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9 May, 2019

What on earth is the PATA CEO talking about?

The difference between a mediocre CEO and a great CEO is his/her ability to articulate a core leadership message in clear, simple language. This week, at the PATA Annual Summit in Cebu, board members will open their working papers to read the message below from CEO Dr Mario Hardy.

Frankly, it left me scratching my head – quite furiously, too.

Dr Hardy used to be very good. Then he was conferred a doctorate, and it’s been downhill ever since.

What on earth is “exponential leadership”? And how does it differ from just plain, regular leadership?

What does this mean: “We’ve been trained to think of the future as a linear extension of what we know, typically imagining change as a 10 percent improvement (or decline) from what we see around us.”

And this: “We need to become the Leaders that change Leaders and the first skill of exponential leadership is learning to transform surprise into mindful anticipation.”

And this: “We need to get comfortable asking open-ended questions about the unspoken assumptions to see new possibilities.”

And this: “One of the most challenging aspects of practicing the skills of a futurist is getting comfortable with the reality that we simply cannot predict the future.”

Clear communications skills are a critical component of capable leadership. Dr Hardy has done a great job at stabilising what was a dying association but he will not be able to take it to the next level until he can get his constituents to better understand what on earth he is talking about.

Read his full message for yourself, and try to summarise it in 100 words or less. I found it akin to doing a cryptic crossword.

“Creating certainty in an uncertain world”

PATA 2021 STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN

Author: Dr. Mario Hardy, Chief Executive Officer

Dr Mario Hardy

(May 2019)

INTRODUCTION

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) 2021- Strategic Business Plan (SBP) seeks to set out strategic goals to achieve sustained growth and relevance of the organisation as an exponential thought leader, a trusted partner and an effective advocate (all italics in the text are Dr Hardy’s) for the travel and tourism industry to, from and within the Asia Pacific region.

In times of increasing change and complexity, it can be difficult to envision bold new futures with any certainty. Our go-to strategies for thinking about the future typically start with the elements that are known, such as projecting out historic results to future performance, analysing existing competitors, or focusing on executing near-term results.

What’s missing are systematic approaches to understanding and taking advantage of the unknown. This is why leaders within our sector need to embrace skills, practices and behaviours of futurists.

We’ve been trained to think of the future as a linear extension of what we know, typically imagining change as a 10 percent improvement (or decline) from what we see around us.

We think we have a better understanding of the future than we do. Our implicit views about the future are so ingrained in business plans, financial models and strategy conversations that our leaders often don’t take the time to articulate underlying assumptions. When they do so, they may discover that their plans rely upon variables that are far from given and perhaps not the only options. The future lives in a very broad set of possibilities, and these can unfold surprisingly quickly.

Technological, environmental and political changes will likely disrupt businesses in our sector. How can we prepare for a different, even unimaginable world that will arrive faster than projected?

OUR FUTURE

“Our journey to a more impactful and meaningful organisation”

We live in challenging times. Geopolitical turmoil, local and national social unrest, cycles of deadly natural disasters, cyber hacks, rising distrust of media and tech companies – many recent disruptive events have taken us by surprise. We currently live in an environment of nonstop volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) “Quote: Lisa Kay Solomon”.

Why do so many of us – individually and collectively – fail to imagine, let alone anticipate, the massive and disruptive changes that are unfolding? Driven by fast moving technologies and globalisation the pace of change is accelerating, our brains are struggling to keep up and it is therefore no surprise that discomfort and unrest are the results.

One of the most challenging aspects of practicing the skills of a futurist is getting comfortable with the reality that we simply cannot predict the future. For many of our senior leaders, this is deeply unsettling. How can we possibly make big bets on the future without all the facts and data?

Most of us are uncomfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty. Boldly looking ahead elicits doubt, fear, and anxiety — emotions we’d rather hold in check. We can learn to overcome our discomfort with the unknown, and even begin to revel in it, by continuously pushing ourselves to learn new things and seek out new experiences and people.

We at PATA are all capable of becoming better futurists. In doing so we not only architect hope of new possibilities but we also build more flexible, adaptive and resilient organisations in the process.

OUR JOURNEY

Over the past 4 years the Association, consolidating its roots and foundations, has transformed itself into a more dynamic and adaptive organisation. It progressed on its journey to financial sustainability and built bridges between its constituents. On this journey PATA progressed from traditional to digital, from quantity to quality and from being reactive to being proactive. The management team experimented, learned and grown to a highly agile unit of individuals dedicated to turning PATA into a world class organisation.

At its core; the main objectives of the management team remain to:

                 ▪  Achieve and maintain Financial Growth Sustainability

                 ▪  Build a strong and highly respected Brand

                 ▪  Develop Talent and People

                 ▪  Increase Engagement with members, chapters and the tourism industry

However, in an exponential future, we know that this will not suffice. Our members have told us; they are looking at PATA for guidance on how to navigate the uncertain times ahead. They are looking at PATA for “Thought Leadership” and inspiration on how to become “Exponential Leaders”. We need to become the Leaders that change Leaders and the first skill of exponential leadership is learning to transform surprise into mindful anticipation. This doesn’t mean simply extrapolating today’s pace of change into the future. It means imagining new possibilities boldly and optimistically – and understanding they are quite likely to arise sooner than expected. Leaders must become equally comfortable with what can be known and with exploring the unknown.

In simple terms, using the strength and knowledge of our members we need to closely monitor trends and imagine the unimaginable to help our sector prepare for an exponential future. We need to get comfortable asking open-ended questions about the unspoken assumptions to see new possibilities. As exponential leaders we will also have to grapple with the ethical, moral and social implications of the technologies being developed. Disruptions are quickly outpacing existing regulations, laws and societal norms. There are already on-going tax and labour feuds between industry disruptors such as AirBnB and Uber and the communities they serve. This will require a whole new set of discussions and decisions in the boardrooms of every corporation, new behaviours and norms in every product development lab, and new ways of educating, rewarding (and even penalising) tomorrow’s leaders.

Increasingly technology is also generating fundamentally new business models and growth opportunities, enabling and empowering more new parts of the world to become sustainable and autonomous economic centres of growth.

CONCLUSION

“How will we positively impact thousands of tourism organisations and businesses?”

We can help tourism organisations and businesses to prepare themselves for an exponential future by sharing insights, foresights and knowledge with traditional methods such as Research, News sharing, Forums, Seminars, Workshops and Training.

The focus over the coming years will be on adding tangible benefits for members of all categories and significantly increase member engagement online and in person.

We must also innovate with panels of experts (e.g. Jedi Council), an experimental lab, retreats, Vlogs, blogs, debates and round-table discussions.

PATA needs to be at the centre of all discussions relating to the uncertain world our sector is facing – and its future. Every PATA employee, advisor, executive board member needs to become an ambassador of exponential leadership.

In order for PATA to thrive well into the future, three core principles must be embraced and instilled within the culture of the Association:

▪  Adopting an ‘Exponential’ mindset

▪  Being ‘Agile’ and adapting to changing situations with quick and effective responses

▪  Remaining sharply focused upon making the Association relevant and impactful – and, therefore, saying ‘NO’ to distractions

(My summary: Nobody knows what’s going to happen next these days. Maybe PATA membership can help us figure it out.)