All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, ……………………………………
recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. © 2015 Azure Corporation, Published June 2015. …………………………………….
CONQUERING DISRUPTION
A Multi-Lens Examination From 4 Leading Experts by Blair Severn
On May 22, 2015 at the University of Toronto Faculty Club enabling ideas® facilitated an examination
on how to get ahead of the many disrupting forces challenging companies and their Leadership. Invited
Executive guests were indulged with an exploration of this critical issue from the multiple lenses of a
Media expert from The Globe and Mail, a Brand Experience expert from Quarry, an Intellectual Property
expert from McMillan LLP and a Digital expert from RBC Royal Bank.
OUR
METHODOLOGY
AND WHY?
So aptly stated by Tim Penner, Past President of P&G Canada,
"problems don't show up as one function problems, they show up as
multi-function problems.” It is with this truth in mind that we explore
solutions to business critical issues with the multi-lens method, such
as this recent delve into Conquering Disruption.
What we know with certainty is companies at large have a dismal track record at achieving success
with their strategies and strategic initiatives. Thanks to our Member expert, FSO Research and
Information, here is a collection of statistics from numerous sources validating this finding.
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According to a Bain Consulting Study published in Harvard Business School Paper, 7 out of 8
companies failed to achieve profitable growth (defined as 5.5% annual real growth), when 90%
had targets exceeding this growth rate.
5% of all organizations implement their strategies successfully and 70% of strategic initiatives fail
to meet their objectives, as concluded by Dr. Kotter of the Harvard Business School and published
on forbes.com.
Strategy implementation has only a 10% - 30% success rate in large part because the company’s
primary objectives are dissipated as the strategy moves into implementation, according to the
article Strategy Implementation - An Insurmountable Obstacle? found in the handbook of
Business Strategy.
The Economist Intelligence Unit, published on economistinsights.com, reported that 88% of
Senior Executives state executing strategic initiatives successfully will be essential or very
important for their companies’ competitiveness, where as 61% of those same Executives report
struggling to bridge the gap between strategy and implementation.
In an effort to ‘Put and end to this status quo’ we looked into why this
is so? Our considerable experience with the Leadership of companies
of various sectors and sizes has uncovered a common event among
companies that fail to bridge strategy through to implementation. It
always resolves at some point too late, the discovery; “we can’t get
‘there’ from here” (‘there’ being the results we are looking for with the
strategy). The cause of this is all too often the fact that the chosen
strategy was set based on too narrow a lens in the decision making.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, ……………………………………
recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. © 2015 Azure Corporation, Published June 2015. …………………………………….
It is the multi-lens view of the world, an understanding less about our own industry’s best practices and
our own professional discipline’s perspective, and more about how others very different than ourselves
perceive the opportunity or challenge. It is the collective insight from other industries, other professional
disciplines, other functions, and the implementers, those who make things a reality, not just the problem
solvers and strategists, that will help define and design a more robust, more likely to succeed strategic
direction.
THE EXPERTS
VARIED LENSES
ON CONQUERING
DISRUPTION
We assembled a collection of experts from varying industries and
professional disciplines who have experienced the forces of
disruption differently. It is through this diversity of understanding
that we can build a more robust solution to better expect to
succeed at Conquering Disruption.
The Media Expert Craig Saila said; Don’t wait to be facing disruption
initiated by others, be your own Disruptor. The Globe and Mail has an
internal group who’s sole function is to design, develop and undertake
initiatives that are strategically advantaged and competitively disruptive to
the company’s current business and customer experience model.
The Brand Experience Expert Glen Drummond said; Regardless of
disruptive trends, disruptive technology, disruptive models or disruptive
competitors, it’s the customer choosing an alternative experience, one
they prefer to yours that is the universal agent of disruption. Resiliency in
the face of disruptive change requires customer empathy, customer
insight, customer competency and customer infrastructure.
The Intellectual Property Expert Peter Giddens said; Disruptive
technology is one that creates a new market and value network.
Disruption occurs when the price point of a technology is lowered to a
level where individuals have access to it. The keys to mitigating legal risk
is “RAP”; Recognition, Assessment, and Protection. Be aware of the
coming changes. Proactively assess the likely impact on your business
model. Take concrete steps (e.g. register intellectual property, review
agreements, pursue compliance, insurance, financing, government
relations and in some cases litigations) to protect your interests.
The Digital Expert Stephen Schroth said; Ask what it could be, not what
is. Conquering disruption, or better yet, to be the disruptor is not about a
digitized adaptation of the old but about reimagining a new, different,
perhaps even radical, interpretation of the world. It’s a movement away
from improving on what we have to reimagining a completely original
application through challenging assumptions, solving customer problems,
simplifying, and integrating the digital with the physical.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, ……………………………………
recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. © 2015 Azure Corporation, Published June 2015. …………………………………….
ENABLING IDEAS® ASKS
Are you competing with yourself, being your own disruptor to your company’s status quo? Are you in
tune with your customer experience and what other choices may be cause for your customers’
preferences to change? Are you “RAPing”, Recognizing, Assessing and Protecting your interests
against, not what’s now, but what’s coming? And, are you reimagining? Success with Conquering
Disruption will be about how well you action the collective insights.
Learn more: View the enabling ideas® Conquering Disruption event video and the Experts’
Presentation Slides at www.enablingideas.com. Or contact us at howcanwehelp@enablingideas.com.
Blair Severn
Chairman, enabling ideas®
President & Managing Partner, Azure Corporation
bds@enablingideas.com
905.939.9444 ext. 102
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, ……………………………………
recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. © 2015 Azure Corporation, Published June 2015. …………………………………….