Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

We are entering an era that will demand unheralded levels of creativity because companies will need to constantly innovate and reinvent themselves to succeed in their search for growth and margins. Some leading companies are rising to the occasion by launching time-limited ideation challenges for key strategic issues and then instituting a dedicated process to enrich and select winning ideas. To sup­port this initiative, senior leaders must devote a significant amount of time to ideation and be fully involved from start to finish in the ideation process. Innovation leaders must also prevent excessive “infant mortality” of radical ideas and ringfence resources to maintain a balanced R&D portfolio. 

In this Executive Update, we take a closer look at the design thinking method and delve into the actual design framework that companies are adopting to advance their ability to digitally transform. We explore the principles of inspiration, ideation, and implementation, along with the benefits of a design mindset. We also break down some myths that have plagued design thinking in the past. 

Almost every organization has some room for grassroots Agile initiatives; projects for which no mandatory process has been defined or organizational units where managers are less interested in how their teams work than in whether they deliver expected results. Launching an experiment with an Agile delivery process is therefore relatively simple. It takes a project, a team motivated to try (or demonstrate) how an Agile approach works, and a project sponsor willing either to play the role of product owner or to appoint one. Such a project does not really challenge the status quo; its results are uncertain, so even naysayers tolerate it. In this Advisor, we share some of the challenges of taking such an initiative.

In light of the changing landscape of cyberattacks, it is critical that organizations change the way they address cybersecurity. Relying only on traditional methods of blocking attacks with firewalls, antivirus software, and passwords will be a mistake. Organizations instead need to implement cybersecurity measures that are capable of handling the new breed of cyberattacks. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play. AI-based cybersecurity solutions use machine learning (ML) techniques, which are a subset of AI. In this Advisor, we explore two broad categories of ML algorithms: supervised learning and unsupervised learning.

Innovation at its core relies on focused creative thinking, which allows organizations to respond successfully to situations that do not have easy answers or readily apparent solutions and drive results in a collaborative emergence of novelty and marketable value. This focus originates within teams staffed and equipped to apply their collective creativity and experience to business challenges, which fosters the opportunity to make enhanced real-time decisions that benefit both the enterprise and its stakeholders. As we explore in this Executive Update, it is the creative collaboration of organizational teams, in concert with end-user sentiment, that drives the most effective innovation.

With so many variants of the core components of the blockchain definition — like validation, distribution, opportunities, and challenges — it becomes clear that exec­utives may need a matrix or rubric to decide if/how to adopt blockchain based on industry and objectives. Even if your company is not considering automating processes via blockchain, your competitors may be doing so, and government entities may even force your hand. Therefore, it is important to start the internal discussion now. In this Advisor, we’ve shared some questions to help your organization quickly engage in deep discussions.

In her article, Andi Graham describes how those at her digital marketing agency started working actively with clients, co-planning and co-designing with them. These new behaviors required her staff to expose their doubts and uncertainties to clients. Resistant at first, employees saw the difference in speed and quality of feedback, improved client relations, and higher efficiency. This story shows Agile adoption through small steps with wide-ranging effects.

The Agile Manifesto and its obvious extensions don’t address issues needed at the organizational level. In their article, Jutta Eckstein and John Buck augment Agile with Beyond Budgeting, Open Space, and Sociocracy, something they call “BOSSA nova,” and link those with strategy, structure, and process to cover key organizational issues.