The First Mile

CHAPTER 9

Leading in the First Mile

Almost seventy years ago, the great French poet Paul Valéry wrote “L’avenir est comme le reste: il n’est plus ce qu’il était,” which roughly translates to “The future is not what it used to be.” The line has never been more telling. Some of the statistics in the front of the book highlighted how fragile the business world is today. It is safe to assume that at least half of the world’s twenty-five most admired companies will face some kind of significant struggle over the next decade. We are truly in an age of discontinuity, where the “new normal” is dealing with constant change.

Leaders a generation from now will have spent their working life in this era. Leaders two generations from now will have grown up ...