Beyond the hype of AI, Proximity the book, the innovation gap, some transformation wisdom and more.

Some more pearls of wisdom and insights for your delectation that you may have missed in the noise we know and love that is LinkedIn!

Skewed in the direction of AI as you'd expect in this current climate and including the results of some deep research and analysis courtesy of Professor Michael G. Jacobides of the London Business School preceded by a piece exploring where AI makes you more competitive... and where it doesn't from Sangeet Paul Choudary.

Additionally, you'll find an article from Prashant Kelker, Chief Strategy Officer of ISG and Member of the Outthinker Networks a quote from which I find extraordinary "In the old world, technology was the solution; in the new world, technology could be the strategy itself"

And speaking of Outthinker Networks, there's a new book out from their founder Kaiham Krippendorf who along with co author Robert C. Walcott has just celebrated the launch Proximity - I'm reading it now and think it could be an important book - check it insights from the launch party below.

Thanks also to Alexander Osterwalder for sharing BCGs 'Innovation Systems Need A Reboot' where he notes there's 'an insane ambition-capability gap' in the innovation aspirations of most corporates!

And, if you're wondering how to make a success of your transformation check out the article from Chris Barrett as he shares 'Transformations That Work (Bain & Co) – The Debrief'

Finally, if you need help making sense of all of this - whether it be strategy or execution - get in touch I'll surely know people who can help.

Thanks for reading!

Tim

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Generative AI and competitive advantage

Where AI makes you more competitive... and where it doesn't

A post and article by Sangeet Paul Choudary who I'm delighted to say was prompted by me :) after a comment I made on a post by Jeremy Connell-Waite who shared an interesting fact:

"?????? At IBM, we recently interviewed 3,000 CEO’s from over 30 countries and 24 industries last year about some of these concerns. One of the big takeaways was that THREE OUT OF FOUR CEOs said that their competitive advantage rests on generative AI. (CEO Decision-making in the Age of AI, IBM Institute for Business Value, June 2023)"

Like me Sangeet questions whether competitive advantage can indeed rest on generative at all. He begins:

"According to the IBM Institute of Business Value, 75% of CEOs believe that competitive advantage?“will depend on who has the most advanced generative AI.”

This doesn’t make any sense.

AI, like most technologies, is fast becoming a commodity.

In the very near future, every CEO will have access to?“the most advanced generative AI”. In other words, the “most advanced generative AI”?won’t matter. What will matter, though, is:

(1) the state of your competitive ecosystem,

2) the factors that create competitive advantage within it,and

(3) the extent to which AI can help attract those factors in your direction and dismantle those factors currently held by your competitors.

In today's newsletter, I explore where AI creates advantage and where it does not. There are 3 fundamental sources of advantage: -

Workflow advantage:?Do you power the core workflow?- Intelligence advantage:?Do you have the right to inform the core decision?-

Relationship advantage:?Do you have primacy of relationship with the key stakeholder?AI creates competitive advantage primarily in three ways: - Reinforcing your intelligence advantage-

Dismantling your partner’s/competitor’s relationship advantage- Dismantling your partner’s/competitor’s workflow advantage"

Read the Article & Join the Conversation >>

Assessing the expected impact of generative AI on the (UK) competitive landscape

On Monday, June 3rd, at 12-1pm PST / 8-9pm BST I was lucky enough to watch Professor Michael G. Jacobides share his research on the strategic implications of GenAI at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), hosted by Erik Brynjolfsson

Drawing on a large-scale mixed methods approach which leveraged workshops with hundreds of Directors, as well as a detailed survey administered to the members of the UK’s Institute of Directors, London Business School alumni and, separately, portfolio firms of leading Private Equity firms in the winter and spring of 2024, this talk will provides the first comprehensive empirical evidence on the expectations for GenAI’s transformative impact, looking at what senior executives expect. It considers the factors that moderate GenAI’s impact, and provides a guide for GenAI’s anticipated propensity to transform business models, sectors and firms.

(Interesting fact: for all their interest in and enthusiasm for GenAI private equity firms are not yet managing to use it to create more impact than others.)

Here's the paper 'Assessing the expected impact of generative AI on the UK competitive landscape' upon which the presentation is based.

Watch Presentation >>

"In the old world, technology was the solution; in the new world, technology could be the strategy itself."

This extraordinary statement comes from an excellent article from Prashant Kelker, Chief Strategy Officer of ISG and a member of Outthinker Networks called "Beyond The Hype: Embracing The Poetry And Plumbing Of AI"

Thanks to Kaiham Krippendorf co-author of a new and important book called Proximity (see below)

Kaihan says:

"It's been less than two years since generative AI burst onto the public scene, and it's already being hailed as one of the most revolutionary technologies since the Industrial Revolution. Its impact is rapidly extending into areas once viewed as impervious to automation, especially around creativity.

Software developers have seen up to 40% productivity boosts, while marketing and branding agencies report 70% increases. And this is only the start – new generative AI use cases emerge daily across industries.?? However, according to Prashant Kelker, most companies are still in the testing phase, grappling with scalability, governance, and strategic implications. In an interview with Claudio Garcia, Kelker notes, "Everybody's talking about the poetry of AI. No one's talking about the plumbing of AI. What happens when this actually works?"

Personally, I find this quote extraordinary:

“In the old world, technology was the solution; in the new world, technology could be the strategy itself. Technology actually influences strategy so much that it is no longer just an enabler. It directly impacts or even shapes strategy.“

Read the Article >>

Book launch>>

Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-in-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life.

An exciting new book by Kaihan Krippendorf Founder & CEO Outthinker Networks and Robert C. Walcott Co-Founder, TWIN Global; Professor of Innovation, Booth & Kellogg.

How can we win in a world of constant change—where customers increasingly demand anything, anywhere, anytime? The answer is Proximity, a simple idea with profound implications. It makes sense of artificial intelligence, renewable energy, precision agriculture, lab-grown meats, virtual reality, 3D printing—any digital or digitally-enabled technology. Proximity converts chaos to clarity.

I really do like the idea of proxity as a unifying theme and feel this could be important book!

View the virtual launch party held June 3, 2024, as authors Robert C. Wolcott and Kaihan Krippendorff discuss the pivotal concept of Proximity with Sree Sreenivasan (CEO of Digimentors and former Chief Digital Officer)

Key topics:

• Understand how disruptive technologies will likely shape the future of your industry
• Learn how to harness them to drive resilience and growth
• Build your 4-step “Proximity Roadmap” to winning the future
• Discover the mindsets needed to lead your organization through disruption
• Map where you need to rethink growth plans, innovation and investments, operations, and customer expectations

Learn more about Proximity and order the book at: https://proximitybook.net/

Innovation Systems Need A Reboot

Alexander Osterwalder Founder & CEO Strategyzer, Visiting Professor IMD famous for his pioneering work on innovation shared some shocking data from Boston Consulting Group (BCG)'s latest report on innovation strategy & delivery report.

He says:

A record low of 3% of companies are innovation ready. At the same time a record high of 83% rank innovation as a top #3 priority. That is an insane ambition-capability gap. Accordingly, 70% of companies plan to update their innovation operating model.

He goes on:

"That is an insane ambition-capability gap. Accordingly, 70% of companies plan to update their innovation operating model. I'm wondering how Strategyzer can better identify those companies and get in touch with them. I'm convinced we could boost their innovation maturity in a short time with the best practices we've accumulated over two decades of experience. Unfortunately, so far we haven't been particularly good at outbound sales yet (we only just started in January...)"

Ideas anyone - we'll help where we can Alex - happy to talk :)

Read the full report >>

Transformations That Work (Bain & Co) – The Debrief

A brilliant piece from Transformation Leader Chris Barrett with some real insights from the field.

He begins:

"I loved Bain & Cos’s thoughts on “Transformations That Work” this month (link below). ?However… while the joyful consultant side of me recognised the solution areas and the genuine trend to continuous improvement, my battle scars twinged and my shoulder twitched.? It felt like it does at an airshow when the main attraction goes over… too brief, too high level and missing the audience by a few nautical miles for safety reasons.

Here's my written attempt version of the Typhoon low level pass, hopefully with a little more relevancy and some noise."

Chris is a frequent contributor and member of The Digital Transformation People expert network if you'd like to join and feature your insights and expertise - get in touch!

Read the Article & Join The Conversation >>

More from Chris Barrett >>

Are you a Transformation Professional?

If so, my good friend Rob Llewellyn of CXO Transform has created a community platform aptly named Transformation Professionals just for you!

It's full of complimentary business transformation lessons, frameworks, and discussions on transformation topics you might enjoy!

Over 1,400 managers, leaders, and consultants from Apple, EY, Oracle, KPMG, Roche, etc. have already joined.

It doesn't cost anything to?join, so please follow the link and we'll see you on the inside.