May You Live in Interesting Times ?

We live in interesting times. An article in the Wall Street Journal today said that Amazon is launching a delivery service to compete with FedEx and UPS. We have known it was coming, but it is still striking to see in print. This is especially notable because of the high barrier to entry - ships, jets, trucks, and relationships. Amazon's ability to disrupt is incredible: books, electronics, general retail, cloud computing, media, smart devices, grocery, package delivery, and AI as a service. Apparently they are not even afraid of highly regulated industries or bureaucracy, since they are taking on healthcare. If you think your industry is immune to disruption, think again. 

It seems the interesting times we live in are an American invention in another way, too. Fun fact from Wikipedia:

Despite the expression “May you live in interesting times” being widely attributed as a Chinese curse, there is no known equivalent expression in Chinese. The nearest related Chinese expression is "寧為太平犬，莫做亂離人", which is usually translated as "Better to be a dog in a peaceful time, than to be a human in a chaotic (warring) period."

This is the economic and societal transformation that early visionaries predicted from the intersection of Internet and mobile technology, but just as we got a handle on that, AI came into the mix to begin the next phase of disruption. The transformation is accelerating and it will be a blessing and a curse. Customers are enjoying the blessing, and there is no going back. Companies in every industry need to create a blessing from what, many days, seems like a curse.  

No other company can be Amazon at this point, but we need to adopt some of their attributes. There is no single, short list of success criteria, but it will certainly involve understanding that we are in a time of great change, scanning the horizon to learn the shape of coming change, being agile to adapt to the unexpected, and having a strong competence in applying technology. Amazon also demonstrates that every company must know their customer deeply and create a frictionless experience.

The future requires a willingness to experiment along with a willingness to invest for the long term. Every company must have an omnichannel view of their customer, their own version of a journey map, and an understanding of how that journey is likely to be disrupted by changes in the business and technology landscape. Leaders will think bigger than seems reasonable according to a guiding vision paired with a readiness to jump on new opportunities that arise. Leaders will partner with early stage technology companies, look at the intersection of multiple technologies, and consider how successful techniques from one industry might apply in another.  Considering how AI, robotics, analytics, natural language interfaces, and automation may intersect with other technologies or business problems is likely to be fruitful. Likewise, applying security practices from the financial industry or applying customer engagement practices from the entertainment industry are a couple of the many possibilities for looking beyond one business domain for best practices.

There is another set of challenges in creating the culture, business processes, and talent management strategy to support continuous transformation but that is for another article.

We live in interesting times. It is an American blessing - and a curse.