The daily life of a manager is a permanent race. Turnover, recruitment, innovation, competitiveness: each day seems dictated by the emergency. We think in the quarter, sometimes a year, rarely at ten years old. However, a question should haunt each decision: “What will my successors think of what I do today?” »»
Indeed, most strategic choices are not judged on their immediate results, but on their inheritance. What seems profitable in the short term can become a long -term burden. What seems expensive today can be the best insurance for tomorrow.
However, in 2035, others will take your place: your children, your employees, your buyers, your successors. And they will have to manage the consequences of your decisions. The question is therefore not only: “What works now?” “But:” What will hold, and make sense, in ten years? »».
The temptation of presentism
We live in a world saturated with short-termism. The markets want immediate results. Social networks amplify each announcement as if it were to change the fate of a business. The leaders, they suffer the pressure of “reacting quickly”, sometimes to the detriment of “thinking far”.
However, economic history is filled with examples where short -sighted decisions have turned into traps. Indeed, how many large companies have favored immediate profits, before finding themselves trapped in obsolete technologies or outdated models?
However, your successors will not have the memory of today’s constraints. They will judge your choices with the decline of time, often with the severity that we reserve for those who knew but did not dare.
A generational compass
Thinking 2035 is not playing soothsayers. No one knows with certainty what will be the state of the world, markets, technologies. But one thing is certain: your current decisions will have repercussions.
Indeed, adopting a generational perspective changes the way of arbitrating. Rather than wondering: “What does this decision report to my record of the year?” »»the real question becomes: “What imprint does it leave to those who will come after me?” »».
It is a simple compass, but formidably effective. It forces to confront the inheritance, and not only with the immediate result.
Build instead of exploiting
The company, in this perspective, is not only a machine to generate profit. It is a living organization, a community, a heritage. And a heritage is not consumed, it is transmitted.
However, too many current strategies are based on the exploitation of resources, talents, markets, as if everything was unlimited. But your successors will have to manage the consequences: financial debts, social debts, environmental debts.
Indeed, to anticipate 2035 is to ask a disturbing question: am I building something that will hold, or to push a problem that others will have to pay?
The dead angles of the pressed leader
It is tempting to say: “I do my best with the constraints of the moment, the future will manage. »» However, some dead angles are obvious today.
- The ecological transition: your successors will judge your choices in terms of environmental impact, and tolerance will be zero.
- Digital transformation: to ignore certain changes today is to condemn your teams to a delay that they will pay dear tomorrow.
- Corporate culture: an organization based solely on your personal energy will collapse when you leave.
Indeed, where you see reasonable compromises, your successors will see debts.
Inherited a debt or a lever?
Each leader leaves an inheritance. This heritage can be a lever – a solid culture, a clear vision, a resilient organization – or a debt – deferred problems, accumulated risks, not adjusted tensions.
However, your successors will not ask you for accounts on your quarterly profits. Above all, they will wonder: “Have we received a solid base or a mined land? »»
Indeed, the greatest leaders are not judged only in their immediate successes, but the ability of their decisions to release the future.
Think like a builder
To think 2035 is to think like a builder, not as a manager. An optimized manager, a builder transmits. The manager seeks efficiency, the builder seeks sustainability.
However, a company is not only a mechanics, it is a collective work. And any work that deserves to exist should be thought of over time.
Indeed, inheritance is not a constraint: it is a responsibility. Thinking about your successors is not limiting you is expanding your horizon.
Examples of contrasting inheritances
Look at large family businesses: those that last over several generations are those that have been able to make decisions beyond the short term from the start. The founder has not only thought of his success, but of the solidity of the house he left behind.
Conversely, how many brilliant companies have disappeared because their leaders have sacrificed the future on the altar of emergency? “Rational” choices at the moment T proved to be catastrophic ten years later.
Indeed, your successors will not forgive you for having ignored the evidence.
Dare to discomfort
It is more comfortable to think about next week than 2035. The figures are clear, the needs are pressing, the results visible. But the real role of the leader is not to give in to this comfort. It is to carry the responsibility of long time, even when it is not electoral, media or financially profitable.
However, this is precisely what distinguishes the builders from managers: one leaves a trace, the other leaves balance sheets.
Indeed, each decision can be evaluated by a simple projection: “In ten years, will it appear as a courageous advance, or as an avoidable error? »»
2035: ruthless mirror
To imagine your successors in 2035 is to confront a ruthless mirror. This mirror does not lie. He is not interested in your apologies or your constraints. He has the result coldly: is the company stronger, fairer, more durable thanks to you, or in spite of you?
Indeed, asking this question is accepting a dose of humility. It is recognizing that you are a link in a longer chain, not the alpha and the omega of a story.
Directing is to transmit
Finally, directing is not only guiding, is to transmit. Your greatest success will not be your personal results, but the ability of those who will come after you build even further.
However, if your successors can say in 2035: “Thanks to these choices, we were able to go faster, higher, stronger”then you will have succeeded. But if their first task is to repair your gaps, then your leadership will have failed.
Indeed, the true grandeur of a leader is not measured by what he accomplishes under the spotlight, but to what he leaves in the shadows, ready to serve as a support for another generation.
Anticipate is already acting
Anticipating 2035 is not speculating is acting otherwise today. It is to invest in lasting solutions, even if they cost expensive. It is to develop talents, even if it takes time. It is to think beyond yourself, even if it flats the ego less.
Because in the end, there is only one real question: do you want to be the one whose successors will say “thank you”, or the one they will say “damage”?
