The best way to describe our approach to working with Clients is to explain the origins and intended meaning of the Company name.
A MODEL FOR CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
KEWB is an acronym for Knowledge, Empathy, Wisdom and Balance.
There are numerous theories and models for describing personalities and leadership styles, most of which are based on some form of categorisation … ie putting people in a ‘box’. The implication is that a person will have strengths and capabilities aligned with their particular categorisation but be lacking in other areas.
However, really good leaders are more adaptable and dynamic than that … indeed the contemporary workplace demands greater dynamism. Leadership success today requires a person to have range of capabilities and responses, and the ability to draw on different responses to suit particular circumstances.
Those responses will be broadly based on one of 3 'foundation stones' – knowledge, empathy and wisdom. Each has a positive role to play depending on the situation, but each also has potential downsides.
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Positives / Features |
Negatives / Issues |
Knowledge | |
In the Information Age, knowledge is a very common form of leadership authority and personal credibility; in most industries it is a prerequisite for a leadership position. With information expanding at an exponential rate, an investment in knowledge maintenance is required to sustain the effectiveness of knowledge-based leadership.
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Knowledge-based leadership can be harsh, even cold. Few leaders get away with old-style ‘dictator’ authority these days, but an excessive reliance on knowledge authority can have a similar effect. Particularly in technical professions, superior knowledge can mask the impact of anti-social and other negative types of behaviour.
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Empathy | |
Empathy is the human side of leadership, a style that is most commonly associated with female leaders. While it is more prevalent in some industries than others, in fact empathetic leadership is a personal choice and this type of leader can be found anywhere.
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The main downside of an empathetic leadership approach is that it can be viewed as ‘weak’, particularly by others who have a more ‘robust’ style of leadership. It also often requires rules to be broken – or at least bent – something that doesn’t come easily for some people.
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Wisdom | |
Owls are said to be born wise, but in humans wisdom is generally considered to be a product of time and experience … the older a person is, the wiser they become. Wisdom manifests itself as an intuitive understanding – a ‘feel’ – for a given situation and how best to respond.
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It’s not so much a negative but a fact of life that wisdom can’t be taught. Perhaps a handful of people seem to have ‘built-in’ wisdom, but for the rest of us, we need to ‘travel the road’ and get the ‘scars on our back’ before we gain a useful measure of wisdom.
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That brings us to the fourth element – Balance. The ability to draw on an appropriate blend of knowledge, empathy and wisdom to suit the circumstances is what really defines and distinguishes high-quality leadership.
We have found the K-E-W-B model to be particularly useful when working with ICT industry organisations, which tend to be overly knowledge-driven in their approach. It has also proven to be an effective tool in Management Coaching assignments.
A FRAMEWORK FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
KEWB is a homophone for ‘cube’, which provides a clue to another aspect of our approach to working with Clients.
Firstly, this ‘play on words’ is intended to suggest creativity, something that we consider vitally important and a distinguishing feature of our approach.
A cube - or box - is a 3-dimensional square, and the box/square metaphor is used in two very effective approaches to business problem solving.
The first is ‘thinking outside the square’ ... or box ... an approach that seeks to go beyond what is obvious to produce novel, creative and clever solutions.
The other is ‘thinking inside the box', an approach popularised by Douglas Rushkoff that is designed to de-emphasise radical new ideas in favour of better utilising what already exists.
By coming in with a ‘fresh set of eyes’ and looking at Client challenges from both perspectives, KEWB aims to generate ideas and insights that were not previously apparent.
A STRATEGIC APPROACH
The word ‘Strategic’ in the company name provides the final clue to how we work.
Business owners and managers are often too close to their problems and driven by short-term imperatives. While this can be valuable for making the next budget, it is often wasteful, creates unnecessary stress and ultimately drives the business to ruin.
By stepping back and looking at issues more broadly … more strategically … we are able to analyse and interpret a given situation in ways that our Client may not be able to. Our aim is to be objective and practical, so that our recommendations can be translated in to value-adding actions. Often this is not immediately possible, but by creating the ‘flag on the hill’ we provide the means for Clients to start working toward changes required for future success. |
