Faculty Session Sarah Toms at the OWP Singapore on 22 November 2023, at IMD Campus in Singapore. (Photo Credit: ©Ian Teh/IMD via Panos Pictures) - IMD Business School
News Stories · Leadership

OWP Singapore Day 3: A launchpad into the world of entrepreneurship

Adetola Adegbayi explains how OWP is setting her up for success in the next stage of her career.
November 2023

What would you do if you were planning for the biggest leap of your career?

Having navigated the complex landscape of law and insurance for over three decades, I’ve finally decided to embark on a thrilling new journey as an entrepreneur. Even though I’m planning to stay in the same industry, I feel the pressing need to update my knowledge with the most current insights and tools.

So, for the last three days, I’ve immersed myself in a whirlwind of learning at Orchestrating Winning Performance at IMD Singapore, so I’ll be set up for success in the next stage of my career.

Here are the nuggets of wisdom I’ve collected so far (and there are still two days to go!):

On GenAI

– We must remain optimistic in outlook, cautious with implementation, and clinical with guardrails when extracting value from GenAI for the workforce and the workplace.

On workforce optimization

– At the core of effective management lies the ability to adeptly handle internal stakeholders. Also, the way we redefine and repurpose our workforce significantly influences the quality of our outcomes.

On decision-making

– When uncertainty is high, decision-making requires us to blend and test our intuition at different degrees and levels with facts and evidential rigor. 

On leadership

– When you’re thrown into the deep end, panic blinds reason. As a leader, it’s important to know your character and try to manage impulsive actions by adjusting your behavior to the strengths of your team. 

On navigating complexity

– We need to master the capability of turning opinions into numbers for better decision-making. Be skeptical of solutions that seem too perfect and always create testable plans to avoid wrong conclusions. 

On resilience

– Resilience requires loving what you do, knowing what the world needs, finding how to monetize what you love, and being good at doing what you do.

As I stand at this pivotal point in my career, I’m reminded that we are all within a fragile blue ray of light from the moon. In this journey, it’s vital to be excited about the possibilities ahead, yet it’s equally important to stay humble. The balance of enthusiasm and humility will surely be my guiding light.

This article is inspired by a LinkedIn post: you can follow Adetola here

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