Oct 5, 2020 | Leadership, Strategy
Over 45 years I have seen all sorts of strategies. Some work, some fail, some are elegant articulations of a vision and mission, some are a few words on a sheet of paper. Some are data driven, some full of a breathless accounting of what they will make the world look like, and everything in between.
They come in all shapes and sizes.
The common denominator of those that are successful is none of these.
That common success element is that they have been driven by someone who has a bias to action.
They implement.
While others look for more information, watch what their competitors are doing, lobby the government, spend more on developing the next iteration of that great product, the action oriented leader implements.
It will never go completely to plan, there will be mistakes, uncertainty and anxious regret that more care was not taken, and sometimes hordes of naysayers. Nevertheless, the only strategy that has a chance of delivering is the one that gets implemented.
A strategy document that sits on the shelf, gathering dust as information and consensus is accumulated, is the one that never works, because it is not a strategy. It is an excuse for surrendering to the status quo, to the concern about being seen as being wrong, and therefore excluded from the herd.
Oh, by the way, this works not only for a strategy, but in microcosm, at the smallest detail level.
When someone on a production line sees something that could be made to work better that is within their scope of power to change, they take action and change it, observe the results and adjust when necessary. For the leading hands on a line responsible for the running of the line, having a culture in place that encourages and rewards this bias to action, is like having manna from heaven.
Stop talking and start doing!
Header cartoon courtesy of Scott Adams, and the wisdom of Dilbert
Sep 16, 2020 | Governance, Innovation, Strategy
A short while ago I felt very sad, and uplifted at the same time.
Weird.
I was watching my 4 year old granddaughter play , keeping herself company in her own fantasy world, jumping from one thing to another without any hesitation, no sense of self consciousness, but following a ‘logic’ only she could see, hear and feel.
Creativity being expressed in a totally natural way.
I am pretty sure most people have seen this, at some point, and felt uplifted. Then I realised, that in a few months, she would be going to school, and that joy of random thought, learning by experience, feeling absolutely free from judgement was about to hit the wall.
School works with a set of disciplines. Numbers, regulated behaviour, nominated time slots for scheduled activities the kids did not choose. It teaches organisation, discipline, and a ‘top down’ awareness to these rapidly developing brains consistent with what ‘conventional wisdom’ has decreed as appropriate for the future life kids will lead.
Who knows anything about the future life of my granddaughter?
Watching her, I also recalled that I had seen the previous week the announcement of the death of Sir Ken Robinson. That made me sad again, all over,
For those few on the planet who do not know who Sir Ken was, just google ‘the most watched TED talk’ for a dose of his verbal and philosophical magic.
Asking how schools kill creativity in kids, and how to fix it, was his life’s crusade. His TED talk at the time of writing has 69 million views, several of which have been mine, and a much larger number have been those I have persuaded, cajoled and pushed to watch.
Here, in front of me was the living reason he took on the world of education academia.
It also occurred to me in those minutes of reflection, that over time, my granddaughter may be pushed into doing the things she was good at, in preference to the things those she liked to do.
That is how the world now works.
Most people have things they are good at, but do not particularly like doing. I certainly have. To meet the outside markers of success, most go with those things, and use their free time for the things they really like doing. In those times, hours seem to pass like minutes; somehow, you have entered what some would call ‘a flow state’ where time seems compressed, and the output, is just for its own sake.
Joyous.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the things we like become the things we spend our days doing to earn a living?
Imagine living your life in a state of ‘Flow’
My granddaughter was in a state of flow playing, and it seems like my duty to extend that as far as possible.
A lucky few get to feel it for themselves every day, and as a result, have a chance of both being as happy as they can be, and changing the world.
Aug 10, 2020 | Analytics, Management, Strategy
Data is inherently tactical, just numbers without intelligence. It takes structure, capability development, and governance to turn it into a useable asset that adds value. In the absence of a structure that is designed to enable the identification, analysis, and leveraging of that data, and to turn it into useable intelligence, it will remain just data.
To go about that task, ask yourself a number of questions:
What are the data flows?
Through the enterprise, who uses the data, how do they use it, and to what outcome?
Where are the interconnections that occur, to what extend are they compounding positively? Data can also compound negatively, usually because it reinforces an existing confirmation bias that is flawed.
Data is functionally agnostic, should be readily available to all, and the outcomes of use transparent so they can be built upon and compounded.
Who ‘owns’ the data?
Too many times I see the IT department generating data, and keeping to it themselves. Similarly, the finance department is guilty, as are all functions. This is usually not malicious; it is just reflecting a lack of cross functional collaboration. It is becoming more common that marketing is driving a large part of the data agenda, enabled by digital tools, but few marketers have the capability to do it effectively.
Often, there is an expectation that ‘digitisation’ of the enterprise will change the way data is used. Not so, it is no more than putting a new coat of paint on the building, unless the internal structures are changed as well, nothing really changes, you just get a few press releases and nice photos for the annual report.
What data is used?
Piles of data is generated, often collated, and distributed, or made available, but never put to productive use. Usually the missing ingredient is curiosity. Those who are curious approach the data with a ‘why’ and ‘what if’ attitude, they ask questions which identify holes in the data, drives them to be filled, and seeks new sources.
Where does the data add competitive value? Competitive value is a two sided coin. On one side is the need to keep up with what your competition is doing, to leverage the opportunities for productivity and not fall behind in your customers eyes. The second is to find ways for data, and more specifically the knowledge that comes from analysing data, to give you a competitive edge. If a proposed investment does not do at least one of these two things, why would you proceed?
How well do the data outcomes reflect alignment with strategy?
Having data and the analyses that goes with it that leads to conclusions that are inconsistent or divergent from the stated strategy must cause you to question the data, its analysis, and the strategy. In these circumstances, it makes sense to deploy the scientific method, create a hypothesis, test it, collect more data and rinse and repeat until you have alignment between the strategy and its supporting data.
Where are you on the digital adoption curve?
Data is just another asset, it requires explicit actions to build the capabilities necessary to generate, use and fund it. There has to be explicit policies and priorities given, or the investments in data development and the capabilities required, or it will not happen. There needs to be a clear picture of the structures of data domains, from engineering, finance, marketing, sales, and they need to be prioritised and organised to deliver the best return in the long term.
The tools being used to accumulate, process and analyse data are just tools, no different to the hammer that drives a nail. It is how we use them that make the difference. Tools everyone should have are those that ensure the data is both clean and robust. Decisions based on data that fails either of these ‘sanitary’ tests will be sub-optimal at best.
We have entered the digital world. Data and its organisation, funding, leveraging and governance are rapidly becoming the key to competitive survival.
How well are you, and your enterprise placed?
Header cartoon: courtesy Tom Gauld at tomgauld.com.
Aug 5, 2020 | Change, Strategy
Everyone and his dog is making predictions about the shape of the economy, post corona, a state that is seemingly moving out of our grasp currently with the resurgence of the bug. The reality is that the cards have all been thrown in the air, never has the immediate future looked so uncertain. Therefore, why should I miss out on pontificating?
Friedrich Nietzsche seems to have got it right when he wrote: ‘What does not kill me makes me stronger’. I suspect he will be again proven correct, just bad luck for the dead.
The tone of the predictions made is usually reflective of the mouth from which it came, and the interest they have. However, the almost unanimous view is that we are in for a really tough time. Whether the recovery is ‘V’ shaped, ‘U’ shaped, or more like an ongoing ‘L’ only time will tell.
However, my money is on the ‘L’, with a few upticks in specific areas.
- Demand will be constrained, which will filter through the economy, resulting in sustained unemployment and underemployment, cycling back to lower demand.
- Supply will be constrained, as businesses disappear, their supply chains are disrupted, and manufacturing sovereignty takes front and centre, but is unable to fill the void. Therefore the gap between the rhetoric and the reality might be wider than we think at this point.
- Government policy changes will occur, but will they be the right ones and be sufficiently effective to make a real difference more than the immediate triage. Policies are fairly flexible, subject to quick change; entrenched modes of behaviour and belief are not so flexible. Therefore it may be that the short term measures do not stick after the initial pressure is removed, and policy drifts back to the pre-existing status quo. This would be an opportunity lost.
- The systemic shock to the financial system will be substantial. I am not an economist, but the butchers bill from this response to the virus will have to be paid. That payment will come through a reorientation of financial markets and tax regimes. With very low interest rates, there will be money looking for a home, but the system might be in some sort of semi catatonic state driven by uncertainty, and the chances of further rounds of infections that lead to subsequent close-downs. Household balance sheets will have been severely impacted as people have reached into reserves of all kinds to pay living expenses. The Australian house is the super fund of many older Australians, it is likely that the values will drop substantially in the face of low demand. This is concurrent, with their super balances from super fund investments, which have tanked. Older Australians will simply have to work longer to be able to retire, but there are no jobs for older workers.
- Tax relief except in specific cases such as the usurious payroll tax, will probably not be forthcoming, but fundamental changes in the tax system to reorient it towards greater equity and to plug the gaping holes is essential. The decade old Henry tax review should be dusted off and rethought for a start. Some real political backbone is required, but I suspect will remain missing.
- For a considerable time, it seems likely that the stock market will undervalue performance, reversing the trend of the last 20 years, where markets have overvalued stocks. This feeds into the social problems of how we look after in increasingly large and unhealthy cohort of ageing baby boomers and their parents, as their investment incomes are reduced.
- Business models will be transformed. Working remotely will become far more accepted as we simply do not revert to the commute mentality of pre-corona. This has all sorts of implications for CBD property, infrastructure development, and the way communities are run.
- Supply chains will become more transparent and collaborative, even amongst competitors, as it becomes obvious that agility above all else is necessary to maintain the flow through the whole system.
- Technology will get a shot in the arm, as innovation and tech always does in times of crisis. However, it will be technology emerging from the current pool of scientific knowledge, some of which may have been hiding on the shelf for some time. Original science that will deliver solutions to problems we may not yet have seen, will have to wait longer for the necessary funding. Meanwhile, our stocks of really smart, trained and funded scientists, capable of creating the science that will deliver the future will continue to diminish to close to extinction levels. This is despite government rhetoric, and some current reallocation of funds from humanities to STEM. It is a systemic challenge ignored for at least the last 30 years because it extends well beyond any election cycle.
What have I missed?
Jul 22, 2020 | Change, Leadership, Strategy
As we hesitantly, with stumbles, come out of this lockdown, we will see the landscape has changed. For some, it will be a land of opportunity, for others, a wasteland.
Rather than seeing it as a calamity, those who choose to see it as an opportunity, will be able to look and see that what has actually happened is that the lockdown has dramatically accelerated many trends that were already slowly impacting on our lives. They were all evident before to those who were looking, now they are in ample evidence to everyone who is not completely blind.
The more obvious ones, are:
‘Digitisation’.
So called digitisation has taken off, whatever digitisation means in your context. Suddenly ‘digital’ is the new normal. From remote control of factories to grannies interacting with their grandchildren via Zoom, nobody has been immune.
Remote work
Working from home, cafes, the car, has been developing for a decade. Suddenly, it has been accepted as an alternative to expensive office space in central locations. What will probably evolve is some combination of decentralised ‘meeting places’ and working from home, serviced offices, and cafes. The trend has been pushed along a decade in 5 months.
Retail delivery services.
Similarly have been pushed ahead a decade. Everything from the local restaurant to the supermarket, and department store now have to be geared up to deliver, or lose the sale. This will change the nature of retail from transactional to more ‘showrooming’, a trend harnessed by Apple a decade ago while everyone else was cutting retail prices and locations in order to save money. However, retail shop fronts will become more important than ever as a means to communicate with customers, rather than just being a point of sale.
The end of ‘purpose’ marketing.
The focus of marketing, at least by corporate marketers, will have pivoted from the banality of the ‘purpose driven’ marketing of the last few years. In the absence of a compelling idea, marketers deluded themselves that people really cared about their empty statements of ‘purpose’. Your potential and current customers will be demanding evidence that the statements carry weight in the behaviour of those seeking their money.
Politics.
Politicians have had a huge wakeup call. We voters really hate the division and spite of the practise of politics as usual pre corona. We long for some evidence that those elected to lead, actually do so, rather than just taking the trappings of office for their own benefits. The pressures on politicians and the political orthodoxy that has dominated to date will have to be revised. The basic assumptions about what services government provides, and from who and how, the necessary funds are raised to pay for them, have moved.
Not since 1939 have our politicians been confronted with the profoundly difficult choices that now face. I wonder if they are up to the challenge?
The economy.
The economy has suffered a major stroke, one for which substantial rehab over a long period will be required. It would be naive to believe it will recover to look much like the pre stroke version, but recover it will, over time. For those willing and able to push the boundaries, there will be opportunity everywhere, from the remaking of supply chains, to the potential of rebirth of sophisticated niche manufacturing, and new export markets. Digitisation of just about everything that has been accelerated massively, will demand investment and different business models and enterprise capabilities. These will offer great opportunity as well as what for many will be a terminal challenge. None of this will be easy, but it will happen.
As we ‘wake up’ from the corona coma, there will be an inclination to revert back to the known, and comfortable. Succumbing to that urge will be a mistake, as we have all been forced to move on, to push the edges of our comfort zones. The economic and social climate has changed dramatically, and those that seek the comfort of the Pre Corona status quo will find themselves isolated, and falling behind their competitors.
Picking your way through all this will take effort, experience and careful planning. When you need the injection of those skills, give me a call.
Jul 17, 2020 | Change, Strategy
‘Pivot’ has been the word of the year so far.
Cafes have ‘pivoted’ to takeaway, fitness centres ‘pivoted’ to on line classes, supermarkets ‘pivoted’ to home delivery, entertainers ‘pivoted’ to all sorts of variations of on line delivery, and so on.
Huge changes to the business models of many businesses amidst the chaos.
Now things are starting to go back to some sort of normal activity, although the signs of a re-emergence of the Bug are alarming.
The entrepreneurs amongst us are thinking about the bits of the emerged business models to keep, adjust, or throw away.
It seems that while there is a new normal emerging, for many the challenge is not to slip back into the old ways, but to see the coming months as the second start-up for their business.
It may have been forced on them, but there is silver in the cloud.
New business models, new relationships and types of relationship, a wider recognition that communication is the core of success, and that customers are looking for value from all sorts of new sources.
This coming period for most will be much more than just a re-opening, it will have many of the elements of a start-up. For others, it will be the sad walk to the under-taker. It is unlikely there will be too many businesses remaining unchanged.
Header photo credit: Peter Orr photography
