By WALE AKINYEMI

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One of the biggest concerns for a lot of the leaders in my one-on-one coaching sessions is how to remain relevant in this new world.

I wrote a book years ago with a title that many thought was very funny. I titled it, Help! My chocolate is melting. It is the story of a wealthy prince that asked for a house to be built for him. He wanted it built with chocolate. The project started in the winter and all was going well. However, when summer came, the house began to melt.

This is the case for many leaders today. They do things under certain conditions but when those change without warning they remain the same and turn victim. However, they are not victims of circumstances but rather of their unpreparedness for disruption. They then face the biggest threat of their lives — the threat of irrelevance.

Effective leadership is hinged on relevance. Relevance is the ability to resonate with all involved. As a leader, your policies and style must resonate with your team. Similarly, your product or service must resonate with consumers. Many intelligent leaders have failed for the simple reason that they have not been able to resonate with the people they lead.

Relevance is what happens when your thoughts and operations resonate with people. No matter how intelligent you are, if you are not able to break down your thinking to the point where people can understand it and where it resonates with them then you have not yet found your leadership mojo.

Part of leadership is the ability to communicate your vision such that the board gets it, the senior executive gets it and the cleaner gets it. Many years ago, if I had a presentation, I would run it through my daughter who then was barely five years old. After running it by her, I would give her some time to play then I would go back and ask her if she remembered what I had shared. If she remembered then I was sure that my audience would get it. 

I like cars and over the years, one thing you see is that cars are getting more sophisticated in their engineering. However, that same technology is making the functionality and operations of the car simpler. The higher you go, the simpler you should become. The more intelligent you are, the simpler your communication should be. When you really know something you should not have a problem communicating it.

So, you might be the most intelligent person on the block but if your intelligence is not solving a problem then you will not be valued. Even if your intelligence has the ability to save the world, if you are not able to communicate it in a way that can be executed, then you risk irrelevance. Remember that the power of an idea is not in its complexity or in its genius but in its ability to resonate with the people that need to get it.

Your level of value is determined by the people whose opinion of you has a direct impact on your progress. Relevance is the process of aligning your senses and operations to present day realities. Organisations have no life outside those driving things in the organisation. When an organisation becomes irrelevant, it is the thinking within it that has lost touch with the realities on the ground.

Wale Akinyemi is the chief transformation officer, PowerTalks