Electrifying Design, Kan'YE'ezys, Excellence In Status Quo Leadership, Ghost Kitchens, Sound, BNPL & RESET

Published in Week 1 each month from Feb 2022.

Happy Christmas!, Happy Holidays! Get a pumpkin spice latte, read, see, listen!

1. The Great Design Era For An Electric World Is Coming

Fisker Inc by far had the brilliant design in play at the Los Angeles Auto Show 2021. While there were many brands missing, possibly a trim down Covid version, there were enough cars to see, test drive and get a glimpse into the designers minds for our electric future. The other impressive electric design was the Bronco.

A good surprise; there were many electric cars in the price range of $28k to $35k. As electric goes mass adoption, the competition for the the daily use utility cars will really be the one to watch.

What was a disappointment is that many of the electric cars while morphed to look cool from the outside, had very tacky plastic interior feel with a let down on functionality for drivers or passengers. This will be the challenge, can they let go of legacy to think afresh for the new electric generation or the older engineers continue to battle in their minds ghosts of a combustion past.

This is Rob Reisner's Bathtub Car of 1968. I would drive this around! You have to admire the eclectic design choice to the brilliant execution to detail. As we go electric, can companies shake-off their combustion legacy to build new design capabilities and features for drivers or passengers?

I test drove the Ford Mustang Mach E. First off, its got four doors. You can feel the pickup as you pedal down. No rev ups, just takes off in electric silence. This is right up the Tesla space.

But what I really found fascinating is a design choice: A physical, crystal feel like round dial built into the vertical iPad like touch screen. A great combination of physical and digital interface experience. Easy to turn the knob than to touch and hold to dial up or down for sound. (A dial also made the iPod iconic).

Nearly half of Mustangs sold in November were electric. And Ford may well be the winner over the next decade in EVs.

But where do I charge my EV?

This is an EV adoption scalability problem but as much an opportunity for new kind of electric charger network infrastructure players to step in. It will be fascinating to see who will create shape and benefit from a new kind of network effect from universal electric charging stations and services that can ride on this network, eg. Tesla's Starlink play.

Why does this matter?: Agility and Design are two sides of the same coin. Companies that are design centric in their strategy and business model outperform their peers. Brands that offer simpler experiences command a price premium over others. But do you have leaders who understand and apply design to everything they do? Technology is not a brand, experience is.

A Little More On Design: Music+YE = YEezy's

On December 10th, I was at The Los Angeles Coliseum, host of 1984 Olympics packed to capacity with 78,000 Kan'YE' fans who saw a reunion with Drake. I enjoyed the purity and simplicity of the stage which created an extraordinary focus on the music (bone shattering volume of) . Both of which are design principles in the success of Yeezy's. (Don't miss his boots on stage)There are very few leaders who embed design as key principle in their organization's strategy or understand the economic value of design.

2. I Created The World's First Program For Leadership Excellence In Status Quo, Hope You Don't Qualify...

The best way to understand the importance of agility in leadership is to contrast it with what status quo leadership looks like. Yes, this is hard hat stuff but if we have learnt anything from 2019 and 2021, Status Quo leadership is responsible for loss of life, loss of trust in society, loss of appeal in conventional employment, loss of customer belief due to supply chain mess and much more.

So why is it that companies that spend so much time, effort, and money to build leaders to lead change are still filled with leaders who block change? Companies struggle to understand and drive multiple complex change loops to win in the marketplace, in large part due to leaders who don't move fast enough or are just insecure.

So, I wanted to offer a contrast on how a program would look like for leaders who work hard to keep their companies and team in the same place.?If you feel uncomfortable attending this program, you are in the right direction. And if you feel this is for you, please write to [email protected]...

Know someone who fits this program?, Pass this on to them, it is the best possible feedback.

Why does this matter? : As I always say, unimaginative leaders are the greatest threat to the future of any company. Status Quo to them is a natural state in which they thrive combined with mediocrity and politics. Companies need to work hard to weed out these unimaginative leaders, especially at the top.?

3. Ne Pas Status Quo? #3 Hot Topics'21 From Curious & Cuirky

Ghost Kitchens, Future Of Electric Is In New Sounds & BNPL

& Out There

I had two enjoyable Masterclass sessions with curious leaders at Boston Scientific and Adidas (Click on Co. name links to see excerpts) | Check out other events

4. What I Learnt From Johnny C. Taylor, Jr And His Book RESET

I opened the conversation with JohnnyC. Taylor, Jr. CEO SHRM, asking where should we start the RESET? Over the past 24 months, we have seen a polarized society, business survivals, tough labour markets and leaders who have been mixed in how they responded in creating new opportunities out of the crisis we have had. His book is timely for us to understand the complexity of our times and plan the RESET.

I was joined by Dr. Alex Alonso, Chief Knowledge Officer, SHRM and Sally Anderson, Workforce Diversity Director at Google.

Why does this matter? : You cannot have agility with incremental thinking. Agility is a reset of mental models. Reset is a direct challenge to the legacy thinking that all companies grapple with. But to have a clear mind map on what the reset looks like is the starting point.

Welcome to 2022!

Don't miss! JOBS WITHOUT WORK with Ravin Jesuthasan on January 14th, 2022

All pictures are copyright of Hari Abburi, 2022, all rights reserved