There is a lot of time, energy and money spent these days, on getting corporate results back on track, on getting ahead, on being better than the competition, on winning customer loyalty, on building the most desirable brand, on winning investor approval and the like. Progress is measured by how much better a business does these things in the new business cycle compared to the prior cycle. But managing results is not as predictable as it used to be.
If success equals results minus expectations, then corporate executives have certainly become better at managing down expectations. Despite all of the sophisticated developments published by the business intelligentsia (business schools, consultants etc.) the recent challenges of business remain and the economy still seems to be running on its own course.
The way most companies are trying to meet the challenge of growth in this context, is through essentially doing more: longer hours, smarter employees, better systems, more sophisticated strategies, better business intelligence… and so the cycle continues. But more work is not producing commensurate results. Many companies are on the plateau, of the curve of diminishing returns. More effort is not a sustainable strategy for growth.
Change has been happening and, continues to happen exponentially. Yet for all the change that has occurred, the template of work has remained largely unchanged for many business cycles. It may be a little more sophisticated: email has replaced conversation, emotion has been added to intelligence, the matrix structure has replaced the conventional hierarchy, ecology has been added to economy….but at its core, the way of work has remain unchanged . And herein lays the problem. The current paradigm of work has reached its operating limits and it is showing up as a plateau in the growth trajectory of business.
More effort from within the existing business paradigm will only push business past its operating limits. At some point any system that is pushed past its limits will break and when the paradigm breaks, businesses fail and turmoil occurs in the economy.
To make a quantum leap forward, the way of work has to be re-conceptualised A new paradigm is required. A new paradigm is emerging and challenging some of the first principles of business. For example, the creation of value need not be confined to within a company’s borders. Customers have become adept at crafting solutions for themselves and others like themselves. Companies don’t have exclusive rights on this role anymore, but can play a role by proving the platform for customers to create value. One way in which this phenomenon can play out for business, is that the role of business changes from creating products and services to providing value transfer platforms.
The rules of the game have changed past the proverbial point of no return. Business, especially big business, may be able to get away for a little while longer on the old paradigm. It may seem like an appealing choice for executives who have just a few years of tenure left. But the market has “come into its own” and laypersons and entrepreneurs are pioneering a new way. Time is shrinking. Business can evolve kicking and screaming or it can participate in the design of a new paradigm. Change will go on irrespective. Evolution will not wait until we are ready.
Wayfinders 