Insight 2020: Leadership Strategies for the Era of Acceleration #17 – Challenge Methodology

Industry disruption doesn’t just involve the arrival of new competitors or the constant invention of new disruptive products – it also involves a constant race of changes to methodologies and processes based on new technologies, materials science, intelligent devices and more.

That’s why one of the most critical leadership opportunities today is to ensure that you are doing everything you can to challenge methodology – constantly adapting new opportunities to do old things in new and different ways. It might involve moving your world of manufacturing to mass customization instead of mass production; constructing homes in factories for final assembly on site; or changing the very nature of the way you conceive new products!

Take that last point – in the world of manufacturing, we are seeing the emergence of a new, iterative design process based upon the opportunities afforded by rapid prototyping through 3D printing. Here’s a clip from my recent keynote for the IFC / World Bank global event in Morocco on that idea.

How important is this opportunity? It was one of the key trends to watch in my series 19 Trends for 2019: “The End of the Concept of Inventory Changes Everything!” This video explores the concept of what happens when new process methodologies, aided by the arrival of 3d printing and other technologies, leads us to a world in which we move from a world of building-to-inventory to one of building-for-demand. It’s a pretty significant shift and one to watch carefully.

Process and methodology change doesn’t just involve manufacturing though – here’s a short clip where I explain the signfiicant changes coming to the world of construction through that very same type of thinking. I explore this opportunity in an article I wrote for a construction publication in Dubai, Gulf News: Artificial Intelligence & Robotics in Construction: Massively Transformative.

And here’s another thing: challenging methodology involves anything else you might do, including logistics, supply chain process and more. Here’s a little bit more insight from my Morocco keynote!