by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®

“When you have the right talented team around you, it’s possible to achieve things beyond your best expectations – and enjoy a good deal of fun in doing so.”

Can you anticipate what might happen if we find a Strategist-Catalyst capable of leading our World Leadership Crisis initiative? With a stroke of luck in finding that person, the second thing he/she would do – after properly positioning their embryonic venture – would be to commence building an appropriate team around him/her. It’s virtually impossible for solo leaders to succeed with important start-up situations these days; contrary to the standard model of the heroic entrepreneur. The scope of today’s start-up venture defies the typical lone-ranger approach. Is that why so many start-up ventures fail? Failure rates have been observed at anywhere between 50-90% within their first four years?

So our Strategist-Catalyst won’t make that same mistake and so instead should pursue the enlightened leadership (EL) model of a Start-up Venture Team (SVT). As per our pictograph, this would mean gathering the right combination of key strategists around him/her to help provide the additional wisdom, insight and drive necessary for the venture to take-off. Such a team combination would enable our enhanced World and National Leadership Vision to bloom and become a reality.

Why use that combination? They won’t have people scrambling to become “chiefs.” Instead they will be invited to fill roles like Expansionist, Innovationist, Provisionist, Operationist, Promotionist and Humanist. Roles like these, in combination with our Strategist-Catalyst (pseudo Visionist), can strategize, synthesize and team-play-wise to bring desired catalytic-momentum to their project. You will note from below that, from a natural personality, talent and experience perspective, they combine to become the engine-thrust required for lift-off. (NOTE: Like their Strategist-Catalyst, they will initially operate as volunteers with an option to become fully remunerated once funding becomes available. With such a vital purpose, this should be more than possible.)

» Expansionist – A big-picture strategist who can perceive opportunities around corners and on either side of their venture. Is able to articulate and inspire colleagues, funders and key influencers to pursue such possibilities. (NOTE: Not a typical strategic planner.)       

» Innovationist – A creative thinker who can strategize and orchestrate innovative campaigns along with identify the requisite resources, people and materials required to support their venture’s message. (NOTE: Not a typical scientist or techie.)

» Provisionist – A resource wizard for unearthing and orchestrating the necessary funding for people, equipment, facilities, systems and partners to build a successful campaign. (NOTE: Not a typical financial controller.)

» Operationist – A builder and orchestrator of the vital teams and logistics that can fulfill the vision through fundraising, forums, team activities and PR events. (NOTE: Not a typical operations manager.)

»Promotionist – A natural communicator and connector to strategize and orchestrate how to draw the attention of different societal factions and build their interest in this campaign. (NOTE: Not a typical marketer or sales executive.)

»Humanist – A strong people advocate to help strategize and orchestrate people-talent needs; as well as facilitate this venture’s culture to build team motivation and enhance their personal growth. (NOTE: Not a typical HR executive.)

(EXTRA NOTE: These exceptional strategist players will eventually become full-time players or Advisory Board members. In the case of the latter, they will actively help find and onboard their full-time replacements.)

Our initial Strategist-Catalyst should opportunistically find these six Strategist talents as they randomly surface – one will lead to others. It will prove highly beneficial for him/her to have their preliminary vision, purpose and positioning strategies to hand, so as to facilitate initial briefings and magnetically draw-in these key players from the outset. Once all these Strategist players materialize, they will work as a team to build on their Strategist-Catalyst’s success strategy and formulate a compelling Strategic Framework – one that shares its four framework components of Vision-Purpose, key Know-how required, vital growth Resources, and ultimate Journey Outcomes.

As these seven players come together, they can collectively find ways to emit pulsating waves to ignite societal forces and influential people to join forces with them. That will include fundraising and demanding the establishment of these World and top ten (and other) National Leadership academies. Their remit will also include assembling a top-tier think-tank to pinpoint and acquire the most valuable faculty, as well as strategies to attract the most promising adult, leadership “students” from across the world – students to be sponsored by their governments.

With all these things in place, this volunteer-cum-full-time team will be ready to move forward and comm-ence its exciting journey to deliver World and National Leadership Academies. As a result, over time, our world will become a more enjoyable and meaningful place to live and increasingly meet our societal dreams. Coupled with that, Strategist team members will increasingly value each other’s complementary contributions and interactive associations. Their Strategist-Catalyst will encourage prudent success celebrations on a regular basis to build progressively stronger bonds between them and enjoy each other’s company.