Change Strategies

It was mid last year when I wrote The Change Imperative, which was as much a note on massively changing business dynamics as it was a note to self. I thought the new year was a perfect time to revisit and explore how brands and business can use change as an opportunity. The new year sees a glut of predictions, trends, insights etc, but the one I look forward to is the JWT Future 100. This year too, it impressed me with unique insights and potentially far reaching consequences. But in the change’ context, I found slides 33 and 52 most interesting. Both of these were related to brand strategy – 33 (Third Way Commerce) was about how millennials were looking for brands with clear values, and 52 (The Long Near Game) was on brands taking a dualist approach to balance short and long term goals.

In my mind, they are related, as brands are making efforts to maintain/create business models that are buffered from current and future shocks and can remain relevant now and later. I found an intersection of the two thoughts in a couple of places. The first was in this post by David Card on new models of  disruption. The first model brought up in this is “Adjacency Platforms”, which is about platforms migrating into new markets or industries. Apple’s iOS moving to payment is the example given here. This thought is also echoed in slides 24-28 of this trends presentation – the phrase used was Startups going ‘Full Stack’. I particularly liked this framing of the thought – It’s not like a brand like Virgin diversifying to follow an audience, it’s diversifying to follow an expertise. Both fantastic approaches, I must say, because they’re based on consumers who believe in the brand’s values. [I believe that Uber is a brand with much potential in this respect – check this]

Strategy to me has always been a series of choices and the tradeoffs therein – to optimise profitability and sustainability. Clarity of values and balancing current and future goals are both part of this. (eg. P&G’s strategy algorithm is a good example of how these choices are framed) Risk assessment has always an integral part in these choices, but the difference, I think, is that in this rapidly changing world, risks of omission (not doing anything) might be more dangerous than risks of commission. (doing something)

My search on how to make effective choices is on, and the first lead I got was from this fantastic interview with Jeff Bezos – regret minimisation. Again, applicable in both personal and business choices. To quote Alfred North Whitehead, “it’s in the business of the future to be dangerous..” and it’s our choices that will decide whether we thrive or decline.