How Entrepreneurs Can Prepare for Uncertainty in 2019 and Beyond

Whether you're managing a start-up, family business or public-listed company, we’re living in highly turbulent times. There is even an acronym coined to describe this situation - VUCA, which stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous times or conditions. It's become a buzzword.

Like it or not, we’re in a world of constant and rapid change. Just 10 years ago, the iPhone was launched. And within a few short years, we saw the death of BlackBerry, the Nokia phone and the Palm electronic organiser. And it sent Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell reeling too. Slowly, digital cameras were decimated as well, they that caused the ultimate collapse of the once-great Kodak company.

 In more recent years, we've seen the emergence and rapid rise of companies like Airbnb, Uber, and our own home-grown #Grab. These and other similar companies have become known as “disruptors” - they change the whole market dynamics.

 Add on to all this, free sharing and texting mobile apps like WhatsApp and you see the Telco service providers struggling to maintain their ARPU (Average Revenue Per Unit), a key measure of business and financial performance. Think about what electric and autonomous cars will do. How will oil companies, spare part manufacturers, even mechanics be affected?

The New Trends – Digital, Data, E-Commerce, VR and AI

 The digital economy has been making waves in recent years too. Traditional media companies are flogging content online and offering all kinds of deals to attract subscribers to their new online platforms - hoping to balance or recoup the steady readership/viewership and revenue declines of their traditional media like TV and newspapers. So many of us are now getting our news from our devices such as mobile phones and tablets or even the less prevalent laptops.

 Such trends are also caused by the YouTube habit and the ease and convenience of making short videos and posting and sharing on our social media channels. It’s so EASY! These days, even my 77-year-old aunty is on Facebook! Everyone is producing content! It’s even led to a new problem called fake news!

  The New Oil Industry

Now, enter Big Data and suddenly we have a whole Industry called Data Analytics and a new era - moving from Information Technology (IT) to Data Technology (DT)

 Smartphones and the Internet have made data abundant, ubiquitous and far more valuable. Whether you are going for a run, watching TV, roaming in a shopping mall, or just sitting in traffic, virtually every activity creates a digital trace - meaning more “raw materials” for the data analysis “factories”. Indeed many have termed data as the new crude oil!

 There's also the burgeoning of E-Commerce which has recently made Amazon the top company on Wall Street and allowed Jeff Bezos to overtake Bill Gates as the richest person in the world. It’s also shot #Jack Ma into both fame and fortune, although they have now classified Alibaba as a data play rather than just an E-commerce business.

 Experience Augmented Reality Virtual Reality

 About a year ago in Shanghai, Starbucks opened their second and only international Roastery Reserve outlet in collaboration with Alibaba. At 30,000 square feet it is the largest Starbucks outlet in the world. The American coffeehouse chain has collaborated with Alibaba for a first-of-its-kind store that will provide an enhanced customer experience by adding virtual and augmented reality(AR) to its menu.

#Alibaba and #Starbucks are leveraging advanced technology to offer customers a thoroughly interactive and fulfilling in-store experience. It allows customers to use their mobile devices within the roastery to receive new-age AR experiences. This is possible through the custom-designed roastery digital web-app platform or on Alibaba’s Taobao app. That’s innovation in the retail scene for you. This merger of online and offline shopping is dubbed "New Retail" by Alibaba and is expected to offer more efficient, flexible and fulfilling shopping experience to its customers.

 As if all this is not enough, there is artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and Industry 4.0 too! Not to mention fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and the list goes on.

 Rise of the Millennials and Learning to Look around Corners

 So the entrepreneur and CEO have to grapple and navigate the team and the business in this Digital and Data Age, in this VUCA landscape. Yes, the world is fast changing. Competition is changing and customers are constantly changing. The workforce is changing too. By 2023, 70% of the world’s workforce will be Gen Y / millennials. Yet, many entrepreneurs haven't really changed their mindsets and paradigms.

 Going into 2020 and beyond entrepreneurs need to learn to see around corners if they haven't already, and act accordingly. In Malaysia, many CEO’s of family businesses and even public-listed companies need to change their mindsets, beliefs, and approach.

 They need to see and perceive ahead and before their competition does. There needs to be shifts in their leadership, in their management, in their communication and collaborations, and in their vision.  

Accurate, strategic thinkers see the new and different world and understand those old ways of thinking are no longer useful. As author Ayn Rand wrote, “You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality,”

CEO – The #ChangeEmpowermentOfficer

More importantly, they need to bring change to their people, their organization. But, it has to start from the top, with the CEO - whether you take it as Chief Empowerment Officer, Chief Education Officer, Chief Engagement Officer, or Change Execution Officer. Change has to start from the top, sometimes at Board level, and driven throughout the organization.

 It’s not an easy task, but you can rebirth your company that might otherwise suffer from mediocrity, or worse, fatal collapse or destruction. You can build greatness into your business. In fact, with all these developments, the playing field is more level now so that the smaller or local players can take on the global giants and stand a fighting chance - If they embrace change well, and embrace it NOW.

 If you’re ready, your question would be, “How do we go about doing this?”.

 I recommend a 4-step process:

1.    A candid Audit and Review

2.    Deciding and Setting Clear Company Priorities

3.    Team Alignment and Culture

4.    Preparing a Talent Plan, including your own personal development.

 Here’s a brief outline of the process and some coaching questions to guide you.

 1.    Do a candid review or post-mortem on 2018/2019Year-to-date.

Good CEO’s are constantly observing and taking away lessons from their team's wins and losses. Being as brutally honest as possible,

·      What were the company's 3 biggest accomplishments this year?

·      How can we capitalize on the strengths that led to those successes?

·      What were the company’s 3 biggest failures/misses this year?

·      What were the root causes, and how can we address them going forward?

For even more insight, discuss these questions with your executive leadership team and record the top answers.

2.    Decide and Clarify #PrioritiesFor2019

Where do you want to be by the end of 2019? From where you are now, what are the top 2 or 3 priorities? Depending on the size of your organisation, what are the next 2 or 3? It seems obvious but you should not have more than half a dozen priorities. If everything is a priority, you have no focus. What gaps need to be filled to achieve what we want by the end of 2019? What’s our Theme for next year? Make sure each priority is articulated as SMART goal statement. Discuss them with your leadership team and even your Board(time to form one if you haven’t already). You must be able to defend why those are the priorities.

3.    Check your Team Alignment, Talent capabilities, and your Corporate #Culture.

Human capital in your organization is so vital it would be foolish not to take an active role in evaluating and growing it. Ask yourself:

·      Do we have the right #leadership team in place? If not, what will we do about that?

·      What strategic hires might we need to make in 2019 or the next year?

·      Have we defined the company’s Leadership competencies? Are these still relevant or does it need to be updated? 

·      Is the entire team aligned with the above priorities? What conditions must be present to achieve total alignment?

·      Peter Drucker said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” (actually, for lunch and dinner too!). A company’s culture, how its employees operate and behave in the absence of rules and oversight, determines its success. When did we last review our Corporate Culture?

4.    Preparing a Talent Plan and planning your own personal development

Besides a talent plan, what’s your plan for your own personal development? Many entrepreneur CEO’s arrive at the position without much preparation for the specific demands of their new role. What do you need to do to stay on top of the game? The best CEOs I know are committed to the continuous improvement of their own leadership and management skills. I recommend:

·      Reflecting on your personal successes and failures as CEO last year.

·      Privately asking each of your board members for two areas in which you could improve.

·      Consider writing down books to read, people to meet with, groups to join, and events/conferences to attend.

I can tell you from personal experience that covering these areas now will pay great dividends in the coming year. Make it an awesome trailblazing one!