A presentation at SBS Leadership Day Keynote in in Sydney NSW, Australia by Eugene Chung
I wanted to address the new reality that you face as Modern Leaders (and where it comes from)
And try three experiments that we can all do together, in this room
Before we get to these three experiments, I wanted to start with Two Questions
These two questions help introduce who I am, why I’m here, and the purpose of this talk
First question I get – is where are you from? And when someone asks me that, whether it’s a co-worker, a friend of a friend, or someone at a furniture store… I’m clearly not from Australia – I definitely don’t sound Australian…
I get so excited to tell them Where I’m From because it’s one of the best places in the world
And where I’m from – is a wonderful place in the middle of America Called Dallas Texas –
I was born and raised in Dallas Texas… a thriving metropolis that is known for a lot of things: - Famous for the assassination of JFK in 1963 - It’s a huge energy hub – for the oil and natural gas industry - It’s where they have the Texas State Fair (kind of like The Show in Australia) – where you can eat a lot of different fried foods and see Big Tex, a 55-ft tall statue of a cowboy with a 95 gallon Cowboy Hat - It’s famous for the Dallas Cowboys - And yes, it’s famous for everyone’s favourite Ranger, Walker, Texas Ranger (Chuck Norris)
And at this point, they usually have this confused look on their face –
And then ask a followup question… Ok but where are you really from –
And what they’re asking is my background, or my heritage In which I reply – well, where my parents are from is Seoul, South Korea They immigrated to Brooklyn in 1975, didn’t speak a word of English, all to chase the American Dream and provide a better life for their kids They then moved to Dallas in the 80s, because there was an article in Newsweek magazine that said Dallas was one of the best places to live in the US
And this was me when I was one, wearing traditional Korean clothing – felt just about as uncomfortable as it looks – accurately captures how I grew up
Even though Dallas is this amazing place… it also didn’t have a lot of people who looked like me Growing up, I was the only Korean-American kid at my school – which was predominantly half white, and half black And it’s funny – as a six year old I circled these people because they were nice and accepting of who I was – and then throughout the yearbook, I’ve crossed other people out – These were the people who would introduce me to all these new and colourful words – to describe - My background - The colour of my skin - The way my eyes looked
And starting at the age of 6 – growing up in Dallas Texas made me feel like an outsider
These differences made me feel – different – like I didn’t belong
Being an outsider helps you embrace people’s differences and find ways to bring them together.
But even though I grew up feeling like an outsider That different vantage point growing up – helped give me a unique perspective Because I didn’t fit in to any one group, I grew to be able to fit in with any group – to be able to connect with any type of person And over time, I used this to truly embrace people’s differences And find ways to bring them together – which is a life lesson and skill that I continue to value today
The second question What’s up with the blue hat?
The hat goes everywhere 10 I get this question a lot – because this blue hat goes everywhere with me I wear it every single day, for about 10-12 hours a day I wear it at work, in sometimes formal business contexts, when I’m giving talks, when I’m leading workshops with groups of leaders, or even at the Wiggles concerts with my kids
One of my heroes “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson 11 And for me, the blue hat comes from one of my heroes, Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson played baseball, which is kind of like Cricket And when Jackie was playing, professional baseball had been segregated for 50 years – white people played in a different league as black people, both having their different leagues And at the age of 28 – Jackie rejected the way that things had always been – and broke the color barrier in 1947 He was the first black player in the major leagues – and became one of the greatest players to ever play He endured discrimination from fans, from other players, and even his own teammates But through it all kept this perspective – that a life…
A Daily Reminder Be brave enough to break barriers, to do the impossible, and positively impact other lives. When I learned about Jackie As a korean kid, growing up in Dallas Texas It inspired me to think in a similar way – So this Blue Hat is a daily reminder to myself To be brave enough…
What I Learned Once one person does the impossible, it no longer becomes impossible. And a key lesson for all of us – Is that once one person does the impossible… Sometimes for us in our organisations – come up against things that – just like segregation – may have been around for 50 years – but once one person challenges it, changes it, it then paves the way for everyone else – it paves the way for positive change
My Career Purpose Build teams that embrace people’s differences – – and help them reach their full potential. 14 So putting those two questions together – leads me to my career purpose – to the focus of my life’s work Is to build teams that embrace people’s differences, and help them reach their full potential
Who are Mentally Friendly? Mentally Friendly creates wellbeing outcomes by designing products & services that change lives and re-shape organisations. I consider myself lucky to be able to do that every single day At a design studio called Mentally Friendly – our vision is to…
I consider myself lucky to be able to do that every single day At a design studio called Mentally Friendly – our vision is to…
For teams & organisations, this means: 01. Bring leaders and teams together. 02. Identify what’s holding them back. 03. Get them to try new things, together. 17 And as an organisational design team – our focus is essentially to do these three things 1. 2. 3. Bring leaders and teams together – but in a way where they challenge their human instincts – to be able to listen to each other, understand each other, and be able to move forward together Identify what’s holding them back – to identify those barriers that are getting in the way of them doing the best work of their lives And them to encourage them to try new things, together –
Who we’ve done this for Empowering leaders and teams to live Audience Obsession Coaching Product teams work faster and deliver better citizen outcomes Redesigning the onboarding experience to be uniquely Atlassian We do this with all types of organisations – sometimes small startups who work out of WeWork SBS, Service, and Atlassian
Today’s goal 01. Inspire all of you to try three new things. 02. Create ripples that together, make waves. 19 And so based on this career purpose – and based on what I do on a daily basis – My goal for today’s talk – is to help inspire you all To try three new things – which if all 100 of you do this – it’ll create a bunch of little ripples here at SBS that together, can make a big difference
Being a leader today is really, really, really hard.
One thing I wanted to address – is that being a leader today is really hard
We hear this from all types of organisations – whether they’re small tech startups, or larger financial organisations And the three things we hear all the time speak to a new reality of what it’s like to be a leader right now
3 things we hear all the time:
Be more comfortable with ambiguity. – The Whole World
The first – is the world is telling us to be more comfortable with ambiguity
We know change is a constant, our day-to-day work continues to increase in complexity And with that – is an increase in ambiguity – which increases the stress on you to make the right decision, and to lead your teams every day
One senior leader told us that his manager told him in a performance interview – you just have to be more comfortable with it – and when he asked how he should do that, the manager shrugged, and said i dunno, but you just have to be more comfortable.
This isn’t fair feedback – people like a yes or no – they like a go or no go – right and wrong – they want to know that if you do this, then you should do that, and then you can be successful
We don’t stop old things to do new things. – Pretty much everyone
Amidst that ambiguity – we can pretty much all acknowledge that it’s really really hard to stop those old things – in order to do new things, in new ways The inertia of the day-to-day is really strong – the legacy of how things have always been As people, we get used to the way things are – the strong pull of the same things that we do day in and day out The routine, the process, the same ways of working And that inertia gets in the way of “innovation” – we all know that we need to change, we all know we need to be doing new things – but stopping those old things to do these new things feels impossible sometimes For most teams, they want to try new things, adapt to the market, and work faster – but for leaders, it’s hard to make this a reality
How does my day-to-day work connect to why I’m here? – Your team
Finally – the third thing that you probably hear from your team is… Which can come in many different forms - We don’t have a strategy / I don’t understand the strategy / I don’t understand how to prioritise / don’t have time to do it - What’s the point of the work that I’m doing? What brought people to this job – a strong sense of purpose, an alignment with values – gets them in the door But if they can’t connect all the small things, and all the big things, to that purpose – and if they don’t understand why they’re doing it – then that purpose is lost and your team will most likely be walking back out that door
Why does this exist? Why is the world asking us to be more comfortable with ambiguity? Why is it so hard to stop doing those old things to do those new things? And why do your teams ask how their day-to-day connects back to the purpose?
Innovation needs to be a combination of strategy & action.
Innovation – the ability to adapt, change, and successfully make new ideas happen – needs to be a combination of both strategy and action If you think of all work living on a continuum – then the Power Points, the Strategy decks, the Vision days, and creating packs – that’s all on the left side – pure Strategy and Vision setting And then on the right side – is the doing – where the Action happens and things are implemented, where code is written, and tasks are done
And for most organisations – legacy structures, processes and ways of working – have created a gap between strategy and action The people who used to be really good at getting stuff done – get pulled to the left – they get promoted and recognised and then become the people who are in charge of setting strategy And then the people who are just good at doing things get pushed to the right – and they might be really good at the doing – Sometimes we hear the people on the left say things like “oh they’re just the doers”, they’re not very strategic – and there’s a perception that leaders should set strategy – and the doers should just do
On the far ends – the edges – is where people get really sad If you’re always constantly setting strategy – and nothing ever gets made, nothing ever gets done – it’s demotivating because nothing comes to life And if you’re just doing – and you don’t understand the purpose, or the context, the why – and it’s just action, but no connection to the strategy, that’s also demotivating On the edges is where you get really unhappy and sad teams
And to close this gap… leaders and teams need to meet somewhere in the middle – where it’s not always about trying to delegate teams to do more tasks – and the “doers” actually are empowered to understand the why, help shape strategy, help plan how things get done
Effective teams – are the empowered teams that meet in the middle – and bring a healthy mix of both strategy and action Bridging the gap helps you to: - manage the ambiguity, together - Stop doing old things to do new things - Connect the day to day with the greater why
To close this gap, I’m going to facilitate all 100 of you to do three, small experiments right here and right now in this studio
Everything you need to try these experiments is under your chair. The good news – is that everything is under your chair
So look underneath your chair – and grab the stack of cards and marker
The first experiment – and the first principle for bridging the SA Gap – Is to bring your teams closer by being open With that first card – turn to the person to your left – and read your card, as you read the card, explain to them why it’s so complex Take turns with each other – and feel free to ask each other questions And then I want you to take that card – and take it with you to your team Whether it’s before a meeting starts, or at a standup I want you to share that card with your team – and explain it to them – you can say that it’s an experiment in being open And hopefully what you get back Is that your team listens to you Asks you clarifying questions And then enables them to care about the complexities of the thing you’ve talked about
The idea is not to just try to “empower” your teams But to give them more context, more of the why – more of your perspective – that can help them do their jobs more effectively This is something you can seek to do every single day – Is to communicate openly, honestly, and continuously – which will help both them and you be able to manage the ambiguity better
Second card – is all about this principle To build trust by asking for help With your second card – I want you to also write down the name of someone in this room who can help you with that thing – and during lunch, today – I want you to read the card – and ask them for help We know that the most effective things – sense of safety, practice vulnerability, and have a clear purpose When you ask for help, you demonstrate vulnerability
And what you end up creating is a vulnerability loop When you ask for help, because people really care about you, and because it feels really good to help someone out They will help you And ideally, once that person faces something really challenging, they ask for help too And demonstrating this behaviour – across all of your teams – all the team Is powerful because it allows you to help each other to solve your hardest problems, tackle your hardest challenges, and actually use the people around you
Third card – is all about reinforcing positive behaviours by celebrating WINS With this third card, I want you to find some time with that person, or your team, or that group of people – this week – and read the card, and tell them why you’re so proud of them – tell them the win that you’re celebrating The big wins always get champagne, or a celebratory BBQ in the courtyard But it’s the small wins that actually demonstrate what your culture is all about And celebrating those small wins is a way to recognise what those behaviours are – and to then model those behaviours for your team to continue doing
3 things to try 01. Bring teams closer by being open. 02. Build trust by asking for help. 03. Reinforce positive behaviours by celebrating wins. 41 Putting these three things together You get a very simple, focused list of things to do Things that you can try this first time – and then start to begin to incorporate into your every day
Experiments give you permission to try something different to learn something new. Framing these up as experiments allows you to do two things It gives you permission to try something new – to try to think differently, behave differently But it also creates an expectation for you to learn something – to see how that experiment goes and to extract learnings from it
And when done over time, This process of Trying something new Learning what happens And then incorporating it into you every day practice Is a learning loop for you to be a more effective leader, a better team member
Why is it so challenging for modern leaders to create meaningful change within their organisations?
This talk explores the new realities facing modern leaders and provides the audience with three actionable experiments to try today, tomorrow, and next week to overcome the strategy-action gap to build momentum and real cultural change within your own team or organisation.
for free. You
can too.