This is according to Dr Bill Price, from Boksburg, who is an International Master Executive Global Business Coach facilitator.
Price is also the national moderator of Comensa (Coaching and Mentoring South Africa), which is a professional body for coaches and mentors.
Chris van Biljon, CEO of the Ekurhuleni Business Initiative, recently announced that the business initiative has appointed Price as its strategic coach facilitator, to ensure that they offer the world’s best strategic coaching service to business, government, industry champions and CEOs and their executive teams, in the greater Ekurhuleni.
“Business is not easy today and the busyness of business is not enough to achieve better and improved success anymore,” said Price, who, as a coach, has spent time overseeing large business mergers and acquisitions, CEO succession processes and board assessments for efficiency and effectiveness.
“Sadly, leadership and management believe that leaders need to attend more MBA programmes and that this will improve leadership.
“Scientific evidence proves that courses and training just amplify the busyness of business and there is very little new innovation and doing things differently ideas that flow from the present way of doing leading and managing in business overall today.
“The world of customer service is the new wave. We live in a human to human economy now.
“Customer loyalty and engagement are now Jurassic Park terms. It’s all about customer journey and connection that will make the difference in today’s economy.
“We need to look at what causes our customers pain and problems and then deal with it. It should be how we can be of service to customers, instead of merely our products.
“Customers are looking for their needs to be met and they are looking at convenience. Therefore, marketing has to change, selling has to adapt to interpersonal relationship models to survive and take the business to a thriving horizon.
“I wake up every weekday to be a leadership guide and coach. Like Sir Edmund Hillary had a guide, Norgay, who, when Hillary went back to London to be Knighted by the Queen, Tenzing went down the mountain to prepare to take the next one up to the summit. Just so I take leaders and their teams to their summits in their life time.”
Price said it is time for businesses to really think wisely and to contemplate a strategy for the way forward.
“Businesses can grow by looking at the now instead of playing catch up. Whatever has got you so far is not enough to take you further.
“A success recipe for our modern times is to think out of the box, to step out of the race, to swim at times against the stream, to look at options, to gain greater insight and to take time out; therefore, make an appointment for yourself so that you may grow.
“We are dealing with the art of creativity and innovation. The means to get away from the current fishing waters and head to a place where you can become incontestable.
“Therefore, change your view and perception. Create new ways of creating things. Simply put, the future is not what it used to be. Success of companies rests in thinking differently.
“At the end of the day, we have to start thinking beyond mundane thinking, which causes numbness, which is a big killer. It kills us emotionally, intellectually, creatively, we just become immune to life around us.
“Numbness causes us to remain at the same fishing waters instead of finding better waters.
“Scary thing is a lot of people and companies run on auto pilot. Businesses are satisfied with just making target and so we learn in our numbness our own PR that we are the best.
“If you look around you, people are living in a mode of chaos and stress, this then leads to survival mode. And many stay in survival mode until they reinvent themselves. This world demands repositioning yourself in order to get out of the numbness.
“It is also Jurassic Park to measure your progress on past figures and achievements. You learn nothing from the past. It just bring us back into a state of crisis as we never learn the cause of the problem and commit to finding a solution.
“This therefore calls for innovative thinking and reality rapid research. Remember, busyness does not bring perception. We just play catch up. Sometimes I wonder how some companies make profit. It seems to be success by surprise.”
Price said one is in danger of becoming Jurassic when you simply don’t do anything.”
Van Biljon said more than ever business leaders need a guide, a confidant a coach as their journey is a very lonely one.
“They deserve to have clarity of thought, synergy of thinking to ensure that they take their businesses into incontestable waters,” said Van Biljon.
“Leaders that are coached are 42 per cent more effective, productive, focused on clarity of outcomes and are far more connected to the world of their customers. We are proud to be associated with Price and we look forward to adding huge value add to our members with workshops and on line personal development in conjunction with him.”
