"Vision without execution is hallucination."
Edison
"If those at the top are not energetic leaders of the process, change will not take place, strategy will not be implemented, and the opportunity for breakthrough performance will be missed."
Robert S. Kaplan
Energy drives strategy
Robert Kaplan is one of the world's most knowledgeable experts on strategy. When he speaks corporate leaders tend to listen.
And when he says that strategies cannot be successfully implemented without high-energy leaders, we should take note.
Generating strategic energy - the fuel for execution
If you read my blogs you will know that we focus exclusively on measuring and generating energy in organisations. We know from decades of empirical evidence that all performance - whether by an individual, leader or team - is a function of energy. Where energy is a measure of intellectual and behavioural intelligence.
If you can accept that energy really is the fuel that drives performance, then there are two key practical steps: measuring energy and generating energy.
Our process. GCIndex and Quanta's Black Box
Measuring energy
The first step is always to establish the profile and level of potential energy.
Every individual is unique and every job has special requirements. The goal is to match them in the best way possible.
To measure both individual and team energy we use the powerful and scientifically validated GCIndex. This index provides two important elements. The areas where the individual prefers to make an impact - this links neatly to skill, experience and personal proclivities - and the level of energy that the individual is prepared to expend.
This links perfectly with the statement by Robert Kaplan.
Generating strategic energy - the Black Box
The Black Box contains the science based tools and methods to amplify the measured potential energy and generate new and higher levels of kinetic energy or energy in action.
It is important to remember that energy cannot be created or destroyed. But it can be moved from one system to another. Provided neither system is closed.
Naturally individuals, teams and organisations are all open systems, and by absorbing new energy they can easily increase their energy levels.
Our approach with the Black Box, which has been deployed with thousands of individuals and teams, is action based. It is purpose designed to unlock new behaviours to unleash new energy and performance.
The real magic in the Black Box method is the application of the universal evolutionary algorithm, the basic 'software' that drives life, the universe and everything.
Our position is unequivocal. If leaders do not fully understand the science of systems energy and the mechanisms for generating energy, they may work hard, but they will be groping in the dark.