water. As lockdown started to affect the entire community, a private group of leaders I am associated with quickly moved all of their operations online without fuss or complaint. Conferences, weekly meetings and more just moved online. There were hiccups and issues having strong leaders meant that people were both forgiving and willing to pitch in and share positive ideas on how to continue to make things grow. In the long run, we came out stronger with newer more efficient ways of doing things.
Before we move one let me also say, what your team does not want to see is a leader trying to fight the inevitable change. The people in your business are not stupid and most of them will be able to see that the writing is on the wall. .They understand when things are changing and a leader that refuses to accept that is only seen as out of touch, outdated and foolish and closed minded. Just imagine what people would have thought about the owner of a horse and buggy shop that kept trying to pretend that cars were only a fad.
What your team really wants to know is that they have a leader that will keep them safe. A solid rock that can also be as fluid as water. Not an easy thing to be, but that is what will make you a leader.
So how do we do this
Remain calm. No matter what the situation is, remain calm. Even if you dont know all of the answers about A.I. you have to show a controlled manner to the team. Only then will they think that things are OK. However, see point four about this.
Look for the change that is coming. People who walk looking only at their phones often walk into light poles. People who watch where they are going can see them coming and take action to avoid them. As a leader you have to be looking for the potential change that A.I. may bring to your business and be ready to make adjustments.
Talk to the team about their ideas. The reason you have people in your team is because you think they are good at their job and are intelligent. So ask them what they know about A.I.. Have they used it? What do they think the potential is? How do they incorporate it into their jobs?
Help your team to become the experts on AI. Get your team involved with the new technology. Get them actively using it and learning how to make it work for them. Do it before everyone else. That way when management finally catches up, your team will be sought out by others in the organisation.
Most importantly, don't lie to people about their jobs. As I wrote earlier, your team is full of intelligent people, so don't lie to them about the potential of job losses. They will see through you, and this will only make them lose trust in you. Be honest without threatening. If they are worried, reinvest point 4 and get them to be the expert.
While A.I. can take away a lot of jobs, it also creates so many other opportunities. People can move on from where they currently are to other jobs, just like when the buggy makers moved over to making cars. They can become prompt engineers (current term for people becoming experts at A.I.). They can also move on to other jobs that will be created by AI, just as the car industry created a whole range of jobs that never existed before the car.
The AI paradigm shift is going to happen. There is no stopping it. The genie is out of the bottle and even if the entire human population worked together, we will never get him back in. And nor should we want to. AI can help in designing better materials for buildings to make them greener and more efficient. It can design and test better medication faster that can target certain diseases such as cancer. It can improve engines and rockets for better and faster space travel. A.I. is the next paradigm shift that will change the world.
Yes, there will be some setbacks but the possibilities are endless, if you are willing to lead people through it.
Terry Shadwell
Helping people help themselves so that they can lead a greater life.
