R-Evolutionary?

I was asked recently what did I mean by 'r-evolutionary' business?

The word stems from my original idea of the 'rebel in a business suit' - that person who is no longer willing to follow the old corporate way of doing things - no longer willing to work simply with compliance or control or is moving beyond simple ego-based motivation - and wants to find new ways and new values for being successful in their career and business.

These rebels are seeking new ways of working and living and are increasingly more self-aware. Because of this corporations require a new way of working with them. Linked with 'rebel' is the idea of 'revolution' and from that came 'R-Evolutionary'

There are two parts to 'R-Evolutionary' - 'R' and 'Evolutionary'.

The 'R' stands for relationships.

If we look at the new values in business - values of communication, co-creation, co-operation, connection, compassion - all of these new values are based on the quality of relationships that we can form. It requires a high degree of understanding of relationship skills. In fact, one could say that all leadership and power now comes from one's ability to persuade and influence other people.

In my view, the new skills of business leadership (based on observation over quite a few years) are 1. the ability to build networks, 2. the ability to persuade and influence, 3. the ability to effectively and systematically coach and mentor colleagues and 4. the ability to communicate and present to groups and teams in a media-positive way.

In effect - leaders need to learn similar skills to those which top-level sales professionals should always have had.

As leaders we can't manage by dictat anymore - we have to learn to sell our messages and our visions and get the willing and active engagement of our people. People who have better education, higher expectations and a greater sense of their personal value than any generation of employees up to this day. We have to learn to 'serve' our people better.

'Evolutionary' - is about stepping businesses up to the next level - evolving it to a more sophisticated and even more productive level because now the people driving the business are working with greater respect, understanding, a sense of service to each other, a sense of collaboration in the pursuit of value, profit and personal gain.

By following the business values of the new age, we can create even greater and more willing synergy within businesses where, presently, increasing numbers of people are detaching themselves from their organisations and seeking a sense of meaning and value. They are putting their energies into more personally valuable areas of interest (not necessarily in the business itself) or leaving positions to pursue more meaningful work.

The 'R-Evolution' is about stepping business up to the next level by learning and applying the real power of relationships.