adaptive change

In her bestselling book Mindset, psychologist Carol Dweck argues that people who see their skills as a fixed set of strengths and weaknesses tend not to achieve much. On the other hand, those that see their skills as dynamic and changeable are able to continually grow their abilities and soar to great heights.

Of course, I can’t see into all change agent’s minds, but I can certainly share with you what’s on mine. And what’s on mine is influenced by the context I’m in.

Almost all companies at some point face some serious crisis. Sometimes it is clear that the end is near or coming and no one can see the light at the end of the tunnel, at least not until you see it. Sometimes you know there is a way out but not sure how. 

In an age of disruption the only viable strategy is to adapt. Today things move too quickly to stick with old paradigms once their time has passed. Once outdated platforms fail to solve new problems, they will be overtaken with blazing speed and we must either make a shift or get left behind.

When I came up with the idea of writing a Bright Lights essay about stock markets, I was really thinking about brainstorming how retail financial services brands could better address the current gaping void between what's happening in the markets, and the needs of individual investors for meaningful and reliable information about it.

As part of my ongoing obsession with all things agile, I've written up a summary of some key practices around Agile Marketing, building on the principles outlined in The Agile Manifesto. This is also cross posted over on The Marketing Society blog:

There were tours visiting our office last week, people were curious about what we do and what kind of people we hire. It is an interesting question. I guess our job is to help large companies go through mid-life crisis.

There is much talk about innovation — and there are many approaches to creating new things, from the famous “open innovation” ideas of Henry Chesbrough to the ever popular notions of Clay Christensen about “disruptive innovation“.