Ep 321: Hashem Bajwa of Apple - 'The Strategy Linguist'

This week’s guest is Hashem Bajwa. He describes himself as a creative leader that uses imagination, intuition and inclusivity to create experiences that bring people together. He’s done that at Goodby Silverstein, at Droga5, and for the last six years at Apple, where he was Director of Strategy, working with Angela Ahrendts to reimagine Apple retail, including the Apple Store.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few episodes talking with my guests about the personal and human challenges of leadership in a COVID, climate change, DEI driven world.

Hashem and I discussed that too.

But this episode is a case study in managing change at enormous scale, to the highest standards and under the brightest of lights. It is filled with practical explanations that have helped create one of the most creative, innovative, visible and valuable businesses of any lifetime.

Leading what’s right in front of you is challenging. Leading people who are miles and time zones and cultures apart is exponentially harder. Force of personality quickly get diluted over time and space, and out of sight, out of mind willingly steps in to fill the gaps.

Before you know it, you’re not leading an organization, you’re managing siloed problems armed with a ‘not invented here’ resistance to change.

I’ve seen this up close in big businesses and small. In complex corporations and founder-led partnerships and in all cases, the leaders who were successful planted ‘experience principles’ into the fabric of their organization and then used those to guide, support and ultimately determine decision making across issues both small and business-changing.

When you’re the leader, there’s never enough of you to go around. And as we learn to work across hybrid work weeks and sometimes physical, sometimes virtual offices, the chances that you will find yourself in the right place at the right time all the time, has become essentially zero.

Leadership has a lot to do with giving people clarity and vision while encouraging them to bring their own unique thinking to the decision-making moments.

Today, that means finding ways to both guide and inspire their thinking even when you’re not in the room.

Have you defined experience principles for your organization?