The age
of urgency.

Now, more than ever, organizations must contend with an increasingly fast-paced work environment as well as unprecedented levels of uncertainty. Have the old models of planning and thinking become passé? What must organizations consider when approaching the planning process? Which aspects are still relevant, and which ones need to be rethought?

01Planning — horizons, pacing and frequency

Planning horizons have grown drastically shorter. Work plans must be monitored and adjusted continuously throughout the year; organizations must reallocate responsibilities and resources; and methods of oversight and control must also become continuous — it cannot be done after the fact, which is already too late.

It is important to avoid concluding that instability makes planning meaningless. People get carried away with the thought that by the time they complete a plan, everything will have changed. In fact, the opposite is true: everything will change, and that only reinforces the need for short-term, personalized, adaptable plans. Planning increases in depth — and in the frequency by which it must be adjusted. Ask continuously: what needs deeper thought, what can stay modular and be updated as needed, are the traditional targets still relevant, and are the control methods still effective?

02Uncertainty and risk management

There is now a wider range of risks and a higher level of uncertainty, and both make planning harder. Risk management today is an entirely different beast — a mechanism that permeates the entire organization's activities. Each unit must be measured against risk indices, in addition to meeting business and organizational targets.

Characterize and define as many risk factors and uncertainties as you can, and prepare an action plan for issues that may arise — expecting both unpredictable risks and predictable ones that present differently. Build a recovery plan around two primary measures: how long recovery takes, and how much error the organization can absorb financially. Then define the scope of threats the organization can handle simultaneously.

03Flexibility and efficacy — the organizational weight

Everyone talks about "organizational flexibility," but what does the term actually mean? The old indices — cost per unit sold, cost of generating income — are no longer sufficient. Today's organizations need new efficacy benchmarks: an organizational efficacy index that monitors the decline in overall organizational weight over time, and a flexibility index / "cost of change" that measures the cost of a particular change, such as dismantling one unit and establishing another.

04Adapting to change — change management

Change management is an old, familiar concept — but the pace of change is becoming increasingly difficult to manage, and organizations' capacity to deal with it is limited. For preexisting components, adopt and implement an index of change preparedness. On an overall organizational level, examine the human resources' preparedness and the adaptability of the human capital.

The bottom line. The way we plan is changing, horizons are narrowing, and risk and uncertainty are rising. Taking all of these into account, organizations need to adopt new planning methodologies.  Read more in the book →

"Disruption" has become a mainstay in today's lexicon. How do we anticipate the next surprise? How are we going to deal with it? CEOs look to diversify their product portfolios, encourage flexibility, and embrace innovation both internally and externally. One way to cope in this reality is through mergers and acquisitions, combined with other activities.

The familiar reasons

Economies of scale let you deal with change better, reach more segments and strengthen the organization. Diversifying your product portfolio appeals to wider audiences and boosts the chances of survival. Asset acquisition brings a brand, a key audience, sources, representatives, products or technologies the buyer lacks. Access to new markets — whether new products or new geographies — opens through the acquired company.

The new, critical considerations

Decentralizing business lines — buying a competitor with no intention of merging, in order to spread vulnerable risk points across parallel systems. Dividing growth engines into two separate systems, so a line of business that can't take root internally can flourish in the acquired company. And internal disruption — manufacturing competition and internal motivation to challenge the company in new ways. The higher disruption rises, the more such new motivators will appear.

Factors every path must weigh

Synergy — how much is required to balance old and new, and how to ensure the right integration. Cannibalization — how much the companies overlap and might obliterate each other. Reliability — whether the promises behind the acquisition will actually hold. And inclusiveness — the key success factors (KSF) that must occur to manage the organization in its new incarnation.

The key. Organizations examine acquisitions through due-diligence parameters to judge value and feasibility — but CEOs often ignore the organizational, operational and infrastructural components that actually determine success. The key is to examine the internal workings of the organization, not just its bottom lines: do operational due diligence, not merely the financial one.  Read more in the book →

In 2017, "omni-channel" became a familiar phrase in every organization and every household. While it had been used sparsely or thoughtlessly in the past, the years that followed ushered in a new era of omni-channel experience — the world rushing to adopt solutions that service users anywhere, anytime.

01It is (nearly) everywhere, always

Omni-channel is present even where we least expect it. Grocery shopping used to be straightforward — place products in a cart, pay, and consumer data is collected, analysed, and turned into personalised coupons sent by mail, online and via app, spanning multiple channels. Companies like Amazon push special offers at the pre-purchase stage, based on browsing and shopping patterns. Medical clinics collect visit data so a patient can renew a prescription in person, on the provider's website, or through an app — with doctors increasingly available online to view files and talk by phone or chat.

02It changes consumption habits

Until recently, all shopping was done in physical stores; we visited the bank and went to the doctor in person. Today much of it is online, banks are scaling back branches, and providers go digital. Amazon's no-checkout grocery store lets customers fill a basket, walk out, and be charged later — appealing to the subconscious wish of leaving without paying. Gaming companies sell physical products mid-play. Everything is becoming more digital, fast, and erratic.

03Everything is connected

There's irony in Nokia's old motto "Connecting People." Today consumers are connected in every way possible — to friends, family, colleagues, networks, deals and email, twenty-four hours a day; the only way to disconnect is to cut the power. Three connections are penetrating the consumer space ever more deeply: IoT (Internet of Things) — appliances that learn usage patterns and are controlled remotely; IoC (Internet of Cars) — connected vehicles that pre-heat, self-park and transmit real-time status; and IoH (Internet of Humans) — wearables that let doctors monitor vital signs.

04It blurs borders

Omni-channel blurs the line between the physical and virtual worlds — a phenomenon set to intensify. In gaming, players start on a phone but interact with real-life elements through augmented reality. Pokémon Go is the prominent example: a game that happens on your phone and in the streets at the same time. Newer, more sophisticated games are constantly in development.

05It raises questions of credibility

If something is said on the internet, does that make it true? Omni-channel created an environment where information is available anywhere, anytime — but availability is not accuracy. The virtual world creates alternative reality and alternative credibility, eschewing reliability in favour of an endless stream of information, without assuming responsibility for its quality or depth.

To summarise. Omni-channel has evolved from an esoteric niche into something every consumer, customer or patient uses daily. Blessing or curse? Only time will tell — but it will be interesting to find out.  Read more in the book →

The rise of technology compels companies to become more efficient, increase performance, and rethink how they operate. There's a tangible fear of becoming obsolete — many still remember IBM, Blockbuster and Kodak, once-successful companies that were tragically late to adapt. The landscape is changing faster than ever, and organizations realise they must adapt with it.

Organizations are affected on three fronts. Technology enables what was once impossible while making entire jobs obsolete — bank tellers, cashiers, travel and insurance agents are vanishing or shifting. Consumption habits are transforming: we watch any movie anywhere, shop online or in fully-engrossing automated stores, and expect smarter experiences delivered immediately. Regulation, late as usual, is trading a holistic approach for immediacy and quickness of response.

Seven principles every organization must follow

1. Change management as a constant. Make organizational agility part of the culture — the time to prepare was yesterday. 2. Always seek better ways to perform tasks, or eliminate them. If something works, it's probably already becoming outdated. 3. Adopt a techno-strategic way of thinking. Merge strategic thinking, business development and business technologies rather than siloing them. 4. Encourage internal and external innovation. The best ideas often come from unexpected places — build a mechanism that channels them.

5. Continuously deconstruct jobs and functions. Reexamine every role for what can shift to technology or specialists, then reconstruct it more economically. 6. Divert functions to self-service. Customers increasingly prefer the freedom to browse, choose and act at their leisure. 7. Sort content and data — public versus privileged. Decide what business knowledge must be protected and what can be exposed to encourage purchases.

Above all — transformation management. Continuously adapting to external change, becoming more efficient and agile, is an existential necessity. Organizations that fail to adapt lower their chances of surviving into the next decade.  Read more in the book →

An irrelevant approach

Another school year has ended, yet no one is considering how irrelevant the educational approach is for the next generation. The world is changing rapidly: there is demand for professions that never existed while others become unnecessary, the skills the market needs have changed — and the education system lingers, failing to adapt its content and the way information is made accessible to learners.

A shorter attention span

Consider the length of a learning hour. It was set years ago according to an attention span of 50 minutes; current studies show that span has fallen to as low as 8 minutes. No wonder there's a near-universal diagnosis of attention deficit. The young generation lives in a digital, parallel world — interpersonal communication happens almost entirely through WhatsApp, Instagram and voice messages — yet in the classroom they are expected to stare at a single teacher talking. We cannot change the nature of the generation, only the nature of the conversation with them.

A system losing its effectiveness

Teenagers gather virtually — each at home, on a conference call, playing the same game as a group against others overseas — yet hand in homework as a printed document based on Wikipedia in a clear plastic binder. They research what interests them independently online, much as they consume TV and film: through the internet, without commercials. As the old world loses its power, so does the effectiveness of existing learning systems.

A hybrid model

Students are required by law to sit in classrooms — but if we want them to listen and learn, the system must adopt models, processes and methods drawn from the digital world. The debate is no longer "for or against tablets," but how to adopt a hybrid model combining the physical world with the digital one: lesson plans based on virtual reality, teaching through gaming, and digital communication as a central tool. The digital train is traveling extremely fast — to help the next generation integrate, at least all compartments had better have WiFi.

In today's world, the main precipitant for organizational transformation is technology. It develops far more quickly than any other source of influence over the organization, its impact is felt more intensely, and it demands its own kind of preparation. Yet it is important to realise that investing in technology itself does not mean one is ready for the changes it brings. To be fully prepared, seven principles must be adopted.

• 01Change management as a constant.Organizational agility, built into the culture.
• 02Seek better ways — or eliminate tasks.If it works, it's probably already outdated.
• 03A techno-strategic mindset.Merge strategy, business development and technology.
• 04Develop internal & external innovation.Channel ideas from everywhere into practice.
• 05Continuously deconstruct functions.Shift what can be to technology and specialists.
• 06Divert functions to self-service.Give customers freedom to browse, choose and act.
• 07Sort content — public vs. privileged.Protect business knowledge; expose what helps.

Above all — transformation management. Continuously adapting, becoming more efficient and agile, is an existential necessity. Organizations that fail to adapt lower their chances of surviving into the next decade.  Read more in the book →

Since the early 20th century, technological advancements have been affecting traditional jobs, forcing them to adapt or making them obsolete. This phenomenon has intensified over the past few years, forcing positions previously taken for granted out of the market.

Disappearing jobs

Customs officers have turned from key figures in the import process into mere administration clerks. Travel agents — remember those? We all prefer to go online to reserve flights, hotels and rental cars. Bank tellers are soon to be extinct, and upcoming developments threaten supermarket cashiers too — self-checkout queues are already common around the world.

Service roles in all sectors have already shifted from face-to-face to phone service. The next stage is scaling back call centers in favour of online self-service. Even public institutions — the Income Tax Authority, the National Insurance Institute, and local authorities — let citizens manage and carry out payments online, saving time and effort.

In the coming decades we can expect even more face-to-face and phone-service jobs to become a thing of the past. There's no doubt: technology is doing away with traditional jobs.  Read more in the book →

In the past, organizations were influenced by new products, changing customer preferences, regulation and competition. Today, the main precipitant of transformation is technology. It affects how customers communicate with the organization, exposes information that used to be privileged, and enables self-service. It develops faster than any other influence — yet investing in technology itself does not mean an organization is ready for the changes it brings.

Conflicts that impede change

• 01Traditional jobs.Many companies still revere legacy positions and expect employees to be experts in all areas.
• 02Self-service.A belief that senior employees hold skills that can't be disseminated or handed to customers.
• 03Exposure of information."Our data is confidential" — fear of letting customers act independently.
• 04Strategy vs. technology.Which has the upper hand? Technology increasingly governs strategic direction.
• 05The digital space.Who leads — the business line, or the direct channels driving customers to digital?
• 06Innovation.Where, and how, the organization makes room for new thinking.

Simply investing in technology without proper adjustments will not create readiness for change — only frustration and wasted resources. Investment must go hand in hand with organization-wide personal and systematic change.  Read more in the book →

The book "The Age of Urgency" was presented at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2018, held 10–14 October 2018 — the world's largest and most important trade fair for the print and digital content business, bringing together publishers, authors and media professionals from across the globe.

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