The Past is Not an Indication of the Future

I recently participated in a three-day national channel advisory board meeting for Cisco, one of the world’s largest and most respected technology companies. It was a nice opportunity to collaborate with 40 other dealer executives from across the country and get a better feel for the direction of our industry. It also confirmed the rapid speed of change we continue to face as leaders, regardless of the industry.

So, how do you thrive in the rapid speed of change? Here are a few things we've learned:

  • Promote an adaptable organization.
    It sounds simple. But it’s not. I feel we’ve done a good job at Marco adapting to the evolving technology needs of our customers. Our philosophy of adaptability is to give people the responsibility, authority and resources for implementing change to support the dynamics of our service delivery model. Most of the time this requires a significant upfront investment prior to any expectation of return. If an initiative is important to your organization, someone needs to get up every morning thinking about it and be accountable for its performance. Effective adaptability requires that you recognize the need for change, initiate action and support it with resources.
  • Make forward-thinking routine.
    There’s a crisis of opportunities. Identifying which trends are sustainable and which are fads is an essential skill of today’s leadership. Many of you attend industry events. Pay attention to your key vendors, your customers and your employees that are closest to your clients. We have found this to be the best way to identify trends. But you also have to confirm sustainability and be prepared to act. For example, Marco was aggressive and even a bit bullish when we tripled down on the inception of Managed Services. It delivered the recurring revenue stream we desired, but it required a significant upfront investment and the confidence that it would be a sustainable business. Successful leadership requires you to always be looking around corners for the next big thing.

  • Recognize some of your products or services could go away – or at least look different.
    What is core to your business today may not be five or ten years from now. As important as it is to recognize trends for opportunity, you also have to recognize trends that indicate decline. An obvious example is movie rentals. If you recall Netflix’s original strategy was movie rentals, but they always had an eye toward digital streaming that is common today. We also look to our generational differences. It’s apparent that the twenty somethings aren’t using telephone landlines or printing. This is something we are certainly paying attention to in our business.

The past is no longer an indication of the future. Today the speed of change is so fast that what’s happening right now is a more relevant indicator of where your industry is heading. So what’s happening today in your industry that could significantly change your business model and impact your economic engine tomorrow?

 

Topics: Leadership