Daily Inspiration: “The future belongs to those who are fast, and yet you are structured for slow!”

“The future belongs to those who are fast, and yet you are structured for slow!” – Futurist  Jim Carroll

Your business model and your industry won’t look the same in 5 or 10 years. In fact, you might not even recognize it.

That’s a reality, and you are likely not able to cope! Here’s why: – It’s the era of acceleration – In that context, the future belongs to those who are fast – There are few exceptions to the reality that small = speed, big = slow. – The fact is, most legacy companies are not structured for speed – Yet they need to be – disruption is everywhere, and it is happening quickly – And as tech comes to drive every industry, the speed of change will only increase – Making the big-small dichotomy even worse – This faster future requires innovation risk, but big companies aren’t built for risk; their size and speed gums up their ability to try new things – Not only that, but big companies have inherent health issues – they are clogged up with organizational sclerosis that clogs up their abilities – The only way to challenge yourself and deal with these issues is to challenge yourself on speed! – Yet, too many organizations spend their time making the excuses that lead them to failure, rather than focusing on the ideas that will define success.

They are structured for failure. It will only get worse in the era of acceleration, because that very structure bogs down their ability to respond at the speed required.

This is why many organziations have asked me to come in and talk about ‘agile leadership’ – not the agile concept of software development, but instead, a leadership style and culture that is focused on speed, flexibility, fast response.

How will you challenge your organization to speed up in the era of acceleration?