WHY STICKING WITH ‘IT’S HOW WE DO THINGS’ IS A RECIPE FOR DISASTER Author:
Adam Bennett Principal of Great Change Consulting, and a former CEO, big-4 bank CIO and management consultant. He’s the author of Great Change – the WAY to get big strategy done published by Wiley in Sep 2023.
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y observation over three decades working as a CEO, big-4 bank CIO and management consultant is that most organisations have a strong inbuilt default to maintaining their traditional ways of doing things. This isn’t surprising because I imagine we’ve all heard stories about how difficult it is to truly transform an established organisation, and like me, you’ve probably also seen ambitious programs start enthusiastically, and then over time fail to build momentum, or slowly die on the vine. There’s a simple reason for this embodied in Year 7 physics. Sir Isaac Newton’s 1st law of motion dictates how the universe (including our organisations) actually works, and his law states that: a body organisation continues in its state of rest, or in uniform motion in a straight line, unless a force transformation project acts on it. In broad terms, this means that
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nothing happens unless action is taken, otherwise the status quo remains in place. In fact, the status quo is the only option that never has to argue its own case: it just continues to plod along building mass, adding a little weight and complexity each year, just like the rings of a tree.
THE NEED TO CHANGE IS ACCELERATING This status quo bias is becoming increasingly dangerous as the pace of change in our world accelerates. We’ve not yet reached ‘peak change’ and forces such as artificial intelligence, geo-politics, population growth and technology change will continue to pressure the business models of our companies. Sticking with “it’s how we do things” is the opposite of adaptation and healthy evolution. All companies must confront the harsh reality that their own way of doing things, while (maybe) relevant today, will inevitably be pressured by changing
circumstances, new competitors and more innovative methods. Let me elaborate. Imagine its Friday 19th October 2001 and you’re the divisional head for the Sony Walkman. You’re sitting in your office in a Tokyo high-rise – a decent office I assume given the success your core product has enjoyed since it evolved from its earliest days, through its subsequent incarnations of cool yellow waterproof device, and then the Discman that let you play your CDs on the run. You’re ready for the weekend, not realising that within days, your most cherished product will be obsolete. Because on Tuesday 23rd October 2001, Apple launches its iPod. We all know what happened next. Apple’s new device blew the Walkman out of the water, and Sony has never recovered its previous leadership in personal music players. And what’s most surprising is that Sony itself had
