Daily Inspiration: Business volatility – “Today? It’s business as unusual!”

“Today? It’s business as unusual!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Today’s photo is from an event I did a few years ago for a group called Havi International – which represents a massive number of companies that are suppliers of products to Mcdonald’s. The theme of their event was, if it is not obvious, “Partnering for Growth” – the key idea being that an organization can best move forward when a group of companies can move together as one within an industry to align with the innovation requirements of a core customer.

It’s an important theme and often plays out in the various events I speak at. Yesterday, I was just on a call with another such client – BNSF Railway – a Warren Buffet company! It’s the largest freight railroad in the United States, with 36,000 employees, 33,400 miles of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. I will be speaking at their 2024 key customer event to be held down in Fort Worth in June, and the purpose of the call was to explore the potential direction of my time on stage. Like many clients, they spent quite a bit of time browsing my site and my message before booking me, and I guess they liked what they saw. They liked the general direction and tone of my topic; the call was to refine it a bit further.

I’s always fun when your thinking aligns perfectly with what is on the client’s mind!

Who are the key customers that will be in the room? Major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target, among others, as well as trucking companies and major shipping port representatives. All of the organizations represent and work within the massive supply chains that feed the insatiable demands of North American consumers.

What became obvious yesterday is that BNSF is seeing the same trends that I have long predicted and often talk about on stage – and that is rapid change within the world of supply chains. Volatile consumer behavior leads to rapid shifts in product and market demands; faster production innovation with the result that sales assumptions are often very much up in the air; and the emergence of new industry competitors which can lead to new challenges and change. On top of that, there is massive volatility in supply chains and manufacturing – some of the customers have been busy relocating production away from China back into the US or to other Asian countries, a topic I explored in my post, The Great Decopupling.

All of this is leading to a need for greater agility and flexibility with these customer organizations, and BNSF has built a lot of that ability for rapid response within its service offerings. Ten years ago, many of these organizations would know exactly what they are shipping and when; today, all of those assumptions are off the map. That’s because it’s business as unusual. My entire keynote will flow into that theme – and will fit into their overall message perfectly. our minds are aligned.

Customer events – and partnering for growth – is a critical issue within many industries – and I do a lot of customer and client events like this. They always involve a lot of very specific, customized insight. I’ve got a whole Web page that details what I do: https://clientevents.jimcarroll.com.

Why is this alignment in thinking important? I note that:

Mindshare matters. In a complex and fast competitive landscape, positioning your product or service offerings to your customer or client has become more of a challenge than ever before.

That’s why organizations continue to invest in large scale or intimate customer client events. It’s an opportunity to tell your story, position your products, put in perspective your value proposition, and build relationships.

I go on to outline what it is I do in these events:

Countless numbers of organization, including hi-tech firms, professional services firms including financial and legal organizations, telecom companies, and manufacturing organization have engaged Jim to provide an opening keynote message for their event that is carefully aligned to their key message.

And some pretty big organizations have found value in a message that aligns with that of their customers and clients:

Companies like Microsoft, SAP, Cisco, Oracle, Toshiba, and many more have had Jim provide his insight on the future and disruption with a highly customized keynote that aligns with their overall customer event message. Professional service firms like KPMG, Ernst Young, and Baker McKenzie have arranged for Jim to speak at critical client events on topics ranging from the acceleration of business to the emergence of new legal risk issues. Zurich Insurance recently arranged for Jim to share his thoughts on the future of risk at a global risk management summit in Switzerland. Schneider Electric engaged Jim to open a user group conference, with a message focused on the future of manufacturing including the impact of the Industrial Internet of Things.

For this particular event? BNSF sees that ongoing business volatility is very real; they see a need within their customer base to continue to develop a culture of agility and flexibility to respond to fast-moving circumstances. It’s not optional – indeed, it’s critical.

Today, it’s no longer business as usual – it’s business as unusual!

Understand that, and plan accordingly!