Feta Pasta From Tik Tok Kitchen Via Grubhub, GRAB-To-Grab Groceries, iPod & Walkman Intersect In A Car & WORK WITHOUT JOBS

8 Minute Read

One of the key differentiator between agile and disruptive companies and rest of the pack is that the disruptive ones truly follow the customer. They embed agility into their strategy by thinking multi-industry. This allows them to think freely without industry boundaries.

In the minds of the customer, there are no industry boundaries. You therefore need leaders who understand that 'boundryless' is not about adjacencies.

Let's start with a quick introduction to understanding the agility model: At The Speed Of The Customer?. The most disruptive companies are masters at shaping their strategy at the intersection of industries:

We saw this in the recent play by Tik Tok to partner with ghost kitchens to deliver food via Grub Hub in US, Grab acquiring Jaya Groceries in Malaysia, Sony entering the EV race to join Apple, which is rumored to sign with LG Electronics to develop its EV. [For a five minute insight into ghost kitchens, here is my segment from Curious & Cuirky July 2021.]

Grab is in the forefront of the Super App race, a strong play from the Fintech sector. While the core belief is to show the customer 'boundryless' and integrated experience, we are yet to know if the interface design can deliver the promise of a super app experience. With this thinking the next space that Grab, Uber, Netflix, Amazon, Sony, Apple will collide in is Cryptos. And Walmart is in. Listen to my take on Tik Tok, Grab, Sony, Apple in this 7 minute clip from Caltech Curious & Cuirky Jan'22 edition.

To be at the intersection of industries needs brilliant leadership thinking, which has one key element: Imaginative Leaders. As I often drumbeat, "Unimaginative Leaders are the greatest threat to the future of your company". But do we really teach, nurture, reward and promote imagination in companies or for that matter in societies? As this visualization from Visual Capitalist shows, in very few countries is imagination valued to be learnt by children, "Left-leaning Nordic countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland think?imagination is more important for children to learn than?hard work." However, US is a country where disruptive imaginative thinking creates the most Unicorns and trillion dollar technology giants. So it it the eco system?

There are two enablers to this boundryless 'follow the customer at the intersection of industries' play: Companies that are born imaginatively digital and the gig economy

And this is the perfect transition to highlighting a terrific discussion as I hosted as LinkedIn Live session with Ravin Jesuthasan on his new book 'WORK WITHOUT JOBS', co-authored with John Boudreau.

WORK WITHOUT JOBS with Ravin Jesuthasan, with Industry Leaders, Greg Till & Cynthia Burks

I hosted Ravin Jesuthasan to discuss his new book WORK WITHOUT JOBS. We also discussed two case studies from the book on Providence Health System's approach to adopting human centered technology on scale to help address talent crunch + drive focus on patient care and Genentech with used flexibility to create a workforce that was adaptable. We are joined by Greg Till, EVP & CHRO Providence Health System. While Cynthia Burks, SVP & CHRO Genentech could not join us, we did feature her leadership and the Genentech case study.

This is must listen discussion for any business professional or business leader to understand how the new world of work is shaping up