Modelling better business

Sustain Leadership Consultancy provides leadership strategy to firms along with guiding startups in the quest for success. Hanane Benkhallouk, Executive Director, explains how

How do you evaluate and study a startup’s profile and give them the best course of action? We might think that startups success comes from great ideas. But great ideas are only great if they solve an existing problem or satisfy a valid need, so I always start with an unexpected question when a startup team start pitching a ‘great idea’: “Who cares? And why should they?’ Answering this with confidence is a good start to validate if there is a value proposition that has market potential.  What has changed in leadership strategy with regards to the pandemic? In today’s world, with volatility, uncertainty and ambiguity (VUCA), business strategies must keep adapting to the ever-changing world. There is a need for a new model of leadership – it is no longer possible for one individual to manage the complexity and intensity of modern institutions. Power has decayed – it is held collectively and socially. Individuals and institutions who fail to see this will be left behind. Leadership is not necessarily linked to authority or a senior role, leadership is embedded in every one of us. The key is creating ‘leaderful’ organisations, where people’s passion and true purpose can be expressed in their work. The rapid changes are significantly reducing the skills ‘shelf life’, creating a continuous learning culture – moving towards a learning organisation, will be crucial. What are some key projects the company has been involved in? Our projects are exciting and diverse. We have worked with government institutions and ministries to support their teams to ideate on the future of health, economy and aviation. We worked with large multinationals in the FMCG and financial sectors on their culture transformation. We have also worked with large telecom companies to embed innovation and entrepreneurship cultures. In addition, we are very active on diversity and inclusion strategies and programmes. We have accompanied young entrepreneurs on incubation and acceleration programmes and designed complete entrepreneurship and employability programmes for universities and NGOs. Our interventions cover mainly the Middle East and Africa, with some engagement in Europe and Asia. Our name and slogan are explicit about what we stand for. We support business leaders and organisations of all sizes, remain relevant in an ever-changing world, so they can sustain their leadership and contribute to driving a positive impact on their business and society.