Sailing the storm (2)

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Disruptions are happening around us so fast that it is almost safe to say that nothing is sacrosanct anymore. In reality, this is not new. The scale has only significantly increased. All progress is predicated on change. Change comes from disruptive thinking. It is either we are looking at an old solution, idea or product and, asking the question, “What if…”, thus questioning the limitations of a status quo, or expanding the scope of possibilities inherent in it. The flip side is to think up a new concept that solves the problem in a completely different and more effective way that makes the current proposition obsolete.

Disruptive thinking fuels innovation. With disruptive thinking come disruptive solution codes to common human problems. The world is increasingly impatient and bored, so it is in constant search of “the next big thing”! Time there was when the world of telephony thought that the rotary phone was the ultimate invention. The touch phone disrupted that. Motorola pioneered mobile telephony right after the cordless table phone. Incidentally, the Motorola brand of mobile phones is not even reckoned among the top five mobile phone brands in the world today! Thereafter came Thuraya that made mobile, direct international calls possible. But it was elitist and insanely expensive, and the device was uncomfortably bogus. Its market was bound to shrink since the brand was not backed with the sense of innovation that originated it! Then came Nokia and the world of mobile telephony became democratized. This was followed by the Blackberry revolution. Following on its heels was the Samsung’s Android and Apple’s IOS smart phone revolution which became the game-changers in telecommunications. Blackberry and Nokia did not jump on the bandwagon early enough. Both companies were focused on enterprise than consumer demand and preferences. In a world where the consumer wanted more control of his life and tastes, they were selling a product with an Operating System that app-builders were not able to build apps for. By the time they woke up to smell the coffee, they were toast! From a market share of 21% of the telephone market in 2009, Blackberry had fallen to ZERO by 2017! As for Nokia, even Microsoft’s acquisition of the brand was unable to significantly shore up its market equity.

How does a leader promote innovation if the organization is not to begin to sing its swansong? Leaders who desire organizational relevance must deliberately build a culture of innovation into their processes. Innovation must not be confined to the functions of a Research and Development Desk. It must become a culture of the entire establishment. This can be done by having regular ideation sessions throughout the organization, which encourage participants to interrogate current functions and processes and brainstorm about better solutions or entirely new value codes. Management can then proceed to set up a task force around each idea that is selected every month to further examine inherent possibilities and relevance to the target market. These task forces should be cross-functional for accountability purposes so that no team functions in a silo and in a way that may be at variance with corporate objectives. A conscious effort must be made by management to inculcate and perhaps exceed Global Best Practices in the industry or field to bench mark excellence in performance and service delivery.

In addition, there should be purposeful recruitment of talent in a way that puts round pegs in round holes while promoting a culture of learning that aggressively and relentlessly invests in the development and training of the existing workforce.

With innovation of course comes the impact of new technology on corporate processes. Before the advent of a cashless system, churches relied solely on passing offering baskets and envelopes to collect their offerings. The best anyone could do was to issue a cheque. Tithes and huge sums of money were brought in cash to church. This predisposed many churches to pilfering and outright theft of contributions by greedy ushers who had other motives for serving in that role. I am reminded of the case of a church usher who stole a cheque made out to a church. Earlier, he had made a bid for a car that the Senior Pastor wanted to dispose of, and because he was a “committed” member of the church, the Pastor decided to sell the car to him at a price far below the car’s market value. About that time, the business of a church member wanted to give its tithes. It tallied with the amount to be paid for the car. The guy simply took that cheque and tendered it as his payment. When asked about the incongruence between his name and the name on the cheque, he replied that he rendered services to the company, and when it was time to be paid, since it was the same amount he was to pay the church, he simply asked them to write the cheque in favour of the church! Further investigations exposed his lie. With the advent of the cashless regime and the deployment of POS terminals, such fraudulent acts have been greatly minimized as members can give through bank transfers or their ATM cards.

Disruptions can also come as acts of God precipitated by forces of nature. For about two years beginning from late 2019 to 2021, the world took a big disruptive hit that was not anticipated. What started like a common flu in late 2019 in a city called Wuhan, started spreading like wildfire. By February of 2020, it had spread to several parts of the world. As the casualty rates ballooned out of control, the entire world practically shut down. Businesses were forced to close. Travel was largely prohibited, and many countries shut their borders and their airspace. Millions of people became jobless and those who could, were forced to work from home with the help of technology. The entire world was caught unawares and so, largely unprepared. Several businesses, especially small businesses that depended on physical interactions with clientele, especially restaurants and supermarkets, declared bankruptcy. Family life was disrupted as millions of people all over the world died from the dreaded disease.

Conversely, the global crisis occasioned by COVID-19 became the opportunity that many businesses needed to rise and thrive. The share price of ZOOM, a teleconferencing application, shot up from $89 in February of 2020 to $559 in October of that same year with profits of $2.6billion as opposed to $22million in 2019! Same for Amazon, the world’s largest online retail platform. According to the New York Times, Amazon’s profits soared by 220% between 2020 and 2021! While many companies went under, the market valuation of these companies skyrocketed! Because the entire world was dependent on smart phones, social media, several internet-based companies reaped a windfall! While most people were screaming “Armageddon” and coming up with all sorts of ridiculous conspiracy theories, proactive leaders steered their organizations to profit from the crisis. Of course, with disruptive intervention through vaccines, the rules of engagement have changed and the table is turning, even for the organizations mentioned. Change is a continuous process of evolving. If you are not the disruptor, you will be disrupted….continued.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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