Ted Coiné, Future Strong Hero, tells us how

Ted Coiné, Future Strong Hero
Chief Marketing Officer, Meddle
Coauthor, A World Gone Social
Contributing Editor, OPENforBusiness

Future Strong Hero Series: Insights from top leaders, change
makers and thought leaders who are creating better, bolder tomorrows.

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How do you stay Future Strong? Optimism. Without infectious optimism,
few will follow you. Because there are times when… no matter how professionally experienced and skilled people are… we all need a pick-me-up. Leaders also need a pick-me-up. That’s why you have to feed yourself with positivity too.

How do you stay optimistic? I don’t use one single mentor. I pick many. Some people don’t even know that they’re my mentor. Richard Branson (founder, Virgin Group) has been my mentor for life. I love the guy but he has no idea who I am. Others are professionals who have agreed to help me.

Surround yourself with people whose wisdom, positivity and experience you can draw upon when you need it. Also, make sure you have someone close to you who will tell you when you’re just wrong.

Take risks, but make them small. If you take a lot of small risks, you learn faster and when something fails, it’s not the end of the world.

What do leaders need to do to build Future Strong companies? The way many companies are run right now, there are many reasons to fear failure in the future.

In the Industrial Age, command and control used to work. No longer. You need to know where to look for the new best practices.

There were always Industrial Age companies that didn’t follow command and control practices, however they were kind of odd and others didn’t need to
consider them seriously. Today leaders really need to pay attention to companies that do things differently.

Future Strong companies are those where leaders enable the staff to use their entire brains, not just a part. Where talented people are enabled and encouraged to use their talents, to explore their own genius. Doing that without controlling them. For those who want to be the boss, this change is tough. Rank doesn’t have privileges, rank has responsibilities.

Modern leaders don’t need command and control. Even W. Edwards Deming, a statistician and the father of the LEAN movement, said the most important things are unmeasured and immeasurable. We are in the age of creativity, and we need to allow our people to be creative.

Coiné Strongisms
• Be an infectious optimist
• Get yourself optimistic mentor who will also kick you in the ass
• Dear Leaders: Join the Creative Age

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