Week 4

Summary:

Drivers of world change come in many different forms and each have different impacts on the world. Some examples of these drivers are environmental change, technological innovations and globalisation. However, one key concept to consider when dealing with these drivers are whether they cause an evolutionary or revolutionary change. Evolutionary would be, as the name implies, a slow and gradual change over time as the world adapts to the driver. Revolutionary, on the other hand, implies a sudden and extreme change which sends shockwaves through the entire world.

We also looked into what differentiates a leader, a visionary and a manager. A visionary has great insights and understandings of the workings of this world, and is able to see what the world requires in the future. A leader is one who is able to create a framework and is able to band people together for a common purpose. A manager is the one who manages these followers and ensure that they follow the framework laid down. Each role is not mutually exclusive, and one may possess more than one of these qualities.

Interesting Ideas:


While I am certain that there are many drivers that can cause change in the world, for example global warming changes the living conditions of people and many policies have to be put in place to curb the emission of greenhouse gases, I would also propose that world change has a major hand in producing these "drivers". I believe that while these "drivers" affect world change, world change can also be seen to be the driving force behind these "drivers".

Let us look at a simple analogy. Technological advances have made information more accessible for people with the invention of the internet. However, it could also be argued that people's growing need for information was a key driver in the development of the internet by the IT industry. Hence I feel that we cannot view these "drivers" and world change as seperate entities, but we have to view them as a whole in order to have a better understanding of the entire issue.

I also asked myself, among the qualities of a visionary, leader and manager, which is the most important? Can they thrive in isolation? I believe the answer is no. All organisations, regardless of size, require people to fulfill many different roles and all these roles are equally important. A visionary, by himself, though possessing greats insights, might not have the skills neccessary to band together a group of people to support his cause. Leaders might not know how to manage people, and managers might not possess good insights.

Key takeaways:

One key takeaway I have is that if we are not prepared to deal with changes and do not change our mindset towards innovative thinking, we might not be able to deal with a revolutionary change effectively. This will result in us lagging behind the rest of the world as the rest continue to surge forward. Changes cannot be prevented, but it is how we react to them that makes the difference.

Another takeaway is that while it is best that we possess all 3 qualities of a visionary, leader and manager, good teamwork is often the best way to attain success. Instead of trying to take on everything by myself, it would probably be better to find a group of like-minded individuals each possessing different qualities to strive for the same goal.

Issues for Discussion:

I thought another aspect of in which we could have dwelt in deeper was the idea of an effective visionary or leader. There are many that claim to be visionaries but what makes some tick but others not? And also what makes some leaders more effective than others? This is an issue that is quite relevant to our daily lives where everyone is seen as a leader.

Rating:

I would give the class an 8/10 as I was really intrigued by one of the videos shown during class. The main message was about how it is not only about the leader, but the first follower who gets the ball rolling. This made me reflect alot about the role of a leader and how sometimes, we have placed so much emphasis on being a leader that we have forgotten that it is the followers that really keep the "dream" going.