It is trite to say that the acceleration of technology disrupters have rendered many business models redundant. It doesn’t take much reflection to draw up a list of industries that have had their traditional business models significantly disrupted and rendered obsolete. From encyclopaedias to taxis, printed newspapers, music acquisition, streaming video services and now the finance sector are all Industries that have had their traditional business models turned on their heads.
I was shocked recently to work in one industry sector whose business model is clearly not going to survive. Without naming names, it is as clear as the demise of printed newspapers that this industry will not survive its current business model. What was I shocked about? The complete and utter lack of appreciation by the rank and file within the business of the significance of the changes that would affect the industry over the coming months & years. To my outsiders view they were shuffling deck chairs on the titanic. To speak to the executives about this was to mention the unmentionable. We don’t want to scare the children, they just need to keep doing what they are doing while we figure out the answer. Well history will tell us that once your business model is broken, there is no logical solution.
The answer to a broken business model is not better design.
The egg is cracked and it’s not going back together. Executives who have made successful careers of applying logical analyse to decision making find themselves totally bereft and ignorant to the magnitude of the challenges their organisation faces. Top tier management consultants are engaged to endlessly review and recommend piecemeal improvements and these work for a while, but none seem to address the fundamental issue.
Your organisation needs a new mental model if it is to adopt a new business model. In fact it is doomed to failure if the organisation both individually and collectively does not adopt a new way of thinking about the business. So the question therefore is how does an organisation as a whole, or at least the broader leadership group adopt new thinking processes that lead to the adoption of new mental models and thus alignment and commonality of purpose.
