What James Hardy Taught Us About Leading Through Change

At The Speakers Agency, we know how lucky we are to work with the world’s most insightful speakers. So, we also make sure we make time to sit down and be their biggest students. This week, our team were lucky enough to sit down for a “Lunch and Learn” with James Hardy, the former Head of Europe for Alibaba and a leading authority on retail globalisation.

We went into the session expecting a deep dive into e-commerce growth strategies – quite heavy for a Monday lunchtime! However, we walked out with a completely redefined perspective on leadership and adapting to change, thanks to James’s gripping stories about Walmart, Blockbuster, and a fleet of WWII bombers!

The “Invisible” Data: The Story of Abraham Wald

James shared a story that has been ringing in our ears ever since he said it, and we know how useful it will be to our clients too.

During World War II, the U.S. military was losing bombers at a devastating rate, as they were being shot down by enemy fire. The military’s logic was simple: look at the returning planes, see where the bullet holes are, and add armor to those “vulnerable” spots.

The military elite had already decided on this course of action until Abraham Wald stepped in and completely ‘disrupted’ their plan.

Wald was actually a Jewish refugee working at Columbia University. Interestingly, because of his “outsider” status, he was barred from the very security briefings his work was influencing. Yet, he saw what the generals couldn’t. Wald argued that they were only looking at the survivors.

If a plane made it home with holes in its wings, it meant the wings were a survivable place to get hit. The planes that were being shot down – the ones that didn’t make it back – were likely being hit in the engine and the cockpit. By only looking at the “successful” planes, the military was reinforcing the wrong areas. Wald forced them to change course, and in doing so, he saved countless lives.

Why Disruption Kills the “Linear”

As James explained to our team, most businesses today are making the same mistake as the U.S. military was back then. They analyse their current customers and their latest wins, and they use those “backward-looking” metrics to decide where to put their armor.

But disruption doesn’t kill companies because they are weak; it kills them because they are actually too linear. They patch the holes on the planes that are already flying, while their “engines” – the core assumptions they rely on – are being hit by changes they haven’t even noticed yet.

Three Key Lessons for the Modern Leader

One of the biggest briefs we’ve been receiving lately from our clients is “Leading Through Change.” With so much going on in the world politically, technologically and economically, it’s not difficult to see why this brief has become more and more popular. Well, James’s sessions provide the perfect framework for this. He covers things such as:

1. The 5% Trap vs. The 3x Goal: James challenged our thinking on goal setting. He explained how a 5% growth target is an invitation to do “more of the same, but a bit better” But if you ask your team to triple their results, doing more of the same becomes impossible. It forces radical, non-linear thinking. It forces you to find the engine.

2. Confidence is a Liability: In a world that changes as fast as ours does, James argues that the best leaders are actually less confident. They have enough humility about them to ask: “What if the things we believe are no longer true?“ And instead of protecting their ego, they protect their ability to adapt.

3. Look Outside the Industry: True innovation rarely comes from “insiders” who know inside out the way things have always been done. James pointed out that Uber’s designers had no automotive background. They disrupted the industry because they didn’t share its assumptions.

Why We Recommend James Hardy to our Clients

Listening to James speak on our Lunch & Learn, it’s clear why he’s in such high demand. He has an incredible ability to take complex patterns of change and turn them into actionable leadership strategies. Instead of telling you how the world is changing (which is only useful for a short amount of time, before it changes again), he gives you the tools to challenge assumptions and find the data that no one else is looking at.

So, if your organisation is currently facing a “leading through change” moment, or if you feel like you’re busy patching holes while the environment is shifting beneath you faster than you can keep up, James Hardy is the speaker you need at your next event.

To enquire about booking James Hardy, or to discuss his content with one of our team, contact The Speakers Agency on +44(0)1332 810481 or email enquiries@thespeakersagency.com