How change ready are you?

By Crista Henggeler, August 2nd, 2016

 

The forth industrial revolution challenges us in many ways. While escaping it is impossible, we can do much to adapt to and thrive in it, or even actively shape it. Even though I belong to the ones who are thrilled by imagining the upsides that digitalization may bring, I am equally eager to understand the risks it may impose on us.

 

 

One of the eminent risks is the fast rate of change that the fourth industrial revolution will bring. Why?

 

As Ray Kurzweil calmly reasons in his book 'The Singularity is near', we double paradigm-shift rates very decade. By paradigm-shifts we mean disruptive developments such as the internet was at its time of introduction.

 

As the long term data gathered by Kurzweil proves, such shifts  have become much more frequent when existing technologies are replaced by novel and better solutions. If we apply the doubled progress rate to our future, we can plot an exponential curve with a flat beginning and later a rapid growth with accelerating speed.

 

Believing Kurzweil's data, we're just at the knee of the curve now. Meaning we'll see more changes and disruptive technologies in the next 10 years than in the past 50 years. This may sound very abstract and we are not exactly geared to process exponential growth. However, things will change. Big time.

 

Therefore, my core belief is that in a rapidly changing world agility is the key differentiating and success factor in everything we do . With agility I refer to the quick adoption of new concepts, the ability to deal with hardship of change, and to manage the uncertainty for example.

 

This holds equally true for people and organizations. We've seen many companies crash recently that have not sufficiently adapted their business models towards digital solutions, many of them in the retail industry. At the same time, we have seen lots of innovation in digital customer engagement, where going digital is the key driver for growth.

 

But apart from the chances and challenges that lie ahead for businesses, there are people behind these businesses. Having spent lots of hours in supporting the building and growing of companies, I feel confident to say: The most successful people are the ones who are most agile. With a clear vision, always knowing where they want to go, but smartly adapting to the context they're in.

How change ready are you?