Agents2Change - Smart Business Thinking

Trouble at the Bleeding Edge – Or how the Mighty Fall

Earlier this week we talked about challenges at the Leading edge of change.  But what about at the other end of the spectrum?  It’s a salutary reminder of the unrelenting pace of change, when you hear that Eastman Kodak have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  It is a mighty fall from grace, given the near monopoly status that Kodak held in the world of photography for over 125 years.  Yet it is also a stark reminder of the dramatic changes that our digital based economy has wrought. 

Kodak was once viewed amongst the world’s most innovative companies, providing innovation not only in the camera but also in the development and print field of photography.  Yet in the last 30 years it has gradually slipped further and further from the mainstream, as smaller more agile competitors, better able to respond to the rising tide of digital technology started to take its place, alongside that of the multi-media smartphone. 

Management arrogance is one of the accusations for its demise.   Yet perhaps its biggest failing was not realizing that the moment to change had arrived and passed it by; quietly and swiflty.   It is one of life’s truisms that the moment to change, is just when everything seems to be going swimmingly.  It is at the point of our greatest successes when we have to consider its demise and therefore the need to innovate and change. 

The Danger of resting on one’s laurels

Whilst Kodak fades to black, we can see a similar struggle occurring with Research in Motion's (RIMs) Blackberry.  Once the smartphone of choice for Executives around the world, it has become more and more obscured by the rise of Apple products and the demand for tablet-based technologies. 

Blackberry like Kodak is accused of failing to read the market conditions and consumer choices.  Being unclear where its core market base lies – ‘are we the smartphone for executives, or the consumer product for young people?’.  This fuzzy marketing focus has led to inconsistent R&D (such as the disastrous launch of the Storm and Playbook and the lack of a single OS platform for software development).

Fuzzy leadership  and poor engagement are also cited for Blackberry's demise.  As we fully embed ourselves in the digital age, companies that fail to provide a figurehead to tell their story, or those that don't engage their customers through the infinite options of social media are at risk of being ignored, overlooked and eventually shunned completely by their once loyal customers.

Engagement & responsive-ness, the new watchwords

How can you ensure that you are listening to and engaging your customers as you develop your products and services?

• The world’s most innovative companies all have a strong and clear strategy, communicated by a strong and clear leader
• Using social media – twitter, facebook, youtube etc., as well as the traditional media channels ensures the widest possible circulation
• Creating closed loop marketing opportunities e.g. Once an Apple product owner, one naturally migrates to the next Apple product.
• Anticipating rather than responding to trends – this one of course is the silver bullet, but the world’s most innovate see this as their raison d’étre.  What are you doing to anticipate?

About us

Agents2change works with some of the world's largest companies on change and implementation issues.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on this blog, innovation or change in general.  Share your comments here or email us on feedback@agents2change.com

Trouble at the Leading Edge - The Zuckerburg effect

As Facebook readies itself for floatation, the debate centres around what leadership is required to take it forward and whether Mark Zuckerburg is the right person for the job.  At the heart of the issues are concerns about how much power and influence he will have to veto shareholders post IPA.  But are they valid and does history suggest that they are right to be concerned?

Why does the Founder CEO make us so nervous?

We have in this blog looked at other founder CEO’s and the impact that they can have on an organisation.  The love/hate relationship that emerges because of  founders controlling and some might say over-bearing influence often causes frictions with shareholders, who are not used to playing second fiddle to a CEO. 

The front-runners in the category are obvious:  Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Bill Gates.  It’s also interesting to note that a recent study by Wharton Business School, concluded that founder CEOs outperformed professional CEOs.  Their decisions tended to be longer-term, linked to a deeper understanding of core products and strategy; and less influenced by the whims and demands of shareholders. 

But there is the other equally tricky aspects of the founder CEO.  As can be seen in the biographies of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others; the archetype founder CEO often takes on a maverick role in how they run their organisation, and this is what makes investors and analysts most nervous about the Facebook floatation. 

An unswerving focus on the future

But what Founder CEO’s particularly in the technology field have proven again and again, is that there vision is beyond our grasp until it comes to fruition.  Apple were about to go down the ‘me too’ PC strategy until Steve Jobs returned in 1997 and took the radically different step of complete vertical integration.  A model that was seen as totally outdated at that time  (Amstrad anyone?).

Zuckerburg has also shown such courage, fighting off many law suits and rejecting many lucrative offers in Facebook’s history.  But he has also show an awareness of the need to bring in operators, who will spend time thinking about strategy and core operations, such as the appointment of Sheryl Sandberg.

As Facebook moves closer to becoming a founder-led public company many will feel ambivilant about whether the leader that brought Facebook to here, is the one that will lead it on to profitability in the future.  A profitability that is still relatively untested and in its infancy.

Certainly some of the pitfalls of the Founder CEO, are the tendency toward the Maverick.  A tendency to view one’s own opinion as superior and an intolerance to dissent.  But we have seen how even these poorly viewed leadership practices have brought out the best in some organisation’s performance, so we wait to see how well Facebook lives up to its early promise under Zuckerburg’s control.