REINVENTING XYZ: The Innovative Blueprint For Rapid Transformations
THE REINVENTION PROCESS
This article summarizes both: the recommended Strategy & Execution behind our unique Reinvention Process. It provides the blueprint and the rationale behind the entire process in a concise manner.
While many Reinvention Processes are based on purely academic theories, our approach incorporates practical examples taken from my unique C-level experiences accumulated over the last 30+ years. It is authentic, actionable, and wildly applicable to various industries.
For easier references, I decided to aggregate all my previous descriptions of the Reinvention Process in a single post. And you can find more specificity on above in each Reinvention Case I previously described, including:
· Reinventing Andrew Lloyd Weber
THE REINVENTION STRATEGY
Based on my 30+ years of entrepreneurial experiences, I’m convinced that the Reinvention Strategy succeeds - when companies are READY to act and are keenly OPPORTUNISTIC. In addition, such companies must also be LUCKY to be at the right time and at the right place - to take advantage of the opportunity at hand. After all, a lot of effort went into the preparations toward exploiting the right opportunities and building competence to take advantage of the opportunity as it unfolds.
Almost 2,000 years ago, one of the most famous Roman philosophers, Seneca, said: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. His brilliant quotes inspired the entire plethora of “derivative” quotes about luck, including: “Some say opportunity knocks only once, that is not true. Opportunity knocks all the time, but you have to be ready for it” - Louis L'Amour.
So, I often say that regardless of how much success probability is assigned to each condition, a simple example of 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 rule would do. There is no doubt in my mind that Readiness, Opportunism, and Luck are all equally important…
And even with ZERO luck, the probability of success is still above 66%. It beats the 50% probability associated with flipping the coin… By following the same logic, if you’re well prepared but still hesitant to take advantage of the unfolding opportunity – in the absence of luck, your success probability drops to 33%. In similarity, “Lady Luck” may cause a comparable predicament – if you’re ready to act but not well prepared to take full advantage of being a first-mover …
And it’s not about how to score a single hit, either - it's a process to optimize the performance & beat the odds, repeatedly!
THE REINVENTION EXECUTION
Below, is a summary of all the tactics of such a process, including
- OPM – Using Other People’s Money
- Push/Pull – Adding New & Untapped Revenue Streams
- Noncustomers – Focusing On New & Untapped Market Segments
- Business Model Innovation – As Important As Technologies Behind It
- Operating Advisor/Mentor – Hands-On Assistance With Strategy AND Execution
Consistently, I demonstrate the significant Value Innovation derived from the above Reinvention Tactics by focusing on one or more of its components. I assist CEOs/BODs to accomplish the above plans by executing the following 5-stage process:
- OPM - Other People’s Money
I deliver ground-breaking RapidRevenues? through tangible acceleration strategies. To make the process smarter & cheaper, I Design, Structure, Finance, and Deploy Opportunistic Joint Ventures. It’s all about RESULTS - or we do not get paid. Hence, I turn promising Unicorns into proud stallions, instead of little ponies…
Our turnkey approach helps to raise 10X more capital at 1/10 of the cost and it is based on our structured finance expertise. We financed over $1B of renewable energy infrastructure projects in the past and now offer a similar methodology to financing Healthcare, Fintech, Construction & Manufacturing ventures.
- The Push, The Pull and The AI Bull?
What we learned over the years is that it’s not just technology innovation, but also the exponential increase in the value offered to clients at a much lower cost – that makes all the difference. Yet we see too many product-oriented entities focused on pushing their product out the door – while losing ~70% of available revenues. Our proprietary process generates huge secondary and tertiary revenue streams. Such a strategy is scalable and sustainable, and it also offers revenue smoothing.
- Noncustomers
I worked with many companies in the past and some have done very well by analyzing their customers with granular details. Logically, they are selling their products and services to existing customers they thoroughly scrutinized. And yet, I firmly believe that there are HUGE and untapped opportunities to generate new revenues by focusing on …. noncustomers!
- Business Model Innovation
It’s not just the technology that matters. I’m convinced that Business Model Innovation is as disruptive as Technology Innovation. Please read about my AI experiences with Verizon 20 years ago! I wrote about it in “Keyword Spotting - The Art Of Listening & Observing”
- Operating Advisor/Mentor
As an Operating Advisor/Mentor, I work at a granular as well as strategic levels and often emphasize that it can be viewed as a substitute for bringingat least FIVE experienced C-level executives on board to eliminate:
? Stalled revenue growth
? Scale-up challenges
? Weak access to untapped capital pools
? Ineffective innovation monetization
? Poor marketing strategies & inadequate brand enhancement
Yet, whatever you do, remember this: Like in PROCUREMENT, single-source seldom works. Don’t leave your REINVENTION process in the hands of a single executive…
THE LAW OF THE INSTRUMENTS
IMHO, the merit of the outside advice received during the Reinvention Process - has nothing to do with how many years the advisor was involved within a specific industry. If you already have considerable domain-specific expertise, it’s time to start looking for outside-the-box thought-leaders. After all, the most successful companies strike the right BALANCE between:
· Domain-specific experts AND generalists
· Mile-deep AND mile-wide points of view
· Strategists AND tacticians
· Leaders AND managers, etc.
Why? Because there are significant benefits to BOTH. And only by using both types of advisers, the companies can gain from new and innovative recommendations and insights. The best turnarounds and pivots occur when CEOs take outside advice seriously.
No matter the size of your company, surrounding yourself with smart, pragmatic, honest, and extremely diversified Advisory Boards - is as important, as hiring the right employees. Otherwise, and before you know it, the “Law Of The Instruments” takes place: “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a big nail” …
So, to REINVENT, I recommend using the following COMMON-SENSE process to solve such an Expert/Generalist dilemma:
· Generalists – use such outside advisors to reinvent old business models & generate new growth strategies
· Experts – use domain-specific experts to significantly accelerate, enhance, and optimize the revived growth strategies
· Verifiers – repeat the process when the growth flattens…
I am in the business of joining Advisory Boards/BODs of the most innovative companies all around the world. And as one of the ultimate BusinessAI? veterans on the planet w/ over 30-yr hands-on AI expertise, I also bring supreme business savvy to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Moreover, I am at that stage in my life where I don’t care about BOD politics and water-cooler gossips. Nor do I offer fake flatteries to CEOs. All I care about is how to solve CEOs' problems & deliver results…