This is going to seem a little bit like an infomercial, but it isn’t. Simply a musing prompted by a label.
The label in question was for Danone yoghurt. Not a brand I consume on a regular basis, but one which was thrust into my hand by way of a free giveaway at the local supermarket. I was in a meeting at the time, and my colleagues were discussing business reputation and how to build a sustainable company. It was fitting I was holding the yoghurt as on the lid was printed ‘MASTER YOGHURT MAKERS SINCE 1919.’
What struck me was that a business had managed to get off the ground, barely months after the Great War had ended and at a time when the world was gripped in the clutches of the Spanish flu pandemic.
As I revolved on this idea, I thought back to my short article on four different types of leadership and I wondered how each type tends to ebb and flow in all organisations that stand the test of time and adversity.
This is because there is no ‘one style to rule them all.’ A concept good managers embrace for they realise that while leadership involves a certain amount of imposition on followers, top down approach, it also requires flexibility; that bellowing preconceived ideas with ever increasing volume is seldom a path to organisational success and Vedic happiness; and that only by employing contingency leadership can a manager provide the insight and flexibility needed to ensure their business continues to adapt to adversity rather than being crushed by its forces.
Contingency seemingly was on show today and showed itself as a capability as relevant in 1919 as it is one hundred years later.
Good night, and good luck.
Photo by Vije Vijendranath on Unsplash
This post is day 062 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. If you want to get involved, you can get more info from 100daystooffload.com.
