The environment is shifting

I am in one of my bold prediction moods. Actually I might not be that bold, it might just depend on your perspective on the future.

Noone likes change. Seth Godin once wrote, 'successful companies dont like change, people in successful jobs especially dont like change'.

David Kirk, ex-CEO, Fairfax Group, this week paid the price for an inability to adapt to a changing environment.

Interestingly, David Kirk, quoted one specific environmental factor contributing to the changing environment that Fairfax operates in. That factor is called the internet.

Now lets return momentarily to Seth Godin. He pointed out that the internet is not going to change the world (surprise, surprise). The internet enables the world to be connected in a way that could never have occured in the past. It is this connectivity that allows information to be accessed by everyone, allows information, both good and bad, to spread quickly throughout the world and enables decisions to be made quicker. The internet is the enabler.

David Kirk, along with the Board of Fairfax, did what every other company tries to do when under pressure. They looked to cut costs to maintain profitability. This is what is demanded of shareholders. The issue here, as I see it, is that changing environments demand different strategies, creative strategies, maybe even something different, rather than more of the same traditional strategies. Try telling that to shareholders (or stakeholders).

Will Fairfax survive? I don't know. It doesnt really matter, there will be someplace else for shareholders to move their investments into. The bigger question for you as a manager in the not for profit sector is to ask how the shifting environment might impact upon your organisation?

Do you believe your organisation could be replaced by a faster, more nimble, less expensive to operate alternative? If you are tempted to answer no to this question then I truely hope you are within a couple of years of retirement. At least then you will not have to pay the price for your short sightedness.

Informaton is no longer the sole domain of professionals. Look at how health information is becoming accessible to a wider group of people. When people become informed they become empowered to make their own decisions.

You might be aged 40+ and working with people aged 20+ at present. Those that will succeed you over the next 20 years are those from the ranks of Gen X and Gen Y. These people have been bought up in an online environment. As will many of those that will seek their help. They are not afraid of a changing environment, they will adapt and learn and continue to adapt. Their success will not be measured in terms of stability rather in terms of achievement.

So are you still thinking in the past or has your thinking shifted to the future? Do you plan to stay in the present and take whatever happens to you or do you plan to adapt, learn and continue to adapt? If you do not, others will, and you will be left behind sitting at your desk looking at a very antiquated desktop and wondering why there is noone there to talk to!

Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO
Email john@johncoxon.com.au
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