The system is not working. That is how a paradigm shift begins: the established way of seeing the world no longer functions.
Matthew Fox – American Actor
COVID has created some big business winners. But, post-COVID it’s the end of many companies as we know them:
“The Coronavirus pandemic brought the global economy to a screeching halt this spring (2020), sparking fears of a corporate bloodbath. As the year ends, it’s clear that the crisis has rewired the economy in surprising ways and served up unexpected opportunities for some big businesses to prosper.”
Large companies have a visceral sense of urgency and even vigilant fear in COVID time. Big business winners in this competition feel continuous pressure to self-disrupt to maintain their competitiveness. What are these companies doing? Changing work models. Redesigning processes. Innovating products. Developing new services. Delivering services and products just-in-time. Automating everything.
So, why are these companies in panic-mode? It’s harder to make money now. Consumption in many product/service categories is down. Big business needs revenue to satisfy shareholders. Small business needs revenue to keep the lights on and people employed. Government needs revenue to provide essential services.
Story: ESPN had been an evergreen sports money machine. But COVID stopped fans from attending live sports events resulting in a “tremendous disruption in how fans consume sports.” … “In the short term, we (ESPN) enacted various steps like executive and talent salary reductions, furloughs and budget cuts, and we implemented innovative operations and production approaches, all in an effort to weather the COVID storm.”
Story: Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda: “The automotive industry is now hurtling into an era of profound transformation, the likes of which come only once every hundred years.”
Think electric vehicles. So, a quick story. Nikola Corp. is a little known electric truck startup. It hasn’t ever sold a vehicle – 0 sales. It went public in 2020 and in a week of trading it surpassed the value of Ford Motor Company during the height of COVID.29 Say what?
Work Lesson Earned: Do you work for a company with obsolescent ideas? Are your employer’s work model, processes, apps and products obsolete? Do a risk assessment of the likelihood and consequences of your company losing its competitive position and becoming a buggy whip company? What happens if it downsizes due to COVID? How are you going to be impacted? What are your FOW contingency plans, your Plans B and C? Finally, remember your risk assessment is a thermometer, not a crystal ball.
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