A small list of musings or if you want, “beliefs” about the inner workings of today’s businesses.

1. random thoughts
about a changing business world
Marc Buyens
marc.buyens@xpragma.com
www.xpragma.com
Notes accompany this presentation. Please select Notes Page view.
These materials can be reproduced only with Gartner’s official approval.
Such approvals may be requested via e-mail — quote.requests@gartner.com.

2. About this presentation
This is a small list of musings or if you want, “beliefs” that we have about the inner
workings of today’s businesses. They are just a random selection. There isn't a
relation between the different items, no system behind, no specific ranking.
In this world of accelerating change, few frameworks or methodologies are available
that can help us making sense of emerging opportunities and challenges. So, having
these “beliefs” helps us making sense. They give direction, they provide context,
they are some kind of rules of thumb that help us understanding the real potential or
the likely failure of new approaches and technologies.
None of these thoughts must be viewed as an absolute truth. As with most things in
life, things are rarely completely black or white. There are always shades of grey.
None of these thoughts are very detailed either. There is much more that can be said
about each of them. However, when being faced with growing complexity, simple
rules often work best.
.

3. Evolution isn’t an interconnected network that allows you to choose paths
as you wish; evolution is a tree and you climb the branches

4. Evolution isn’t an interconnected network that allows you to choose paths as you
wish; evolution is a tree and you climb the branches
While making decisions, we always have this expectation that, when things don’t turn
out as expected, we will be able to recover, to retreat, to return to our starting
position.
This, unfortunately, is an illusion.
Whatever small step we take, it has consequences. It leaves traces. It cannot be
undone.
Of course, this should not be an excuse for not making decisions.
However, before doing so, it might be worthwhile considering whether we really
want to face the consequences.

5. Employees are
individuals

6. Employees are individuals
All employees, even when having identical jobs, are different individuals. The only
thing they have in common is a job description.
Therefore, when looking at a functional group within an organisation, we must look
at it as being a network of individuals having complex interactions, instead of viewing
it as a row of silent dots.
Especially in these times of the deployment of social networking tools within the
enterprise, we must be well aware of the fact that the “social enterprise” should not
be about connecting anyone to anyone, but about connecting someone to someone.

7. Resistance to change does not exist

8. Resistance to change does not exist
While implementing change programs. resistance to change is often viewed as a
major roadblock. That is weird, because it does not exist.
Just have a look at our own private life. We grow up, get married, get a job, buy a
house, get kids: a continuous sequence of fundamental changes. Yet, do we
experience this as "change"? So, why do we do in a business context?
Well, the main difference is our perception of the level of control that we have over
the situation.
In our private life we have, in reality, little control over all these things, but we feel
confident that we will manage. Consequently, we view change as an opportunity.
In a company context and especially as a regular employee, we know that our level of
control is limited and therefore, we view change as a risk. And then, we need Kotter's
8-step change model. Step one: Create a sense of urgency...
.

9. The problem is that
there is a solution

10. The problem is that there is a solution
When envisioning the future, we humans have this fundamental handicap that our
thinking is severely conditioned by what we already know, by the things that we
know are possible, by the solutions that we know are available.
As such, there’s nothing wrong with that. It makes absolutely sense. However, this
behaviour has the inherent risk of scanning our world for problems and matching
them with the solutions that we know, without really asking whether we are
addressing a root cause problem or just the symptoms of a much deeper problem.

11. Humans are not social

12. Humans are not social
Well, this one is certainly a bit controversial, especially for the social business pundits
who claim that “business has to be social because people are social”.
They are right, of course. We humans are indeed social. It is somewhere in our genes.
In the past, working together was a bare necessity for the survival of the human race.
However today, little of this “bare necessity” still remains. In addition, various forms
of formal company constructs, such as hierarchies, departments and job descriptions,
disturb the mechanisms of normal human interactions.
The outcome is a variety of behaviours whereby people try to do less than their fair
part of the work or try to get more than their fair part of the gains.
So, “social” might be a characteristic of the average behaviour of individuals, but
don’t count on it too much.
.

13. Youngsters are
adults

14. Youngsters are adults
Well, this isn’t really a scientifically correct statement, but what we mean by this is
that we largely overestimate our ability to “change” individuals. Countless amounts
of time and money are spent on training programs that will not deliver any result.
Reality is that, once grown up, there is very little that will ever change to our
“personality”, even when having to face extreme challenges. This does not mean
that we can no longer learn. If you are an introvert, very likely you might not like
speaking in public. However, this is something you can learn; you can become a
skilled presenter; you might even like doing it. Still, you remain an introvert and it will
show in a myriad of situations in your day-to-day activities.
Far too many training programs try to address aspects of our personality that cannot
be changed. You can bring individuals in situations that are unfamiliar, making them
to react in a “different” way. However, once these artificial conditions disappear,
everything returns to normal.
You cannot transform a mule into a race horse. You simply have to make sure that
you hire the right individuals for your business.

15. When being faced with new challenges, failure is rarely
caused by not understanding the new paradigms, but rather
by our belief of understanding the old ones

16. When being faced with new challenges, failure is rarely caused by not
understanding the new paradigms, but rather by our belief of understanding the old
ones
Each time a new technology emerges, sales people and consultants will rush into
your office, explaining you how this great new technology will “transform” your
business.
Granted, many of these new technologies can really add value. However, in most
cases, they are only “transformational” to the extent that you did not understand,
implement and use the previous generation of solutions.
So, try understanding why this new solution can claim to be really transformational in
your specific business context and fix before you buy.
.
.

17. Quantum entanglement is OK,
even for engineers

18. Quantum entanglement is OK, even for engineers
Quantum entanglement is one of these weird phenomena in quantum physics
whereby it has been found that, in specific situations, two particles are still able to
“influence” each other while, according to today’s theories, this should be impossible
(e.g. because they move away from each other at light speed).
It is one of these things that make life interesting: to know that there are still things
to discover.
But also in business, there is still much to learn and to discover. In today’s increasingly
complex world, little of the traditional management wisdom still holds. In this new
complex business world, companies will no longer be able to control and to plan
every aspect of their business environment. The complexity just gets too great.
Instead, they must organise for better adaptability, resilience and recoverability,
which are all competences that call for less hierarchical control and more self-control
at all levels of the organisation.
.
.

19. The solution is never the
reason for the success

20. The solution is never the reason for the success
In management literature there is this very popular thing, called the “business case”.
The concept is simple. Solution ‘X’ is a current hype, so you look how successful
company ‘Y’ is using it, a so-called “best practice”. Or you examine a number of
successful companies and you look for what they have in common, a so-called “driver
for success”.
The problem with approaches like this is that they look at the relationship between
business success and a single dimension of the business activity. That can be
interesting. However, such approach also suggests that there is a causal link between
that single dimension and the business success.
Unfortunately, reality is that successful companies never are successful just because
they are excellent in just this single aspect of their business. They are successful
because they are excellent in every aspect of their business.
So, the only thing the business case really tells us is that, even when using this “great
new solution”, you can still be successful.
.
.

21. Colour

22. Colour
Sitting on the train in front of two Muslim girls
Both very traditionally dressed wearing white kerchiefs
Vividly talking about their planned visit to the hairdresser
To have their hair coloured
Sometimes, everything seems perfectly normal in this crazy world
In far too many aspects of our business activities, we think to know and to
understand and we take decisions, based upon this understanding. Yet, in most
cases, this understanding is incorrect, based on perceptions or, at least, very
incomplete.
There are no miracle remedies for this, no tools that we can buy. We just have to
experience it the hard way.
.

23. annex

24. Creative Commons
Roger Blackwell
Vatsek
kevindooley
Shazron
Army Medicine istolethetv pugetsoundphotowalks korobokkuru
ShellVacationsHospitality flguardian2
markhillary

25. Creative Commons
Kevindooley http:// www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/
Shazron http://www.flickr.com/photos/shazron/
Vatsek http://www.flickr.com/photos/25951201@N07/
Roger Blackwell http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogerblackwell/
Army Medicine http://www.flickr.com/photos/armymedicine/
Istolethetv http://www.flickr.com/photos/istolethetv/
Pugetsoundphotowalks http://www.flickr.com/photos/25636851@N03/
Korobokkuru http://www.flickr.com/photos/97172203@N00/
Markhillary http://www.flickr.com/photos/markhillary/
ShellVacationsHospitality http://www.flickr.com/photos/28685147@N04/
Flguardian2 http://www.flickr.com/photos/flguardian2/flguardian2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flguardian2/flguardian2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flguardian2/