Tag Archives: disruption

Taking Personal Responsibility – Creating the Line of Choice

Taking Personal Responsibility - Creating the Line of Choice

GUEST POST from Janet Sernack

In our last blog, we described how people’s personal power is diminished when they don’t take personal responsibility for the impact of their behaviors and actions and the results they cause. Where many people are feeling minimized and marginalized, anxious as a result of being isolated and lonely, worrying about losing their security and freedom, and dealing with the instability in their working environments. Resulting in many people disengaging from the important conversations, job functions, key relationships, workplaces, and in some instances, even from society. Where managers and leaders lack the basic self-awareness and self-regulation skills to control the only controllable in uncertain and unstable times, is to choose how to respond, rather than react to it.

We have a unique moment in time to shift their defensiveness through being compassionate, creative, and courageous towards helping managers and leaders unfreeze and mobilize to exit our comfort zones. To take intelligent actions catalyze and cause positive outcomes, that deliver real solutions to crises, complex situations, and difficult business problems.

Why do people avoid taking personal responsibility?

People typically avoid taking personal responsibility for reasons ranging from simple laziness, risk adversity, or a fear of failure, to feeling change fatigued, overwhelmed, or even victimized by the scale of a problem or a situation.

Resulting in a range of different automatic defensive, and a range of non-productive reactive responses including:

Avoidant behavior, where feel victimized and targeted, people passively “wriggle” and the buck gets passed onto others, and the real problem or issue does not get addressed or resolved.
Controlling behavior, where people ignore their role in causing or resolving the real problem or issue, and aggressively push others towards their mandate or solution, denying others any agency.
Argumentative behavior, where people play the binary “right-wrong” game, and self-righteously, triggered by their own values, oppose other people’s perspectives in order to be right and make the other person wrong.

Creating the line of choice

At Corporate Vision, we added a thick line of “choice” between “personal responsibility” and “blame, justification and denial” to intentionally create space for people to consider taking more emotionally hygienic options rather than:

Dumping their “emotional boats” inappropriately onto others, even those they may deeply care about,
Sinking into their habitual, and largely unconscious default patterns when facing complex problems, which results in the delivery of the same results they always have.
Not regulating their automatic reactive responses to challenging situations, and not creating the vital space to pause and reflect to think about what to do next.

To enable them to shift towards taking response-ability (an ability to respond) and introducing more useful options for responding in emotionally agile, considered, constructive, inclusive, and creative ways to the problem or the challenge.

Noticing that when we, or others we interact with, do slip below the line to notice whether to “camp” there for the long term or to simply choose to make the “visit” a short one!

Doing this demonstrates the self-awareness and self-regulation skills enabling people to take personal responsibility. Which initiates ownership and a willingness to be proactive, solutions, and achievement orientated – all of which are essential qualities for 21st century conscious leadership that result in innovative outcomes that result in success, growth, and sustainability.

Shifting your location – from “you, they and them” to “I, we and us”

Developing the foundations for transformational and conscious leadership involves:

Supporting people to acknowledge and accept that the problem or challenge is not “out there” and is within their locus of control or influence.
Shifting the “Maturity Continuum” to enable leaders and managers to be both independent and interdependent.
Creating a line of choice to think, act and do things differently.
Calling out people when they slip below the line.

It involves supporting people to let go of their expectation that “they” or someone else, from the outside, will fix it, and supporting them to adopt a stance where:

“I” or “we” can and are empowered to do it,
“I” or “we” are responsible for getting above the line,
“I” or “we” can choose a different way of being, thinking, and acting intelligently in this situation.

Developing conscious leadership

At any time, everyone is either above or below the line because it is elemental to the type of conscious leadership we all need to survive and thrive, in a world where people are seeking leaders, managers, and working environments that require interdependence.

To operate in the paradigm of “we” – we can do it; we can cooperate; we can combine our talents and abilities and create something greater together.

We cooperate together by creating the line of choice where we call out to ourselves and others when we slip below it, to get above the line as quickly as possible.

Where interdependent people and communities combine their efforts, and their self-awareness and self-regulation skills with the efforts of others to achieve their growth and greatest success by increasing:

Transparency and trust,
Achievement and accountability,
Diversity and inclusion,
Experimentation and collaboration.

All of these are founded on the core principle of taking personal responsibility, which is an especially crucial capability to develop self-awareness and self-regulation skills in the decade of both disruption and transformation.

Bravely calling out self and others

When we take responsibility for managing our own, “below the line” reactive responses, by habitually creating the line of choice, we can bravely call out ourselves and others when we slip below it.

Because when we don’t call ourselves and others we interact with, we are unconsciously colluding with their emotional boats, default patterns, and automatic reactive responses, which inhibit their ability to effect positive change.

When we safely awaken ourselves and others, we can get back above the line quickly and choose different ways of being, thinking, and acting intelligently in the situation.

Alternately, people aren’t taking personal responsibility, they cannot be accountable, they will fail in their jobs, and their teams, and fail to grow as individuals and as leaders.

In fact, developing a habitual practice of emotionally intelligent and conscious leadership by safely and bravely disrupting ourselves and our people, in the face of ongoing uncertainty, accelerating change, and continuous disruption.

This is the second in a series of three blogs on the theme of taking responsibility – going back to leadership basics.

Find out about our learning products and tools, including The Coach for Innovators, Leaders, and Teams Certified Program, a collaborative, intimate, and deeply personalized innovation coaching and learning program, supported by a global group of peers over 9-weeks, starting Tuesday, October 18, 2022. It is a blended and transformational change and learning program that will give you a deep understanding of the language, principles, and applications of an ecosystem focus, human-centric approach, and emergent structure (Theory U) to innovation, and upskill people and teams and develop their future fitness, within your unique context.

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Disrupt Yourself, Your Team and Your Organization

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Disrupt Yourself, Your Team and Your Organization

GUEST POST from Janet Sernack

Moving into a new year is always a time for retreating and reflecting to accelerate growth and harvest new ideas from our feelings, thoughts, and learnings gleaned from the last two years of disruption, extreme uncertainty, and instability. Whether you are actively seeking to disrupt yourself, your team, and your organization to effect sustainable success this year, or not, we all have the opportunity to adapt, innovate and grow from the range of challenging events that impacted us in the past 24 months. This is why it might be useful to see these disruptive events as positive, powerful, and impactful forces for creating new cracks in your own, or your team or organizational soil – to sow some imaginative, creative, and inventive seeds for effecting positive change in an unstable world.

To see them germinate the desired changes you want for yourself, your team, and organization and deliver them, to survive and thrive in 2022.

We are all being challenged by disruption

Our status quo and concepts of business-as-usual have all been significantly disrupted, resulting in a range and series of deep neurological shocks, that have shaken many of us, our teams, and our organizations, to our very cores. Some of us adapted to a sense of urgency and exploited the opportunity to reinvent, iterate, or pivot our teams and organizations, towards co-creating individual and intentional “new normals” and just “got on” with it. Some of us have continually denied, defended, and avoided making changes, where many of us have sunk deeply into our fears and anxieties, falsely believing that our lives, and our work, would eventually go back to “normal”.

This is because a significant number of our habitual, largely unconscious mental models and emotional states, were disrupted, largely by events beyond our individual and collective control. Causing many of us to experience “cognitive dissonance” (a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors that produce feelings of mental discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance) from the chaos, discomfort, confusion, and conflict.

Which saw many of us, disconnect cognitively and emotionally, from the current disruptive reality, where some of us secretly hoped that “it will all go away” manifesting and festering fundamentally and unconsciously, as inherent neurological immobility, (freeze, fight, flight) resulting in many areas as resistance to change.

Why disrupt yourself, your team, and organization?

Yet disruptive change is inevitable, the speed and pace of exponential change cannot be stopped, the range of complex and wicked global and local problems that need to be solved collectively, aren’t going away.

Job security and full-time employment, as hybrid and virtual work, and technology accelerate, are becoming “things of the past” as the workplace continues to destabilize through digitization, AI, and automation.

Whilst the war for talent also accelerates as the great resignation sets in and people make powerful, empowered life balance decisions and are on the move globally.

Taking the first steps to disrupt yourself, your team, and organization

In this time of extreme uncertainty, we have a unique moment in time, to disrupt ourselves, teams, and organizations by:

Hitting our individual, collective mental, and emotional pause buttons, to retreat from our business-as-usual activities, and take time out to reflect upon paying attention and qualifying:

How specifically have I/we been disrupted?
How have our people, teams, and customers been disrupted?
What are some of the major collective impacts on our organization’s current status and how might these impact our future growth potential and overall sustainability?
How connected are we to an exponential world, how can we ensure that our feelings, thoughts, and actions, connect with what is really happening to us, our teams, and our customers?
What causes disconnection and how might we manage it to be more mentally tough and emotionally agile in an extremely uncertain future?
What really matters to us, our teams, organizations, and customers – what do our people, teams, and customers really want from us?
What are some of the key elements of our organizational strategy to enact our purpose and deliver our mission?

Generating safe, evocative, provocative, and creative conversations, that evoke deep listening and deep questioning, about how to individually and collectively reconnect, revitalize, rejuvenate and reenergize people, teams and organizations to survive and thrive through asking:

How can we engage and harness our people and teams’ energies in ways that mobilize their collective intelligence to evoke new mindset shifts and new ways of thinking and acting?
What are some of the key mindsets and traits we need to disrupt, shift, and cultivate to be successful to adapt and grow through disruption?
What skills do our leaders and teams need to learn to think and act differently to shift the organizations culture to deliver our strategy?
How might we shift our teams and organizations to be agile, and redesign our organizations for both stability and speed?
What does it mean to us, our teams, and organizations to be creative, inventive, and innovative – How might we shift our teams and organizations to be more creative, inventive, and innovative?
What are the new behavioral norms that will support and enable us to execute agile and innovative changes?
How might becoming agile and innovative help our people, teams co-create a healthy, high-performing, and sustainable organizational culture?
How might becoming agile and innovative add value to the quality of people’s lives and help our customers flourish?

Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable by developing our peoples, teams, and our organizational “discomfort resilience” and dance of the edge of your comfort zones through:

Creating safe environments where people and teams are allowed to experiment, have permission, and are trusted to practice, make mistakes as they move through difficult emotions, and take little bets in low stake situations.
Intentionally breaking organizational routines and habits, to create space in people’s brains for new neural pathways to be developed.
Enabling people and teams to become mindful of their triggers, to interrupt their automatic reactions.
Equipping people and teams to thoughtfully and intentionally respond to situations, that make them uncomfortable and risk-averse, by knowing how to think differently.
Bringing more play into the way people work, encourages people to be imaginative, inquisitive, curious, and improvisational, to seek different ways of thinking and acting, that really make a difference in how work gets done.
Support people and teams to learn by doing, and failing fast, without the fear of blame, shame, and retribution, despite it being risky to do that.

Why not disrupt yourself, your team, and organization?

The future is going to be full of disruptive events and circumstances that will impact is our families, communities, team, and organizations, and the conditions of extreme uncertainty and disruption are not going to go away. In fact, they are fundamental to what might be described as our collective “new normal” and it’s up to you to disrupt yourself, your team, and organization, to lead, adapt and grow, to survive and thrive through it.

Find out about The Coach for Innovators Certified Program, a collaborative, intimate, and deep personalized innovation coaching and learning program, supported by a global group of peers over 8-weeks, starting May 2022. It is a blended learning program that will give you a deep understanding of the language, principles, and applications of a human-centered approach to innovation, within your unique context. Find out more.

Contact us now at mailto:janet@imaginenation.com.au to find out how we can partner with you to learn, adapt, and grow your business, team and organization through disruption.

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Innovation Requires Going Fast, Slow and Meta

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GUEST POST from Greg Satell

In the regulatory filing for Facebook’s 2012 IPO, Mark Zuckerberg included a letter outlining his management philosophy. Entitled, The Hacker Way, it encapsulated much of the zeitgeist. “We have a saying,” he wrote. “‘Move fast and break things.’ The idea is that if you never break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough.”

At around the same time, Katalin Karikó was quietly plodding away in her lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She had been working on an idea since the early 1990s and it hadn’t amounted to much so far, but was finally beginning to attract some interest. The next year she would join a small startup named BioNTech to commercialize her work and would continue to chip at the problem.

Things would accelerate in early 2020, when Karikó’s mRNA technology was used to design a coronavirus vaccine in a matter of mere hours. Just as Daniel Kahneman explained that there are fast and slow modes of thinking, the same can be said about innovating. The truth is that moving slowly is often underrated and that moving fast can sometimes bog you down.

The Luxury Of Stability

Mark Zuckerberg had the luxury of being disruptive because he was working in a mature, stable environment. His “Hacker Way” letter showed a bias for action over deliberation in the form of “shipping code,” because he had little else to worry about. Facebook could be built fast, because it was built on top of technology that was slowly developed over decades.

The origins of modern computing are complex, with breakthroughs in multiple fields eventually converging into a single technology. Alan Turing and Claude Shannon provided much of the theoretical basis for digital computing in the 1930s and 40s. Yet the vacuum tube technology at the time only allowed for big, clunky machines that were very limited.

A hardware breakthrough came in 1948, when John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain invented the transistor, followed by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce’s development of the integrated circuit in the late 1960s. The first computers were connected to the Internet a decade later and, a generation after that, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web.

All of this happened very slowly but, by the time Mark Zuckerberg became aware of it all, it was just part of the landscape. Much like older generations grew up with the Interstate Highway System and took for granted that they could ride freely on it, Millennial hackers grew up in a period of technological, not to mention political, stability.

The Dangers Of Disruption

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook with a bold idea. “We believe that a more open world is a better world because people with more information can make better decisions and have a greater impact,” he wrote. That vision was central to how he built the company and its products. He believed that enabling broader and more efficient communication would foster a deeper and more complete understanding.

Yet the world looks much different when your vantage point is a technology company in Menlo Park, California then it does from, say, a dacha outside Moscow. If you are an aging authoritarian who is somewhat frustrated by your place in the world rather than a young, hubristic entrepreneur, you may take a dimmer view on things.

For many, if not most, people on earth, the world is often a dark and dangerous place and the best defense is often to go on offense. From that vantage point, an open information system is less an opportunity to promote better understanding and more of a vulnerability you can leverage to exploit your enemy.

In fact, the House of Representatives Committee on Intelligence found that agents of the Russian government used the open nature of Facebook and other social media outlets to spread misinformation and sow discord. That’s the problem with moving fast and breaking things. If you’re not careful, you inevitably end up breaking something important.

This principle will become even more important in the years ahead as the potential for serious disruption increases markedly.

The Four Disruptive Shifts Of The Next Decade

While the era that shaped millennials like Mark Zuckerberg was mostly stable, the next decade is likely to be one of the most turbulent in history, with massive shifts in demography, resources, technology and migration. Each one of these has the potential to be destabilizing, the confluence of all four courts disaster and demands that we tread carefully.

Consider the demographic shift caused by the Millennials and Gen Z’ers coming of age. The last time we had a similar generational transition was with the Baby Boomers in the 1960s, which saw more than its share of social and political strife. The shift in values that will take place over the next ten years or so is likely to be similar in scale and scope.

Yet that’s just the start. We will also be shifting in resources from fossil fuels to renewables, in technology from bits to atoms and in migration globally from south to north and from rural to urban areas. The last time we had so many important structural changes going on at once it was the 1920s and that, as we should remember, did not turn out well.

It’s probably no accident that today, much like a century ago, we seem to yearn for “a return to normalcy.” The past two decades have been exhausting, with global terrorism, a massive financial meltdown and now a pandemic fraying our nerves and heightening our sense of vulnerability.

Still, I can’t help feeling that the lessons of the recent past can serve us well in creating a better future.

We Need To Rededicate Ourselves Tackling Grand Challenges

In Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, he explained that we have two modes of thinking. The first is fast and intuitive. The second is slow and deliberative. His point wasn’t that one was better than the other, but that both have their purpose and we need to learn how to use both effectively. In many ways, the two go hand-in-hand.

One thing that is often overlooked is that to think fast effectively often takes years of preparation. Certain professions, such as surgeons and pilots, train for years to hone their instincts so that they will be able to react quickly and appropriately in an emergency. In many ways, you can’t think fast without first having thought slow.

Innovation is the same way. We were able to develop coronavirus vaccines in record time because of the years of slow, painstaking work by Katalin Karikó and others like her, much like how Mark Zuckerberg was able to “move fast and break things” because of the decades of breakthroughs it took to develop the technology that he “hacked.”

Today, as the digital era is ending, we need to rededicate ourselves to innovating slow. Just as our investment in things like the human genome project has returned hundreds of times what we put into it, our investment in the grand challenges of the future will enable countless new (hopefully more modest) Zuckerbergs to wax poetic about “hacker culture.”

Innovation is never a single event. It is a process of discovery, engineering and transformation and those things never happen in one place or at one time. That’s why we need to innovate fast and slow, build healthy collaborations and set our sights a bit higher.

— Article courtesy of the Digital Tonto blog
— Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

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We’re Disrupting People Instead of Industries Now

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We're Disrupting People Instead of Industries Now

In 1997, when Clayton Christensen first published The Innovator’s Dilemma and introduced the term “disruptive innovation,” it was a clarion call. Business leaders were put on notice: It is no longer enough to simply get better at what you already do, you need to watch out for a change in the basis of competition that will open the door for a disruptive competitor.

Today, it’s become fashionable for business pundits to say that we live in a VUCA era, one that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, but the evidence says otherwise. Increasingly researchers are finding that businesses are enjoying a period that is less disruptive, less competitive and less dynamic.

The truth is that we don’t really disrupt businesses anymore, we disrupt people and that’s truly becoming a problem. As businesses are increasingly protected from competition, they are becoming less innovative and less productive. Americans, meanwhile, are earning less and paying more. It’s time we stop doubling down on failed ideas and begin to right the ship.

The Productivity Paradox

In the 1920s two emerging technologies, internal combustion and electricity, finally began to hit their stride and kicked off a 50-year boom in productivity growth. During that time things changed dramatically. We shifted from a world where few Americans had indoor plumbing, an automobile or electrical appliances to one in which the average family had all of these things.

Technology enthusiasts like to compare the digital revolution with that earlier era, but that’s hardly the case. If anybody today was magically transported 50 years back to 1970, they would see much they would recognize. Yet if most modern people had to live in 1920, where even something as simple as cooking a meal required hours of backbreaking labor, they would struggle to survive.

The evidence is far more than anecdotal however. Productivity statistics clearly show that productivity growth started to slow in the early 1970s, just as computer investment began to rise. With the introduction of the Internet, there was a brief bump in productivity between 1996 and 2004, but then it disappeared again. Today, even with the introduction of social media, mobile Internet and artificial intelligence, we appear to be in a second productivity paradox.

Businesses can earn an economic profit in one of two ways. They can unlock new value through innovation or they can seek to reduce competition. In an era of diminished productivity, it shouldn’t be surprising that many firms have chosen the latter. What is truly startling is the ease and extent to which we have let them get away with it.

Rent Seeking And Regulatory Capture

Investment decisions are driven by profit expectations. If, for instance, a firm sees great potential in a new technology, they will invest in research and development. On the other hand, if they see greater potential influencing governments, they will invest in that. So it is worrying that lobbying expenditures have more than doubled since 1998.

The money goes towards two basic purposes. The first, called rent seeking, involves businesses increasing profits by the law to work in their favor, as when car dealerships in New Jersey sued against Tesla’s direct sales model. The second, regulatory capture, seeks to co-opt agencies that are supposed to govern industry.

It seems like they’re getting their money’s worth. Corporate tax rates in the US have steadily decreased and are now among the lowest in the developed world. Occupational licensing, often the result of lobbying by trade associations, has increased fivefold since the 1950s. Antitrust regulation has become virtually nonexistent, while competition has been reduced.

The result is that while corporations earn record profits, we pay more and get less. This is especially clear in some highly visible industries, such as airlines, cable and mobile carriers, but the effect is much more widespread than that. Keep in mind that, in many states, legislators earn less than $20,000 per year. It’s easy to see how a little investment can go a long way.

Decreasing Returns To Labor

With businesses facing less competition and a more favorable regulatory environment, which not only lowers costs but raises barriers to new market entrants, it shouldn’t be surprising that the stock market has hit record highs. Ordinarily that would be something to cheer, but evidence suggests that the gains are coming at the expense of the rest of us.

A report from MicKinsey Global Institute finds that labor’s share of income has been declining rapidly since 2000, especially in the United States. This is, of course, due to a number of factors, such as low productivity, automation, globalization. Decreased labor bargaining power due to increased market power of employers, however, has been shown to play an especially significant role.

At the same time that our wages have been reduced, the prices we pay have increased, especially in education and healthcare. A study from Pew shows that, for most Americans, real wages have hardly budged since 1964. Instead of becoming better off over time, many families are actually doing worse.

The effects of this long-term squeeze have become dire. Increasingly, Americans are dying deaths of despair from things like alcohol abuse, drug overdose, and suicide. Recent research has also shown that the situation has gotten worse during Covid.

We Are Entering A Dangerous Decade

Decades of disruption have left us considerably worse off. Income inequality is at record highs. Anxiety and depression, already at epidemic levels, has worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic. These trends are most acute in the US, but are essentially global in nature and have contributed to the rise in populist authoritarianism around the world.

Things are likely to get worse over the next decade as we undergo profound shifts in technology, resources, migration and demographics. To put that in perspective, a demographic shift alone was enough to make the 60s a tumultuous era. Clearly, our near future is fraught with danger.

Yet history is not destiny. We have the power to shape our path by making better choices. A good first step would be to finally abandon the cult of disruption that’s served us so poorly and begin to once again invest in stability and resilience, by creating better, safer technology, more competitive and stable markets and a happier, more productive workforce.

Perhaps most of all, we need to internalize the obvious principle that systems and ideologies should serve people, not the other way around. If we increase GDP and the stock market hits record highs, but the population is poorer, less healthy and less happy, then what have we won?

— Article courtesy of the Digital Tonto blog
— Image credit: Pexels

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At the Heart of Successful Digital Transformations are Humans and Data

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At the Heart of Successful Digital Transformations are Humans and Data

Digital transformation has become an overused buzzword.

When most people speak about digital transformation, they are really speaking about digitization, digitalization, or digital strategy.

They are all very different and none of them are digital transformation.

Let’s look at each of these four terms so that we can be very clear about what we are talking about:

Digitization – Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-readable) format (source: Wikipedia)

Digitalization – Digitalization is the adaptation of a system, process, etc. to be operated with the use of computers and the internet (source: Oxford Dictionary)

Digital strategy – In the fields of strategic management, marketing strategy, and business strategy, digital strategy is the process of specifying an organization’s vision, goals, opportunities and related activities in order to maximize the business benefits of digital initiatives to the organization (source: Wikipedia)

Digital transformation – A digital transformation is the journey between a company’s current business operations to a reimagined version from the perspective of how a digital native would build the same business operations leveraging the latest technology and scientific understandings of management science, leadership, decision science, business and process architecture, design, customer experience, etc. (source: bradenkelley.com)

At the heart of successful digital transformation, innovation, disruption, and even customer experience are two things:

Humans
Data

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The Importance of Continuous Learning in a Disruptive World

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Strategies for fostering a culture of learning and adaptability to stay ahead of industry shifts

The Importance of Continuous Learning in a Disruptive World

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In today’s fast-paced and dynamic world, industries are constantly evolving due to disruptive technologies, changing consumer demands, and global trends. To stay ahead of these shifts and succeed in the long run, organizations must foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptability. In this article, we will explore the significance of lifelong learning while presenting two compelling case studies that exemplify successful strategies for fostering a culture of learning and adaptability.

Case Study 1: Google’s 20% Time

Google, renowned for innovation and cutting-edge technology, has become a global leader by embracing a culture of continuous learning. One of the most notable initiatives at Google is the concept of “20% time.” This concept encourages employees to dedicate 20% of their work time to pursue passion projects that align with the company’s objectives but are not necessarily part of their regular responsibilities.

Through the 20% time concept, Google fosters a culture of curiosity, creativity, and adaptability among its employees. Engineers, for example, have used this time to develop groundbreaking projects such as Gmail and Google News. By allowing employees to explore their interests and learn new skills autonomously, Google enables continuous growth and encourages innovative thinking, putting the company at the forefront of technological advancements.

Case Study 2: Airbnb’s Employee Learning and Development Program

As a disruptor in the hospitality industry, Airbnb recognizes the importance of continuous learning and development to navigate industry shifts. To instill a culture of learning, Airbnb has implemented an employee learning and development program that emphasizes up-skilling, cross-functional training, and embracing new technologies.

Through this program, employees are encouraged to develop new skills by pursuing certifications, attending conferences, or participating in online courses. Additionally, the company organizes regular cross-functional training sessions where employees can gain insights into different departments and take part in collaborative problem-solving activities.

Airbnb’s commitment to continuous learning has enabled employees to adapt to changing market demands and emerging technologies. By equipping their workforce with diverse skill sets, Airbnb has been able to pivot quickly, branching into new business areas, such as experiences and luxury rentals, to maintain its competitive edge in the hospitality industry.

Strategies for Fostering a Culture of Learning and Adaptability:

1. Encourage Personal Development Plans: Encourage employees to create personal development plans that align with their career goals and the organization’s objectives. Regularly revisit and update these plans to foster continuous growth.

2. Embrace Cross-Functional Collaboration: Promote cross-functional collaboration to encourage knowledge-sharing and allow employees to learn from colleagues in different roles or departments. This fosters adaptability and a deeper understanding of the company’s overall operations.

3. Emphasize Up-skilling and Re-skilling: Invest in training programs and resources that enable employees to acquire new skills and adapt to emerging technologies. This investment not only benefits the organization but also empowers employees to future-proof their careers.

4. Allocate Time for Learning: Embrace flexible work schedules or initiatives such as Google’s 20% time to allow employees dedicated time for self-directed learning and experimentation. This autonomy fosters a culture of continuous learning and innovation.

Conclusion

The disruptive world we live in demands a culture of continuous learning and adaptability. Through case studies of companies like Google and Airbnb, we have seen how embracing lifelong learning and fostering adaptability are crucial for staying ahead of industry shifts. By implementing strategies such as personal development plans, cross-functional collaboration, and up-skilling initiatives, organizations can create a culture of learning that enables employees to thrive, innovate, and drive success in the face of disruption. Embracing continuous learning is no longer an option; it is an essential strategy for organizations to remain competitive and thrive in the years to come.

Bottom line: Understanding trends is not quite the same thing as understanding the future, but trends are a component of futurology. Trend hunters use a formal approach to achieve their outcomes, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to be their own futurist and trend hunter.

Image credit: Pexels

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Overcoming Resistance to Change in Designing for Disruption

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Effective change management strategies to address resistance and encourage adoption of disruptive ideas

Overcoming Resistance to Change in Designing for Disruption

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In today’s fast-paced business environment, organizations that fail to adapt to change risk falling behind the competition. Designing for disruption requires a forward-thinking approach that challenges the status quo and embraces innovative ideas. However, implementing disruptive strategies can often be met with resistance from employees who are comfortable with the way things have always been done. In this thought leadership article, we will explore effective change management strategies to address resistance and encourage adoption of disruptive ideas, using two case studies to illustrate how organizations can successfully navigate the challenges of change.

Case Study 1: Uber

One of the most disruptive companies in recent years, Uber revolutionized the transportation industry by introducing a technology-driven platform that connects riders with drivers. However, implementing this disruptive idea was not without its challenges. Taxi drivers and traditional transportation companies vehemently opposed Uber’s entry into the market, leading to regulatory battles and public protests.

To overcome resistance, Uber employed effective change management strategies that focused on communication, collaboration, and empathy. The company engaged in open dialogue with stakeholders, including government officials, to address concerns and find common ground. Uber also invested in training programs to educate drivers on the benefits of the platform and provided support to help them adapt to the changing landscape.

By taking a proactive approach to managing resistance, Uber was able to successfully navigate the challenges of change and establish itself as a disruptor in the transportation industry.

Case Study 2: Airbnb

Another example of a disruptive company, Airbnb transformed the hospitality industry by offering homeowners the opportunity to rent out their properties to travelers. Despite its innovative business model, Airbnb faced resistance from traditional hotels and regulatory agencies that viewed the company as a threat to their business.

To address resistance, Airbnb implemented a series of change management strategies that focused on education, transparency, and collaboration. The company launched a public relations campaign to educate the public about the benefits of the sharing economy and worked with regulators to create policies that balanced the needs of both hosts and guests.

By building relationships with stakeholders and demonstrating the value of its platform, Airbnb was able to overcome resistance and establish itself as a disruptor in the hospitality industry.

Conclusion

Designing for disruption requires a proactive approach to managing resistance and encouraging adoption of innovative ideas. By implementing effective change management strategies, companies can address concerns, build trust, and inspire employees to embrace change. Through open communication, collaboration, and empathy, organizations can successfully navigate the challenges of disruption and position themselves as industry leaders. As Uber and Airbnb have demonstrated, overcoming resistance is possible with the right approach and a commitment to driving positive change. By adopting these strategies, organizations can design for disruption and thrive in an ever-changing business landscape.

Bottom line: Futurists are not fortune tellers. They use a formal approach to achieve their outcomes, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to be their own futurist.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Leveraging Technology for Disruptive Design

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Discussing the role of emerging technologies like AI, IoT, and blockchain in designing for disruption

Leveraging Technology for Disruptive Design

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world, disruptive design has become a key differentiator for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve. With the rapid advancement of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain, designers now have more tools at their disposal than ever before to create innovative and groundbreaking solutions.

AI, in particular, has revolutionized the design process by enabling designers to analyze vast amounts of data and identify patterns that would have been impossible to detect just a few years ago. By leveraging AI-powered algorithms, designers can now predict trends, personalize products, and streamline the design process to deliver more meaningful and impactful experiences for users.

One such case study that exemplifies the power of AI in disruptive design is the fashion industry. By utilizing AI to analyze customer preferences and behavior, companies like Stitch Fix have been able to create personalized clothing recommendations that cater to individual styles and needs. This not only enhances the customer experience but also drives sales and customer loyalty.

Similarly, IoT has opened up new avenues for disruptive design by connecting physical devices and sensors to the internet, allowing for unprecedented levels of data collection and automation. For example, companies like Nest have revolutionized the home automation industry by creating smart thermostats that learn from user behavior and adjust to optimize energy efficiency. This not only saves money for consumers but also reduces carbon emissions and contributes to a more sustainable future.

Lastly, blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt traditional design practices by enabling secure and transparent transactions, streamlining processes, and enhancing collaboration between stakeholders. For instance, companies like Provenance are using blockchain to trace the origins of products and ensure ethical sourcing practices, providing consumers with greater transparency and trust in the products they purchase.

Conclusion

The role of emerging technologies like AI, IoT, and blockchain in disruptive design cannot be understated. By harnessing the power of these technologies, designers have the ability to create innovative solutions that challenge the status quo and drive positive change in the world. As we look towards the future, it is clear that the intersection of technology and design will continue to shape the way we live, work, and interact with the world around us.

Bottom line: Futures research is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futures research themselves.

Image credit: Pexels

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Change Management in the Digital Age

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Navigating Technological Disruption

Change Management in the Digital Age

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

In today’s digital age, businesses face the constant challenge of adapting to the fast-paced environment of technological disruption. Change management plays a critical role in helping organizations navigate this disruption and harness the power of digital advancements to stay competitive. In this article, we will explore two case studies that highlight the importance of effective change management in successfully implementing digital transformations.

Case Study 1: Blockbuster vs Netflix

One of the most classic examples of a company failing to adapt to technological disruption is the case of Blockbuster and Netflix. Blockbuster, once a dominant force in the video rental industry, was slow to embrace the digital revolution. As Netflix emerged with its online streaming platform, Blockbuster failed to recognize the significance of this shift and the changing preferences of consumers. Despite being offered the opportunity to buy Netflix in its early stages, Blockbuster declined the offer.

The failure of Blockbuster can be attributed to a lack of effective change management. The company failed to recognize the need to adapt its business model to the changing landscape of digital media consumption. Blockbuster was heavily invested in physical stores and rental services, and its reluctance to embrace digital streaming led to its downfall. In contrast, Netflix successfully implemented change management strategies by digitalizing its operations, adopting a subscription-based model, and investing in content creation. Today, Netflix is a global leader in the entertainment industry, while Blockbuster is merely a memory.

Case Study 2: General Electric (GE) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Another example that highlights the importance of change management in the digital age is the case of General Electric (GE) and its transformation through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). GE, a multinational conglomerate, recognized the potential of IIoT to revolutionize industrial processes and unlock new opportunities for efficiency and productivity.

To fully leverage the power of IIoT, GE had to undergo significant changes in its operations, systems, and culture. Change management played a vital role in guiding GE’s digital transformation. The company implemented structured training programs to equip its employees with the necessary skills to embrace the digital technologies. Additionally, GE focused on developing a culture of innovation, collaboration, and agility to adapt to the rapidly changing digital landscape.

Through effective change management, GE successfully transformed its business by incorporating IIoT solutions into its product offerings. This resulted in improved operational efficiency, advanced data analytics capabilities, and enhanced customer experiences. By embracing digital disruption, GE was able to stay ahead of its competitors and maintain its position as a leader in the industrial sector.

Conclusion

The digital age has brought about rapid and widespread technological disruption, which poses significant challenges for businesses. The case studies of Blockbuster and General Electric demonstrate the critical role of change management in successfully navigating this disruption.

Organizations must be proactive in recognizing the need for change and embracing digital transformation. This requires effective change management strategies, including engaging employees, fostering a culture of innovation, and investing in the necessary resources and training. By doing so, businesses can leverage the power of digital advancements to stay competitive, deliver value to customers, and thrive in the digital age.

SPECIAL BONUS: Braden Kelley’s Problem Finding Canvas can be a super useful starting point for doing design thinking or human-centered design.

“The Problem Finding Canvas should help you investigate a handful of areas to explore, choose the one most important to you, extract all of the potential challenges and opportunities and choose one to prioritize.”

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Innovation in the Digital Age: Navigating Disruption

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Innovation in the Digital Age: Navigating Disruption

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

The rapid evolution of technology has transformed countless industries and redefined the ways we live and work. The digital age has brought immense opportunities for innovation, but it has also created significant disruption for traditional businesses. Navigating this disruption is crucial for companies to survive and thrive in an increasingly digital world. In this article, we will explore two case study examples of companies that have successfully embraced innovation in the face of disruption.

Case Study 1: Netflix

Netflix, initially founded as a DVD-by-mail rental service in 1997, navigated the disruption caused by the emergence of streaming platforms like YouTube and Hulu. Realizing the changing landscape of media consumption, Netflix transitioned from a physical DVD rental company to a leading player in the streaming industry.

Anticipating the shift in consumer behavior, Netflix started streaming movies and TV shows in 2007. This move allowed them to provide instant access to a vast library of content, eliminating the need for physical discs. Moreover, Netflix leveraged user data to personalize recommendations, creating a unique user experience that set them apart from their competitors.

By embracing digital innovation, Netflix not only survived but also thrived in the face of disruption. They disrupted the traditional video rental market and became the dominant force in the streaming industry, paving the way for other streaming giants like Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

Case Study 2: Tesla

The automotive industry is no stranger to disruption, and Tesla has been at the forefront of innovative change. Founded in 2003, Tesla recognized the growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and set out to revolutionize the automobile industry.

Tesla’s innovation in EV technology, particularly their battery technology and autonomous driving capabilities, has shaped the future of electric mobility. By investing heavily in research and development, Tesla was able to overcome challenges such as limited driving range, slow charging times, and lack of charging infrastructure.

Moreover, Tesla adopted a direct-to-consumer sales model, bypassing traditional dealership networks and enabling them to control the entire sales process and customer experience. This approach disrupted the existing distribution system, putting Tesla in direct competition with established automakers.

Through their innovative approach, Tesla has not only disrupted the automotive industry but has also become the most valuable car manufacturer in the world, surpassing long-established giants like Toyota and General Motors.

Lessons Learned

These case studies demonstrate the importance of embracing innovation to navigate disruption successfully. In both cases, companies recognized the changing landscape of their respective industries and adapted to meet new consumer demands.

Key takeaways for businesses facing disruption in the digital age include:

1. Embrace new technologies: Keep an eye on emerging technologies and trends that could disrupt your industry. Proactively invest in research and development to remain ahead of the curve.

2. Leverage data and personalization: Utilize user data to provide personalized experiences and recommendations. This can help differentiate your business, create loyalty, and attract new customers.

3. Challenge traditional business models: Don’t be afraid to challenge long-standing industry practices. Disruptive innovation often comes from questioning the status quo and finding new ways to meet customer needs.

4. Stay agile and adaptable: Embrace change and be willing to pivot your business strategy when necessary. The ability to quickly adapt and respond to market shifts is crucial for survival in the digital age.

In conclusion, innovation is vital for navigating disruption in the digital age. By studying successful case studies like Netflix and Tesla, businesses can learn valuable lessons on how to embrace innovation and thrive in the face of disruption. The digital age presents endless opportunities, and those who are willing to adapt and innovate will be well-positioned for success in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Bottom line: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

Image credit: misterinnovation.com

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