The Storm is Coming
If you’ve followed me in any capacity, you’ve seen my tag line which is my favorite quote: “If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less” attributed to U.S. General Eric Shinseki. I first heard this quote from Tom Peters in his amazing book “Re-Imagine” (get the audio book) and it just stuck with me. Ok, footnoting aside, this quote and that mindset seem to be as relevant (if not more) today than they were close to a decade ago.
We are at the beginning of another New Year and I’ve spent the better part of the past few days reading everyone’s prognostications for the coming year. Like many years before, they all have some bit that will happen and some that won’t, but ultimately fortune-telling is more closely aligned with some of the “predictions.” What struck me in my reading was one paper that was more insightful than all the predictions, it was more about strategy. Check out this paper: “Future-Proofing Your Talent: How Agile Talent Practices Can Drive Digital Transformation” by Marinus van Driel.
As I read through the paper it just seemed the perfect synopsis of what I heard in 2018 that is happening to HR, and Organizations in general as they deal with the dynamic forces that are changing the way we work, operate and conduct business. My hope is that this year companies get past the talking points of “transformation” and “strategy” and truly understand that these terms are critical to their ability to exist in the next few years.
My personal and business life often intersects when it comes to two companies: Apple & Disney. I joke that I’ll never be rich as both take most of my disposable income. But what I find fascinating about these companies is their thinking, innovation and ability to dream. The main factor for writing this blog of sorts is due to something I read from Bob Iger that I just found fascinating in a Barron’s interview – that, quite frankly, was too long to put in a post. He describes Disney’s strategy behind their own direct-to-consumer platform coming out in 2019 (yes, I’ll probably buy that too). But it’s what he said below that I wish every CEO / Executive would say and embrace in their own company:
“Not doing anything, really, creates more uncertainty than this. I can imagine other companies in other industries in similar positions in the past 50 years. Eastman Kodak (KODK) watching the advent of digital photography probably comes to mind the most. It became very clear that what we were observing was real, sustainable. Sweeping, permanent, profound transformation.
What I posed to my senior team and ultimately to the board was, “We can’t sit back and let this happen.” I can also see a component of the failure of companies to innovate. What sets in is, one, this sense it’s a speed bump, but two, we have durability. We’ve gone through economic crises, the global impact of terrorism. You can go all the way back in the 95-year history of the company. There was war, the Great Depression. Here we are 95 years later. But this felt like our ability to endure was going to be solely tied to our ability to transform ourselves, and not pursue [a strategy of] “We’re going to get through this, it’s a storm that’s passing overhead, and when it clears we’ll be fine.” We have to be different when that storm clears. We can’t be the same.”
I love the line “We have to be different when that storm clears. We can’t be the same.” In 2019 expect to hear the word “Evolve” alot. Seems to be the new term people are latching onto. My personal sense, not a prediction, is that many are coming to the understanding much like Bob Iger, there’s a storm coming. In 2020, organizations must be executing on their talent and business strategies, not planning. Wishing everyone out there in Linkedin Land a Happy & Prosperous 2019!