We all recognize the importance of change, but also need to consider volatility in affecting change.
Take the stock market, for example – it’s like a rollercoaster influenced by economic twists, social vibes, and market moods. Recently, in 2023, the S&P 500 went up 17% from January to July, then down 11% from July to October, only to bounce back up by 11% from October to November. Minimally, you should evaluate investing for short-term change or simply investing for the longer term.
Rapid Evolution in Our World
Our world is evolving fast. Technology, our tastes, and what’s considered normal are flipping markets on their heads. Leisure, travel, and entertainment are booming unexpectedly. Even the diet industry is getting a facelift thanks to new drugs helping people shed pounds. It’s a game-changer.
Social, political, and economic events are regularly disrupting our environment. From weather havoc to terrorism, it seems like endless crises.
Managing Unpredictability
How do we handle all this unpredictability? First, we’ve got to understand volatility and figure out how to manage it. When bridges suddenly collapsed in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, they were fixed in record time – thanks to clear goals, teamwork, and innovative solutions. We need the same approach for everything, from health issues as we age to dealing with climate events and political shake-ups.
Take our health, for instance. As the years pile on, it’s a good idea to play offense. Waiting for a health crisis to hit is like playing catch-up. Hitting the gym, eating a bit healthier, and throwing in regular checkups are like the MVPs in the game of avoiding health rollercoasters. Same goes for other bumpy rides, like dealing with the economy, wild weather, or political shake-ups.
Look at how we’ve been stepping up our game in handling weather drama like fires and hurricanes. It’s all about staying on top of things, being ready, and finding solutions. That’s the playbook we can follow for other curveballs that life throws our way.
Emphasizing Communication and Cooperation
Communication, coordination, and cooperation should be our priorities. Fire departments focus on safety and prevention rather than just enforcing laws. Why can’t we do the same for issues like crime, making things better between police and communities?
Rethinking Progress and Success While Being Aware of Bias and Risk
It’s time to rethink progress and success. We’ve made huge strides in areas like reducing smoking and drunk driving. Reviewing plans is important, but we need to do it together and be open to expert advice for better problem-solving.
Don’t forget about bias and risk: Bias is, perhaps, the biggest culprit in unreliable results. “It won’t happen to me” may be the greatest cause of unexpected volatility. Here’s the thing. We love to be right. We hate to be wrong. So, we will go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that we’re proven correct. And we won’t even know we’re doing it. Our brain, working surreptitiously in the background, doesn’t alert us too how biased we actually are.
Creating a Supportive Environment and Setting Specific Goals
Creating a supportive environment, both physically and socially, can help us deal with crises better. This includes a safe, productive and supportive physical space, along with social and businesses practices that are fair, consistent and understood can significantly add to the capability to deal with crises.
Getting specific with goals and solutions is key. We all get the importance of goals, but sometimes we spend too much time pointing fingers instead of finding solutions. Take a cue from success stories like fire safety and emergency highway repairs.
It’s all about staying open and analytical. Businesses need to understand their environment, learn from both wins and losses, and be open to new ideas. In other words, don’t be like Jack Nicholson saying, “You can’t handle the truth.”
Embracing Change for Better Solutions
In a nutshell, recognizing that change and ups and downs happen is the first step to tackling problems. We need tools to understand and predict change – just like we do with things like COVID and flu shots. Being prepared and understanding volatility will lead us to better solutions and alternatives.
Dr. Bert Shlensky, President of www.startupconnection.net, offers experience, skills, and a team devoted to developing and executing winning strategies. We guide your plans for business success and unlock your profits.Our strategy includes clear steps, and over 150 free articles and templates to facilitate your efforts and guide your process. We’re here to help you get on track and stay there as you move forward.
We welcome comments, suggestions, and questions. You can write us at: bshlensky@startupconnection.net or call at 914-632-6977.
When it comes to change, are you focusing on the right issues? Just a few years ago, tech stocks like Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft accounted for over 50% of stock market growth and experienced 20-40% annual gains. Currently, they are experiencing slower growth and, consequently, laying off workers. Additionally, issues like climate change, immigration, and mental health are accelerating in importance and receiving little new attention.
Many businesses as well as political, religious, educational, and other institutions are facing crises because they fail to adapt. For example, it is generally accepted that pre-kindergarten programs dramatically impact education and long-term societal goals. Yet, few school systems nationwide have adapted them. Demographics make matters even more complex: Women will soon represent over 50% of the labor force, workers over 45 have increased from 31% to 41% of the population, and over 50% of births in the U.S. are non-white.
We need new approaches and strategies to properly address these changes.
Pricing is a great place to start when reexamining strategies. In general, companies price by old strategies related mostly to supply and demand. However, there are numerous alternatives available to increase sales, better serve the customer, and impact costs. One of the best examples is bunding and unbundling. Grocery stores like Wegmans have made significant gains in offering customers things like prepared meals, take out, meals to cook etc. that compete with restaurants and provide alternatives to cooking yourself. These are generally special produts at higher margins like all the Super Bowl offerings. The charcuterie board trend with prices ranging from $30-$100 is a great example of this markup. In contrast, marketers like Amazon and Costco are masters at unbundling and offering consumers value offerings with few amenities.
Today, businesses (large, mid-sized, small, and startups) and the business management need to focus more on openness, transparency, brainstorming, and support to stimulate innovation. We have seen and acknowledged the potential positive impact that open systems have on decisions, motivation, and profitability. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different, and they are rarely happening nor are they truly supported. Why is this? I would argue that it’s because business management is lacking a realistic view of many issues and the changing environment we live in.
The management structure of many organizations is what produces a lot of the disappointing results we see. Many seemingly successful companies have tunnel vision, organizational constraints, and ignore emerging technologies and opportunities. They lack the flexibility to respond to the needs of the market and use outdated solutions to new problems. They fail to allow the vision, entrepreneurship, and risk necessary to succeed.
So what is the secret sauce to success? We need to look at what is increasingly emerging as a potential solution: the acceptance and reliance upon open systems and collaboration. Open systems have been around for a long time, but are becoming the norm for success. They reject bureaucracy, authority, hierarchy, and closed decision-making processes. They encourage participation, diversity, new rules, and to some extent, chaos.
Organizations need to be open to measurement and feedback. Understanding and sharing financials, operations reports, and sales reports are the first step. Basic research studies, social media, and other devices can be additional tools. You can also try adjusting management involvement through more inclusive approaches (this could include creating a safe company culture where everyone is encouraged to share ideas without judgment).
Managing probability and risk more efficiently can also provide greater opportunities. This includes both value and probability of success. For example, when lotteries increase, the odds of winning remain constant, but the value of winning increases dramatically. As uncertainty and change accelerate, probabilities can also fluctuate. Many analytical efforts are reduced by the volatility in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, which all need to be considered together. Getting excited or depressed about one year is erroneous. In general, the four years together provide a more positive and reasonable perspective than just one year alone.
When talking about change, we would be remiss not to mention resistance. Because where there is change, there is always varying degrees of resistance. As a result, winning opportunities can often be overlooked. For instance, have you hugged your best customers today? We frequently take our best customers for granted and don’t thank them enough, help them adapt to changes in their needs, or simply listen to their concerns.
Similarly, are you honestly assessing where you are experiencing success and failure? I can’t tell you how many clients are not tracking sales by product or account, measuring Internet results, or even monitoring traffic and success. These are incredible tools for understanding your strengths and acknowledging where there are opportunities to grow. We need to learn from failure rather than deny it and recognized when to abandon programs that aren’t working.
Finally, organizations often find themselves surprised by circumstances rather than consistently managing their environment in order to be prepared for change. On a number of different levels, factors like global warming, aging of the population, product life cycles, technology advancements, and the Internet are highly predictable. What is frequently missing is the acceptance that our world will always be in a constant state of change and the open-mindedness and flexibility required to respond and adapt effectively.
Dr. Bert Shlensky, president of Startup Connection, prides himself on his ability to define what is unique about each and every business. He works closely with individuals to develop a personalized approach that targets specific areas of concern and offers solutions based on his 40+ years of experience. His team of experts will address your particular needs while working to save you time and money.
What does it take to change? As in, truly change? It is said that it takes 3 weeks or more to turn an action into a habit. And, the older we get, the more set in our ways we become. So, how then, do we enact change—within ourselves, our businesses, or even society?
In a time when being adaptable is crucial to success, organizations are changing faster than ever and, yet, it still seems we aren’t changing fast enough to keep up. This may be the result of tools that are designed to limit risk and are unable to accept compromise and open systems. For example, changes in Ukraine, mid-term elections, inflation, Trump investigations, and economic growth seem to modify our decision parameters almost daily—are our tools taking all of these factors into account in their analysis? Doubtful.
That means, in order to “keep up” with the times, we have to pay close attention to these parameters ourselves. We must not only embrace change, but be actively working to create transformative change as well.
Much attention is often given to analytics, expertise, profits, and science. However, these tools sometimes ignore critical requirements for change and better decisions: passion, focus, trust, effort, risk, and commitment. Unchecked, analytics may actually hinder transformative change.
Here are some suggestions to develop and execute more transformative change:
Consider structural changes. Society and business fail to recognize old paradigms and structures are failing. Large corporate structures, like print publications, big banks, and brick and mortar retailers, are all gradual losers, or even worse. Many large companies have tunnel vision, organizational constraints, etc., and ignore emerging technologies and opportunities. They lack the flexibility to respond to the needs of the market and use outdated solutions to new problems.
Imitate small businesses. The success of smaller, more innovative companies shows that many organizations should get smaller, or act smaller, in order to effectively deal with today’s environment. Reducing layers and creating professional cultures are a start. Boards and management need to split up organizations or create more independent groups.
Invest in innovation. Large organizations say they want excellence, entrepreneurship, innovation, risk takers, etc., but, really, they tend to encourage mediocrity. For example, short term goals, testing, and failure, which are critical parts of innovation, are punished more than rewarded. In short, organizations frequently ignore the advice, “you can’t score if you don’t take a shot.”
Look at disrupters. Mackenzie Scott (Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife who has $60 billion) is changing the structure of charitable giving. She is a disrupter in that she focuses on equality, gives only unrestricted gifts (no building or school names), and donates significant funds to lesser-known institutions, like black colleges and community organizations, to help transform their entire organization.
Implement more risk. There are more and greater opportunities. Even in sports, home runs, the three-point play, and passing in football are rapidly increasing as coaching, athletes, and analytics improve. We underestimate the potential of frequently unlimited upsides compared to limited downsides. Test more and accept that failure is frequently a requirement for success. We also need to seek transformative solutions, which may be unknown when we start a decisions process.
Embrace the relative importance of marketing over sales. Digital analysis and marketing, the Internet, and account management are examples of efforts that are replacing the good old days of personal selling and relationships.
Focus on reducing stress. The pandemic and rapid change has caused significant stress and unhappiness and we need to take action to reverse some of that damage.
Remember technology is king. Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple will survive and grow as they become even more innovative and efficient. Traditional retailers with large real estate platforms and margin requirements are at great risk. Consumers are proving to prefer the perks of working at home, fast delivery, and other convenient Internet processes. Virtual offerings will continue to expand and be utilized and, therefore, they must be integrated into our structures.
Don’t forget that service, image, andculture are frequently the biggest (and often least expensive) ways for small companies to develop a brand and differentiate themselves. Some suggestions: Focus on your target market and segment your ideal customer. Be polite, listen, and then act based on what you have learned. Become a trusted resource to your prospects by providing useful information that will help them make a good choice.
The post-pandemic changes we’re seeing should be viewed as a critical opportunity to improve sales, profit, and competitive positioning. Many include transformational change. The current state of organizations and the rapid advancement of technology are stimulating perpetual change that cannot be ignored. But, with the right mentality and a willingness to incorporate tools that will help you successfully adapt, you can thrive in this new normal.
So, where in your life, business, or community do you see a need for transformational change? And what actionable steps are you taking to fuel it? And are you committed to making those actions a habit? Because that is what it takes to truly change.
Dr. Bert Shlensky, President of www.startupconnection.net, offers experience, skills, and a team devoted to developing and executing winning strategies. We guide your plans for business success and unlock your profits.Our strategy includes clear steps, and over 150 free articles and templates to facilitate your efforts and guide your process. We’re here to help you get on track and stay there as you move forward. We welcome comments, suggestions, and questions. You can write us at: bshlensky@startupconnection.net or call at 914-632-6977
A year or so ago, I wrote about how fast change is occurring and how we needed to adapt faster. At that time the pandemic, unemployment, economic growth, and unequal worldwide wealth were among the key issues. Fast-forward and change is still happening faster than we seem to be able to adapt. However, the issues are also changing. Today, inflation, the war in Ukraine, crime, trust, and mental health seem to have taken over our focus.
In any discussion about change, it’s imperative that we look at the process of managing change as well as the specific issues being affected by it. In particular, we need to consider parameters, institutions, and processes.
When it comes to disruptive change, we must remember that parameters change. For example, inflation (which was a key economic factor, but has been relatively dormant) has suddenly become relevant again. The concern is that we may view inflation as too much of a crisis rather than a parameter to be considered. For example, decades ago, I supervised a company in Mexico that collected payments every day because inflation could eat up their profits.
A critical issue in managing change is the increased impact of social, economic, and political volatility in our institutions. In particular, the social aspects, which are frequently disruptive and somewhat new, have been underestimated. These include the pandemic, partisan politics, increased income inequality, and crime. Commodities like lumber and wheat, which traditionally trade in narrow ranges, are doubling and halving in a few months. Disruptions like supply chain, labor shortages, chips, and baby formula are happening regularly. In addition, these disruptions can take months rather than weeks to resolve.
The pandemic and economic recovery have produced imbalances in processes that analysts have failed to consider adequately in AI and other tools. Timing and reacting to special events have been a major missing element, especially where supply chains have long lead times. In addition, the problems are not recognized early in the process and the extent of fixes is underestimated. We also misjudge the interaction among factors. For example, rates and shipping times are not balanced in considering ocean shipping issues. We also underestimate the impact of virtual monopolies in industries like baby formula and computer chips. Thus, minor disruptions can cause major crises.
AI and other tools also assume you have proper information and can develop accurate analysis. The biggest problem is bias, which is frequently unknown or unintentional. I am reading about Apple after Steve Jobs and finding that the analysis, expertise. and skills are very impressive. However, their efforts are guided by many strategies, expectations, and even, “What would Steve do?” As a result, the analytical decisions can be compromised.
Focusing on the processes and solutions relating to change can improve our responses:
Parameters need to be managed to improve decisions.
Understanding the risk, the rewards, and the importance of interconnected issues can improve outcomes.
Don’t allow fear, uncertainty, or tradition to lower your potential and prevent you from trying something new.
This goes for both analytical and social issues. The realities and changes in parameters like populations, the economy, political environment, and social values should all be reviewed and considered regularly. The most important thing to keep in mind is that many variables are changing faster and more often than ever before. So, not only do you need to understand parameters, you need to keep up with the latest ones!
The bottom line is that change requires management and not just reaction. We can’t predict the future, but we can prepare for the unknown. Because how things change is just as important as what things change. When you have a better understanding of the “how,” you will be better equipped to respond to the “what.”
Dr. Bert Shlensky, President of www.startupconnection.net, offers experience, skills, and a team devoted to developing and executing winning strategies. We guide your plans for business success and unlock your profits.Our strategy includes clear steps, and over 150 free articles and templates to facilitate your efforts and guide your process. We’re here to help you get on track and stay there as you move forward. We welcome comments, suggestions, and questions. You can write us at: bshlensky@startupconnection.net or call at 914-632-6977
When I started this article a few weeks ago, I thought things were getting less stressful with COVID starting to reduce and the economy booming. Since then, the Ukraine situation has escalated, inflation has increased, and stress seems to be rising again. All of this is a reminder that continual change seems more permanent, and we don’t necessarily know what it is or what it will be. Our strategy should focus on being flexible and preparing for whatever might happen.
For example, my and others stock portfolios dramatically increased between 2019 and 2021 by investing in high profile tech stocks like Amazon. In 2022, those and many other tech stocks are dramatically down. Thus, I am learning to diversify.
Similarly, things like COVID, mask mandates, going to back to work, entertainment, and restaurant businesses are experiencing continued uncertainty rather than a straight return to normality. In contrast, kids seem to be going back to school normally.
The most significant aspect of all of this continual change is increased stress and depression. While many of us experience the roller coaster effects of uncertainty every day, an increase in mental illness, drinking, suicides, and crime point to more long-term and serious implications.
So, what do we do? I recommend understanding some certainties, watching change, and developing more flexible strategies.
Some certainties:
There are new structural trends that are becoming embedded in our culture. While myself and others often discuss them, they need to be given more consideration in our strategies and programs. These include:
Income inequality continues to increase.
Technology continues to boom.
Bureaucracies continue to be less effective.
Some changes to watch:
The economy keeps growing.
Labor will continue to be tight.
These changes are producing inflation, which has not been significant for over a decade.
Ways to implement flexibility:
Review and measure your programs on a more regular basis. In particular, evaluate the potential of alternative strategies, such as Internet versus retail.
Allocate some of your time and financial resources to developing and evaluating new programs.
Understand and implement programs to better manage changes like work from home, revived entertainment and networking, school, and diversity.
While change and its uncertainty are increasing, we need to give even more attention to proven best practices. These include:
Utilize technology. It’s not going away. And, it can streamline many of your processes.
Diversify everything: portfolios, employees, your skill-set, etc. We can’t continue living in our own little bubbles. Diversifying also exposes you to more opportunities for return.
Be prepared to adapt quickly. Change is a constant and it’s happening rapidly these days. Don’t get left behind because you’re unprepared, or even worse, unwilling to change.
Prioritize the 80-20 rule. It has been proven time and again that 80% of business revenues are generated by just 20% of our customers. Yet, we all continue to waste time, money, and inventory dollars on customers that bring in a lower return. This tendency frequently adds unnecessary confusion and complexity.
Focus on service, image, andculture. These are frequently the biggest (and often least expensive) ways for small companies to develop a brand and differentiate themselves. Something to consider: In the current social climate, people are more inclined to connect with a brand or buy from a company that is aligned with a good cause and/or participates in charitable giving.
Consider structural changes. Open systems in particular have a number of benefits including more effective problem solving, leadership, communication, and planning. It might be time to reevaluate how your company functions on a structural level and whether or not it’s producing the results you want.
It always seems that as soon as we think things are “settling down” and we’re falling into a groove, that’s when we’re thrown a curve ball. This is because we’re utilizing a mindset that craves the comfort of consistency and reliability. We need to shift our mindset to one that expects change because, while none of us can predict the future, we can, with certainty, rely on change. This might make you feel uneasy, but know that we are all in the same boat. Try to remember that staying flexible will make adapting easier. And, implementing sound, proven strategies will not only set you up for success, but put you in a position to effectively and efficiently change with change.
Dr. Bert Shlensky, President of www.startupconnection.net, offers experience, skills, and a team devoted to developing and executing winning strategies. We guide your plans for business success and unlock your profits.Our strategy includes clear steps, and over 150 free articles and templates to facilitate your efforts and guide your process. We’re here to help you get on track and stay there as you move forward.
We welcome comments, suggestions, and questions. You can write us at: bshlensky@startupconnection.net or call at 914-632-6977
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