BOLD in Business and Leadership
“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything,” is attributed to Malcolm X. It’s a quote that helps keep me grounded in times when the expected is not enough or when divergence is essential. In the business world, we have grown tired of the greedy scandals and the above-the-law actions of executives. No one should be rewarded for bold actions that diminish others or rob others of opportunities.
Such a proclamation is idealistic. We need more idealism in this world where new’s cycles trumpet the misery of loss, scandal and general wrong-doing. We need something good to believe in again. We need to know that bold can lead to something great. Bold can lead to making lives better.
We need businesses to be bold in standing up for humanity. We need bold businesses setting the example of good citizenry. We need leaders who chose the unfamiliar path of optimism, joy, and exploration of what’s possible rather than what’s to be expected. We need managers who choose to lead and treat their employees as partners in the game to make a difference for customers, not shareholders.
Being bold in business today is about breaking the shackles of Industrialist Era management, leadership, and business advances. We need leaders who deal in hope. We need leaders who work alongside people and not from behind mahogany desks, clueless to the realities of the work environment and customer needs. We need businesses who deal in making communities better than they were a year ago, 10-years ago.
We need bold businesses and leaders. All this week Switch & Shift will feature writers’ ideas on what bold business or leadership means. Join us as we feature writers, CEO Peter Aceto, Susan Mazza, our own Ted Coiné and many others riffing on what bold means in today’s business world.
Welcome to BOLD.
Image credit: alphaspirit / 123RF Stock Photo
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Shawn Murphy
Change Leader | Speaker | Writer Co-founder and Co-CEO of ExchangeGain. Passionately explores the space where business & humanity intersect. Promoter of workplace optimism. Believes work can be a source of joy. Top ranked leadership blogger by Huffington Post.
