Transform, Transform, Transform..........

Transform. It is a word which comes around very often especially in times of crises. On the Internet I found a book 'The age of transformation (1789-1871)' and of course many other authors have written about the topic and I guess the topic might be dating back to the 5th Century. I am working as corporate executive in transformation management mostly during my whole career and have seen many waves passing by e.g. 2001 involvement in the digital transformation, 2004 involvement in the sustainability activities and business process outsourcing. In 2017, I was engaged in workshops with Dell (which was really cool to experience!) and understood that we are going through a new 'industrial revolution' again. It wasn't all new to me! It made me realize that companies were not adapting quickly and still doing the 'old stuff'. After swallowing two financial crises, we are now in new humanitarian and health crisis and again a strong message that we have to transform. This time it is impacting a large population whether people become ill or die, become unemployed or socially distant. Many sectors are economically hit and people are dismissed. Companies are in panic and stopping investments and dismiss staff to reduce costs. Again, this is not new! Some questions:

• Can we change the style of leadership?
• Do companies really want to transform?
• What is the outlook for us?
• etc.?

Interesting enough, there is potentially enough employment and will concentrate on a number of areas. This is the positive attitude for the economy once the pandemic is controlled and the vaccins are available. We can discuss the shape of the recovery of the economy (V, U, L-shape) but in any case it is about decisions and actions and not about stopping investments, dismissing people and disrupting the economy. It is about investing!

I have worked in many industries (including life sciences, Oil & Energy, Electronics, Insurances etc.) and many cultures. I have learned from the dynamics in these industries and respectively consumer- and business markets. Since ages I have been messaging that managing the value chain is critical for companies whether it is digital or not. During Covid19 it became evident that supply chains of organisations are rapidly disrupted. It is still unbelievable that investmenst are not done sufficiently, the right people are not in place etc. This is the first area to take care off and invest in ! The other areas are logically healthcare, digital technology, corporate finance (mainly M&A-s), secure food chains and sustainability. Governments, boards and executive leaders need too realize that these areas are fundamentally important to drive growth, reduce unemployment, create GDP growth and improve our environment. This is our duty for the next generations to come!!!

I am available to lead organisations and support boards in their mission, vision and strategy as I believe we might have a bright future ahead.....................the important thing is not to stop questioning.