Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Leadership – “Successful companies got rid of all the bull excrement”

“Successful companies got rid of all the bull excrement” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Let’s be real about it.

Successful companies have learned a lot about the future – and the fact that it isn’t as complicated to get there as they once thought it would be. In doing so, the old barriers that were in the way have been obliterated!

• Decision-making paralysis? GONE
• Committees and group thinking? GONE
• Slow teams and organizational paralysis? GONE
• Clunky, bureaucratic structures that get in the way of change? GONE
• Studying issues to death? GONE
• Management by focus group? GONE
• Interminable meetings that droned on without an agenda? GONE
• Wasting time on consensus? GONE
• Reports and deep analysis? GONE
• Overthinking? GONE
• Micromanagement? GONE
• A legacy mindset? GONE
• Risk aversion? GONE
• Siloed expertise? GONE
• Bureaucratic red tape? GONE
• Resistance to change? GONE

If you look at them, the fundamental fact is this – all the bullshit that holds them back is gone. These companies know the only pathway forward into a faster tomorrow is resilience and agility in the face of volatility. This is why I wrote books with titles such as The Future Belongs to Those Who Are Fast and Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast. These companies get the concept.

What do you need to achieve resilience? Successful, agile organizations move faster – with decisions, product development, time to market, and an attitude that future business survival now depends on that resilience. They do this with:

• strategic nimbleness to respond faster to fast-moving events
• flexible policies that shift in real-time
• real-time feedback loops that drive (re)actions
• the ability to avoid the distraction of clarity – because there isn’t any
• the ability to readjust goals to meet new realities
• the ability to spot new opportunities amidst the volatility
• a structure that can reorganize quickly – the formation of fast teams is critical
• a culture that embraces speed of action as a key success factor
• a mindset that cuts through organizational sclerosis
• accelerated decision making
• the ability to act in the presence of imperfect data
• a focus that challenges process – i.e. quick runs, small orders
• thinking long term as to structure for faster future change
• a team that stops taking things for granted
• a mindset that is relentless on redundancy – examining every point of weakness
• enabling insight at every level
• leaders that stop discounting the outliers
• groups that challenge complacency
• moving from actions based on ‘weeks and months’ to ‘days and hours‘
• accelerating scenario analysis – alternative futures are the future
• stopping the chase of ‘normal,‘  because there isn’t any
• doing more horizon scanning with an effective trends radar
• challenging their peers more
• presuming a complex trajectory for what comes next.
• stopping with insufficient investment
• presuming that they are moving slower than everyone else – and fixing it
• regularly identifying vulnerabilities and weak spots

These companies got rid of all the organizational bullshit that slows them down.

They move, act, decide, invest, rethink, and redo at speed.

So should you.

Get rid of the bullshit.

Pardon my language.