change

I originally wrote today’s post for CCW Digital. It appeared on their site on March 18, 2020. I’ve updated it to reflect some things we’ve seen and learned since then.

I challenge you think about things differently in 2019.

What got us here won't get us there, right?

I recently came across The Tribal Wisdom of the Dakota Indians, a 1999 article in the Guardian, that I felt needed to be resurrected. I had never seen this before.

You can read the article by clicking the link above, but here it is in its entirety. I guarantee that you'll nod your head and chuckle embarrassingly as you read it!

It would be a devastating mistake of executives to believe that their organizations are well prepared for what’s coming; that the shift of their current management thinking is just another phase of a cycle of looking outward and inward, or a natural evolution of industries. 

J.P. Morgan believed in trusts. It seemed to him that excessive competition diminished profits and undermined capital formation, which he saw as essential to building a modern economy. Although that may seem like a strange point of view today, it was one widely held by 19th century industrialists.

In Mindset, psychologist Carol Dweck argues, based on decades of research, that how we see ourselves is a major factor in what we can achieve. If we see our abilities as fixed, we tend not to go very far. However, if we see our capabilities as dynamic and changeable, we will work to improve them and are more likely to attain excellence.

Everyone is searching for a game changer. In a dorm, a basement, a bedroom, a lab, a hip co-working office space or a tiny start-up, someone, somewhere is just beginning to really give shape to an idea they’ve had for a while. 

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.

Strategists and management consultants love theories. Executives like to consume them, as it allows them to make sense of things. People are now criticizing how Clayton Christensen’s theories about “Disruptions” are now outdated and were created based on incomplete data.

The next digital industrial revolution is already well under way. But it is not happening where technology visionaries or capital markets are generally looking. It is not a revolution just in technology, machinery, software, or speed.