Mindshop Business Leader Success Insights 2024 – What to Adopt & Abandon

In the chaotic business landscape of 2024, leaders can easily get lost in the noise, constantly bombarded with new trends, information and distractions.  The last decade has given leaders an overload of information, but amidst this chaos, crucial skills like focus, vision, strategy, and change implementation often take a backseat.  Success now requires recognising constants amid the chaos and getting things done.

While leaders excel at adopting new approaches and gaining knowledge, they often neglect to abandon outdated thinking that hinders progress.

This list of what to adopt and what to abandon as a business leader to improve your performance is based on insights from Mindshop workshops, surveys, and coaching sessions with business leaders from around the world.  

What to Adopt

1. Contrarian Thought
   Challenge  conventional wisdom and embrace dissenting perspectives to encourage innovative thinking and avoid groupthink.
   
   
2. Timebox
   Set fixed time limits on tasks or projects in your calendar to enhance productivity and prioritise focus on essential activities, driving you to under-promise and over-deliver.
   
   
3. Operational Excellence
   Achieve high efficiency and effectiveness across organisational processes, emphasising continuous improvement and streamlined operations.
   
   
4. Model the Way, Be the Coach
   Lead by example and foster a coaching mentality to empower team members through guidance, support, and personal development.
   
   
5. Learn from the Right Peers
   Actively seek insights and knowledge from experienced and relevant mentors or peers to accelerate personal and professional growth.
   
   
6. Profitable Growth
   Embrace marketing and sales strategies that focus on profitable revenue growth and steer clear of growth opportunities that don’t positively impact the bottom line.
   
   
7. Customer Centricity
   Place the customer at the core of business decisions and actions.  Ensure products and services meet or exceed customer expectations.
   
   
8. Leverage AI & Technology
   Harness the power of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies that enhance operational efficiency, drive innovation in products & services, and help you gain a competitive edge.
   
   
9. Stop Doing List
   Identify the 20% of activities and tasks you undertake that provide 80% of the value to the business.  Now make a stop doing list of things that don’t add high value.
   
   
10. Higher Quality Team
    Build and maintain a high-performing team with diverse skills, experiences and strengths to drive collective success.  Move on poor performers quickly.

What to Abandon

1. Searching for Unicorn Team Members
   Endlessly trying to assemble the ‘perfect’ team can end up being the enemy of a ‘good’ team with strong values and growth potential, thus hindering long-term success.
   
   
2. Fixed Mindset
   Holding a rigid belief that leadership capabilities and acumen are static hinders your adaptability and growth in the face of opportunities.
   
   
3. Loss-Making Products & Services
   Continuing to invest resources in products or services that consistently generate financial losses rather than re-evaluating or pivoting strategies.
   
   
4. Toxic Team Members
   Tolerating individuals who bring negativity, conflict, or detrimental behaviour into the team environment impacts the overall morale and performance of the wider group.
   
   
5. Poor Work/Life Balance
   Neglecting the importance of a healthy equilibrium between professional and personal life potentially leads to burnout and decreased productivity.
   
   
6. Living on Social Media
   Overemphasising online networking and posting content at the expense of real-world relationships and genuine interactions within quality professional circles.
   
   
7. Echo Chambers
   Surrounding yourself with individuals or sources of information that only validate rather than challenge your ideas, limiting exposure to diverse perspectives and hindering innovation.
   
   
8. Strategic Planning with No Implementation
   Engaging in thorough strategic planning activities without a corresponding commitment to effective execution, leads to unrealised goals and wasted effort.
   
   
9. Emotional Intelligence Blind Spots
   Overlooking or neglecting the importance of building greater emotional intelligence, potentially resulting in challenges in interpersonal relationships and leadership effectiveness.
   
   
10. Unworthy or Poor Quality Customers
    Accepting customers who may be a poor fit for the product or service, leading to dissatisfaction, increased support demands, and potential damage to the brand.
    
    
11. Worrying About Things You Can’t Change
    Focusing excessive energy and attention on factors beyond your control, leads to unnecessary stress and distraction from actionable priorities.

Consider three elements from the “adopt” and “abandon” lists that are most relevant to improving your leadership performance in 2024 and get started on making immediate change.