Simply put "What's got you here, won't get you there". This holds true for brands, start ups, mature organisations, and us. If we want continued growth or even sustainability and survival- on going reinvention, timely disruption and renewal is the key. Exploring these one by one
- Brands: Ever green brands that we so love, have re-invented themselves in various forms to thrive through decades and generations. Even our good old Coca-Cola while retaining its coveted formula over generations has improvised its offering to Diet Coke/ Coke Zero, changed how it communicates to its consumers from hydration, refresh to simply happiness. It's moved far away from the iconic glass bottle, embracing PET, fountain cups, to more environmentally friendly and premium cans.
- Start ups: The ones that succeed are the ones, that reinvent themselves probably every six months. Not all employees who got a start up from ground 0 to $1 million in revenues and then $10 million in revenues, will be able to keep up with the pace and support a growing, more complex start up, as it moves towards $50 and $100 Million. Talent that can't keep up has to be pruned out to keep the start up alive. Systems that were good to have, may now be must have if growth has to continue. The business plan itself might require remapping if environment has changed, which is true in most cases.
- Mature Organisations: Most industries go through cycles of disruption. A need attracts investment leading to often multiple players flocking in, profits soon dwindle and growth slows down. Continued growth requires diversification, bringing in synergies which might give the organisation an edge to keep it going. Closer home, Tata and Reliance have evolved moving far away from their core. ITC is constantly experimenting and evolving to ensure sustainability. They keep embracing a few failures and keep discovering success in their ongoing journey for disruption and growth.
- People, We: Lastly, but something I really want to emphasise. People who thrive and succeed are those that reinvent themselves, and are on a constant journey of learning and taking on challenges. They embrace failures and try to fill in the gaps and bounce back stronger. I come across people who are absolute gems in their functional areas, yet not ready for bigger challenges- because somewhere they let a few failures slow them down, derail them. If we want to keep moving on to newer and bigger opportunities, we need to assess ourselves, and fill those gaps. A person might be great as a functional expert, but might fail to make it to a CXO level, if he or she simply cannot show the agility , influence and hunger to lead, strength to face failures and yet drive troops to success , keeping a positive momentum.
Survival requires a zeal and passion with loads of agility and awareness of vulnerabilities, so they can be worked upon. Being shy of change, sitting in comfort of stability cannot and does not bring success.
Brands, Organisations, People that succeed carry a vision, are fuelled with passion and stay agile with ongoing development to survive, thrive and lead.
