Peter Fisk

How does the turmoil of recent years give leaders an unprecedented opportunity to redesign global strategies and systems and to “remobilize” toward a smarter, more resilient, and equitable future?

How can leaders faced with tremendous global upheaval create more resilient and trustworthy systems?

In the new book The Great Remobilization, my good friends and business school colleagues Mark Esposito, and Terence Tse (along with coauthor Olaf Groth, and research partner Dan Zehr) diagnose tectonic shifts in the global economy with an eye toward designing a smarter “operating system” for the world.

Through their FLP-IT (forces, logic, phenomena, impact, and triage) framework for strategic leadership, the authors chart a path forward, providing guidance for a new breed of “design activist leader.”

Focusing on key tectonic shifts they call the Five Cs they examine the implications that new forces and logics will have on countries, organizations, and individuals:

• Covid and pandemic management
• cognitive economy and crypto
• Cybersecurity
• Climate change and carbon management
• China

Drawing from one hundred interviews and conversations with top-level executives, entrepreneurs, policymakers, diplomats, generals, scholars, and other leading experts from around the world, the authors show how to create new inclusive visions with the aim of rebuilding the trust that will allow for both human and economic growth.

The Great Remobilization  illustrates the rare opportunity that we have in this historic moment to actively redesign our fragile, overpressurised global systems and develop new strategies and leadership approaches for the future.

More about FLP-IT

The FLP-IT framework sets out a series of analytical steps that will help individuals and organizations make better sense of the current environment, and then begin to turn the threats and opportunities they identify into growth going forward:

• Forces: Understand the new forces, or the amplification of existing forces that create critical uncertainties and impact our lives and businesses. For example, what tech providers are positively or negatively impacted by the pandemic? Will new political administrations in the U.S. and Europe elevate or depress regulation of the digital economy and society? What will emerge from advancements in cutting-edge technologies that were unleashed by the pandemic? A fuller understanding of these new forces will help you more accurately assess how current events are transforming the settings in which firms operate and reshaping the business landscape.
• Logic: As you gain a better sense for these key forces, determine the new and emerging logic developing in our societies, industries and fields. These days it is particularly cliche to hear about the “new normals” with which we need to cope, so look instead for the evolving logics that explain the evolution of your environment. Will our economies, industries and lives bounce back quickly once a vaccine is approved, or will we struggle to recapture growth and vitality? Will we be stuck to a geometry of crisis (e.g. the V-shape, W-shape, or Elongated Bathtub)? If we do roar back, how will we normalize business and society? Will we live in an era of continuous “Coronomics,” with a faster oscillation between contraction and expansion as every new virus and non-virus disruption hits? Will technocracies triumph as other countries drift toward populism and away from science?
• Patterns: With a sense of the logic at play in these turbulent times, visualize the new patterns and phenomena emerging from interactions between actors in your world. Who gains and who loses? Which business models will prevail? How will a decentralized supply chain change marginal revenue and costs? Will cities suffer brain drains as virtual work nomads seek new physical spaces, and will this phenomenon change spending, consumption and taxation? How will education and training change to allow workers far more flexibility to learn and earn simultaneously? And how will a hybridized workforce compete with the vibrancy of brick-and-mortar economies, mainly in the developing markets, as consumption and social interactions stagger.
• Implications: Now, draw conclusions about the implications these forces, logics ( multiple plausible futures) and patterns will create for your company, community and family. For businesses, this might come in the form of a value chain impact assessment based on observations gleaned from the FLP steps in this framework. Where are the vulnerable links in the value chain, and where are the new opportunities to strengthen and diversify it? What specialized platforms might emerge, or what technologies could you develop in-house to enhance smart procurement and supply chains as the world moves toward a more systematic acceptance of open and frugal solutions?
• Triage: The true value of identifying the implications of these forces, logics and patternsemerges from the development of a new portfolio of business activities, units and products that can respond to discontinuities with greater adaptability. To realize that value, though, you have to triage the existing elements of your portfolio. This might require the elimination of portfolio elements that cannot adapt to a constantly shifting “non-normal” – or at least accommodate a reality in which radical transformation will periodically occur. This frees up capital and attention that then provides oxygen for activities that are less rigidly pegged to one type of normal or one dimension (e.g. outside versus inside, digital versus physical, domestic versus international, or centralized versus dispersed). To that end, we recommend a focus on the use of digital technologies and new materials science to transform assets for utility in different market realities, such as selective lockdowns, changing health and hygiene policies, or the ebbs and flows of cross-border transactions. 

FLP-IT in action

The triage process is a logical destination for the entire FLP-IT framework. Indeed, we designed FLP-IT to integrate assessment, foresight and action in a way that helps individuals and businesses generate the kind of flexible growth that portfolio adaptability provides in a VUCA world – no matter how long the down cycles last or how widely the balances shift between digital and physical presence. Most portfolio triage decisions will be determined by the specific business, competitive arena or industry in question, but there are some generalizable recommendations we can make already. Each of the following recommendations offers an internal productivity investment or an opportunity for new actors to innovate and develop new solutions – and ultimately build more resilience in traditional and digital actors alike. How you apply these will vary based on who you are or, more importantly, who you want to become as you step through and emerge from the crisis:

• Build healthcare surveillance into your operational model: The emerging future of work will necessitate new combinations of virtual and physical presence. “Hyperflex mode,”  or the constant toggling between physical and digital, will become a key operating principle for most businesses. This will not be possible without steady vigilance for worker wellbeing and the resulting assurance of productivity.
• Invest in remote facilities operations and new transaction processes between collaborators: New health and hygiene requirements will require more monitoring and command-and-control technologies for fabrication sites. Managers will need new digital/hybrid leadership techniques. And marketing and sales teams will need to craft new partnerships for event management, “edutainment,” and other solutions that foster human intimacy and help replace physical rapport-building protocols.
• Increase supply chain redundancy and resilience: Working with AI-driven smart supply chain functionality providers (e.g. SAP Ariba, Coupa, Ivalua, Gep, Jaggaer or Oracle) can help companies gain intelligence on the health of their procurement processes and various vendors. This will enable faster switching and, with that, greater supply security.
• Reconfigure your service or product delivery: Organizations will need to minimize human touch points and exposure to infections, putting special attention to the value proposition of new service or product delivery modalities. This plays into the emerging trend of “everything at a safe distance,” which generates new customer and employee intimacy problems for brands.
• Consider new life-management solutions: Social distancing is straining relationships and finances are getting stretched by the loss of customers, jobs and furloughs. Meanwhile, the cybersecurity of both enterprise and home networks becomes more enmeshed and, potentially, less secure.. Software solutions that manage the new volatility on all these fronts will find their markets.

We won’t see a simple “new normal”,  more likely we will need to adjust to a series of frequently changing “new normals” as we prepare ourselves for a world in constant transformation. Rather than hoping in vain for a return to what we once knew or giving in to the pain of what’s lost, we need to flip our gaze forward, embrace the uncertainty, and adjust our strategies and activities. The FLP-IT model does that, so we can triage our portfolios in ways that generate tangible value for the businesses and individuals we encounter each day.

More

• Recode: why business needs a new code for success
• Summarising the best new ideas for business leaders
• New books, in search of better ideas and impact
• Inspiring keynotes and workshops for business leaders

 

Working together sounds obvious. “Of course we do” every organisation will reply, especially the leadership team.

But then you have somebody who thinks they’re an expert and can do better, or that there is no time to debate and build consensus, or that collaboration will lead to compromise, bureaucracy and inaction.

Occasionally individual action can be more effective, and is still cherished by many alpha-male dominated teams. But mostly, collaboration leads to better results.

Businesses today exist in a complex, intricately networked world full of greater uncertainty and higher velocity than at any other time in the business world. This is very different from the old, stable world where little changes, and stability and efficiency are the goal.

Now it’s about making sense of relentless change, to share a bigger sense of purposeful direction, supported by ongoing innovation and transformation. Organisations have responded by shifting from old hierarchical structures that retain control, to flatter, matrix-like structures. More agile, decentralised, faster and resilient.

Collaborative teams are often considered better for several reasons, and these benefits extend to both the individuals within the team and the organization as a whole. Here are some key benefits

• Diverse Perspectives: Collaboration brings together individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills, and perspectives. This diversity fosters creativity and innovation, as different viewpoints contribute to more robust problem-solving and decision-making processes.
• Increased Productivity: Collaborative teams can often achieve higher levels of productivity. When team members work together seamlessly, tasks are completed more efficiently, and the collective effort can lead to quicker project completion.
• Enhanced Problem-Solving: The synergy of collaborative efforts enables teams to tackle complex problems more effectively. Combining the knowledge and skills of multiple team members often results in comprehensive and creative solutions.
• Improved Decision-Making: Collaborative decision-making involves input from various team members, leading to well-informed choices. This process not only considers a broader range of perspectives but also increases the likelihood of successful implementation.
• Employee Engagement: Collaborative environments promote a sense of belonging and engagement among team members. When individuals feel that their contributions are valued, they are more likely to be motivated and committed to their work.
• Knowledge Sharing: Collaboration facilitates the sharing of knowledge and expertise among team members. This continuous learning process enhances the overall skill set of the team and contributes to professional development.
• Faster Adaptation to Change: Collaborative teams are often more adaptable to change. The open communication and shared decision-making processes make it easier for teams to adjust strategies and approaches in response to evolving circumstances.
• Increased Innovation: Collaboration is a catalyst for innovation. When team members feel free to share ideas without fear of criticism, it creates an environment where creativity flourishes, leading to the development of novel solutions and approaches.
• Effective Communication: Collaborative teams prioritize clear and open communication. This not only reduces misunderstandings but also ensures that everyone is on the same page, working towards common goals.
• Employee Satisfaction: Working in a collaborative team often enhances job satisfaction. The sense of camaraderie, mutual support, and shared achievements contribute to a positive work environment.
• Agility and Flexibility: Collaborative teams are more agile and flexible in responding to changing priorities. The collective intelligence of the team allows for quick adaptation to new challenges and opportunities.
• Building a Learning Culture: Collaboration encourages a culture of continuous learning. Team members are more likely to seek and share knowledge, leading to ongoing professional development.

While collaboration offers numerous benefits, it’s important to note that effective collaboration requires strong leadership, clear communication channels, and a supportive organizational culture. When these elements are in place, collaborative teams can significantly outperform their non-collaborative counterparts.

In many pakeha-led (European) organisations people who are whakahihi (proud) are common, largely because it has been the norm to proclaim individuals as leaders on the basis of their position and pay scale, not on their function or capability.

The collective leadership philosophy demands traits, knowledge, and skills that result in mana being attributed to the whole leadership team. If an individual in the team lacks or loses mana, then group mana is affected.

Working with Japanese companies, like the global drinks business Suntory, or insurance giant Sompo, I see collaborative leadership in strong relief. The belief in oneness, the patient pursuit for consensus, the belief that strong teams can achieve more than the lone individual.

Here are just a few more examples of companies which embrace a strong collaborative leadership culture, and succeed through it.

• Google: Google is renowned for its collaborative culture and innovative work environment. The company encourages open communication, idea sharing, and cross-functional collaboration. Google’s leadership team is known for fostering a culture that values creativity and teamwork.
• Microsoft: Under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft has undergone a cultural transformation that emphasizes collaboration and inclusivity. The “One Microsoft” philosophy encourages teamwork and cross-departmental collaboration to drive innovation and customer satisfaction.
• IBM: IBM has a long history of promoting collaboration within its teams. The company values diversity and inclusion and encourages employees to work together to solve complex problems. IBM’s leadership has been proactive in creating a culture that supports continuous learning and collaboration.
• Salesforce: Salesforce places a strong emphasis on collaboration and social responsibility. The company’s leadership, including CEO Marc Benioff, has prioritized creating a culture that values equality and philanthropy. Salesforce’s collaborative approach extends to its commitment to the 1-1-1 model, donating 1% of product, 1% of equity, and 1% of employees’ time to community service.
• Toyota: Toyota is often cited as a prime example of collaborative leadership in the manufacturing industry. The Toyota Production System, which emphasizes continuous improvement and employee involvement, is rooted in collaboration. Team members are encouraged to contribute ideas for process improvement, leading to a culture of shared responsibility.
• Procter & Gamble: P&G is known for its collaborative approach to product development and innovation. The company’s leadership values cross-functional collaboration, and teams from different departments work together to bring new products to market. P&G’s collaborative culture has contributed to its success in the consumer goods industry.
• Unilever: Unilever emphasizes sustainability and social responsibility in its business practices. The company’s leadership team collaborates to implement sustainable business practices, and Unilever is known for its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Here, to simplify, are a few of the differences between traditional and collaborative approaches:

	Traditional Leadership Approach	Collaborative Leadership Approach
View of Organisations	Organisations as machines	Organisations as communities
Structure	Hierarchical, pyramid	Connected networks, flattened structure
Who leads?	Individual managers	A team
Who makes decisions?	Top management	Distributed and aligned with areas of responsibility
Basis for authority	Positional power – based on title	Personal power – based on knowledge and strengths
Communications	Top down, holding on to information, exclusive	Multi-directional, more transparent, inclusive
Diversity and Inclusion	Less likely for multiple cultural influences	More likely for multiple cultural influences
Processes	Directive – people need to be told what to do	Collective – people are capable and trustworthy to do the right thing
Accountability	Buck stops at the top	Shared
Beliefs about success	A few individuals have the skill or talent to create success	Success comes from the diverse perspectives and skills of many

A collaborative leadership team possesses several key attributes that contribute to its effectiveness in fostering teamwork, innovation, and positive organizational outcomes. Here are some essential attributes:

• Shared Vision and Goals: Alignment around a common vision and goals creates a sense of purpose, guiding the team toward a unified direction.
• Open Communication: A culture of transparent and open communication fosters trust among team members. Leaders actively listen and encourage the free exchange of ideas.
• Inclusive Decision-Making: Decision-making involves input from all team members, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives are considered. This inclusivity promotes a sense of ownership and commitment.
• Mutual Respect: Team members value and respect each other’s contributions, recognizing the unique skills and strengths each individual brings to the team.
• Collaborative Problem-Solving: The team engages in joint problem-solving, leveraging collective intelligence to address challenges and find innovative solutions.
• Adaptability: A collaborative leadership team is flexible and adaptable in the face of change. Members are open to adjusting strategies and approaches based on evolving circumstances.
• Empowerment: Leaders empower team members by providing them with the autonomy to make decisions within their areas of expertise. This empowerment builds confidence and commitment.
• Continuous Learning: A commitment to ongoing learning and development ensures that the team stays abreast of industry trends and best practices, fostering a culture of innovation.
• Conflict Resolution Skills: Effective conflict resolution is a crucial attribute. The team addresses conflicts constructively, turning challenges into opportunities for growth and improved collaboration.
• Celebration of Success: Recognizing and celebrating achievements, both big and small, reinforces a positive team culture and motivates members to continue working collaboratively.
• Accountability: Team members hold themselves and others accountable for their commitments. Clear expectations and responsibilities are established to ensure accountability at all levels.
• Emotional Intelligence: Leaders and team members possess high emotional intelligence, understanding and managing their own emotions and empathizing with the feelings of others.
• Diversity and Inclusion: Valuing diversity and promoting an inclusive environment enhances creativity and problem-solving by incorporating a variety of perspectives.
• Feedback Culture: Constructive feedback is given and received regularly, promoting continuous improvement and growth within the team.
• Resilience: The team exhibits resilience in the face of challenges, bouncing back from setbacks with a focus on learning and improvement.

These attributes work in harmony to create a collaborative leadership team that not only achieves its goals but also nurtures a positive and engaging work environment.

Collaboration, of course, is just one dimension of leadership. But it is a crucial one in today’s fast-changing world, where organisations need to constantly think, innovate, implement and transform. Again and again. That needs a team that believes in a direction, and alignment to best utilise talent and resources, and a relentless pursuit of better, and achieving more by achieving it together.

Here’s a sneak preview of Leadership Recoded, available live in your organisation, as a regularly-updated and customised keynote and masterclass:

AI has the power to drive radical new innovation through its ability to analyse vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and generate insights that humans might not easily discern.

The recent advances in generative AI to create new content – to reimagine works of art, to create the best pop songs, or write a novel in minutes – are just some examples of its potential.

ChatGPT (the GPT stands for generative pretrained transformer), developed by OpenAI, gained over a million signups in just five days when launched to the public in late November 2022.

For the last decade “traditional” AI has become a super efficient way to analyse and interpret information.  It’s commercial applications range from Alexa and Siri, to Waymo navigation system that will drive your driverless car, Amazon’s shopping recommendations, Google maps, or Dreambox’ personalised education platform.

Now “generative AI”, like ChatGPT, has made AI more creative. It not only analyses data, but creates new data, new content. While traditional AI excels at pattern recognition, generative AI excels at pattern creation.

AI’s progress is accelerating at incredible pace, its potential becoming more apparent everyday, but also with increasing concerns. Mustafa Suleyman founded Google’s Deepmind, an AI pioneer business, and more recently Inflection AI, which has created a personal chatbot, Pi. In his new book The Coming Wave, he discusses the opportunities and challenges:

Some of the major applications of AI in driving innovation include:

• Data Analysis and Insights Generation: AI can process large datasets quickly and efficiently, uncovering hidden patterns and trends that can lead to innovative insights. This can be applied in various fields, such as healthcare, finance, and marketing, to make informed decisions and develop new strategies.
• Automation and Efficiency: AI-powered automation can streamline tasks that are repetitive and time-consuming for humans. This frees up human resources to focus on more creative and strategic aspects of their work, leading to the development of new ideas and approaches.
• Personalization: AI enables the creation of highly personalized experiences for users. Whether in e-commerce, entertainment, or healthcare, AI algorithms can analyze user behavior and preferences to offer tailored recommendations, products, or services that match individual needs.
• Product and Service Innovation: AI can be used to create entirely new products and services that were previously not possible. For example, the development of self-driving cars, virtual assistants, and personalized medicine are all innovations made possible by AI technology.
• Predictive Analytics: AI can predict future trends and outcomes based on historical data and current patterns. This can assist businesses in making proactive decisions and developing strategies that are ahead of the curve.
• Scientific Discovery: In fields like drug discovery and materials science, AI can analyze complex molecular interactions and simulations, leading to the identification of new compounds and materials that have the potential to revolutionize industries.
• Creative Content Generation: AI algorithms can assist in generating creative content such as art, music, and literature. While not entirely replacing human creativity, AI tools can provide inspiration and novel starting points for artists and creators.
• Natural Language Processing: AI-powered language models can understand and generate human language. This is being used in customer service chatbots, language translation, content generation, and more, contributing to efficiency and global connectivity.
• Healthcare Innovations: AI can analyze medical images, genetic data, and patient records to assist in disease diagnosis, treatment optimization, and drug discovery. This can lead to personalized medicine and improved patient outcomes.
• Environmental Impact: AI can be employed to optimize resource utilization, monitor pollution, and analyze climate data. It plays a crucial role in developing sustainable solutions and mitigating environmental challenges.
• Research and Development: AI can accelerate research by performing complex simulations and experiments in silico, reducing the time and cost required for developing new technologies and products.
• Supply Chain Optimization: AI can enhance supply chain operations by predicting demand, optimizing logistics, and reducing waste, ultimately leading to more efficient and sustainable processes.

Indeed, AI serves as a powerful tool that complements human capabilities, enabling us to innovate faster, make better decisions, and address challenges in ways that were previously unimaginable. At the same, we need to continue to explore and address ethical and societal implications while harnessing the power of AI-driven innovation.

Here are some more real-world examples of how AI is driving new, radical innovation in every sector:

Healthcare:

• Medical Imaging Analysis: AI algorithms, like those developed by companies like Enlitic and Aidoc, can analyze medical images (X-rays, MRIs, CT scans) to assist radiologists in detecting diseases like cancer at an early stage.
• Drug Discovery: Companies like Atomwise use AI to predict the effectiveness of potential drug compounds, accelerating the drug discovery process.
• Personalized Treatment: IBM Watson for Oncology provides personalized treatment recommendations for cancer patients by analyzing vast amounts of medical literature and patient records.

Finance:

• Algorithmic Trading: AI-driven algorithms analyze market data to make high-speed trading decisions, improving efficiency and accuracy.
• Fraud Detection: AI models, such as those used by companies like Feedzai, can detect fraudulent transactions in real-time by identifying patterns and anomalies in financial data.

Transport:

• Autonomous Vehicles: Companies like Waymo and Tesla are developing self-driving cars that use AI to navigate and make real-time decisions, potentially revolutionizing the future of transportation.
• Traffic Management: AI-powered traffic management systems, like those in some cities, optimize traffic flow and reduce congestion based on real-time data. Consider Alibaba’s CityBrain.

Retail:

• Recommendation Systems: E-commerce platforms like Amazon and Netflix use AI to provide personalized recommendations to users, enhancing user experience and increasing sales.
• Visual Search: AI-powered visual search tools allow users to search for products by uploading images, improving the shopping experience.

Manufacturing:

• Predictive Maintenance: AI-enabled sensors can monitor machinery health and predict maintenance needs, reducing downtime and optimizing production processes.
• Quality Control: AI-powered computer vision systems can detect defects in manufacturing processes, ensuring higher product quality.

Education:

• Personalized Learning: AI-driven educational platforms, like DreamBox, adapt content and learning paths to individual students’ needs, improving learning outcomes.
• Language Learning: Apps like Duolingo use AI to personalize language learning experiences and adapt lessons to individual proficiency levels.

Energy:

• Energy Optimization: AI algorithms can optimize energy consumption in buildings, factories, and cities, contributing to energy efficiency and sustainability.
• Climate Modeling: AI models analyze climate data to predict and understand climate change trends, aiding in environmental planning and policy-making.

Entertainment:

• Content Creation: AI-generated art, music, and even writing have emerged as innovative creative tools, such as Jukedeck for music composition.
• Video Game Design: AI can assist in generating game levels, characters, and narratives, enhancing game development processes.

Just a few examples highlighting how AI technologies are driving innovation across diverse sectors, improving efficiency, enabling new capabilities, and creating entirely new opportunities for growth and advancement.

Brunello Cucinelli, known as the King of Cashmere, runs his Italian luxury design house in fascinating way.

The Italian fashion designer and the founder of the luxury cashmere brand that bears his name. Born on September 3, 1953, in Castel Rigone, Italy, Cucinelli is renowned for his elegant and sophisticated designs, particularly in the realm of knitwear.

What sets Cucinelli apart is not just his focus on high-quality materials and craftsmanship but also his commitment to ethical and sustainable business practices. He’s often referred to as the “philosopher of cashmere” because of his unique approach to blending business success with humanistic values. His company, Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A., is known for creating luxurious and timeless pieces, with a strong emphasis on using natural fibers.

Cucinelli founded his company in 1978 in the medieval hamlet of Solomeo, Italy. Today, the brand is internationally recognized and has expanded beyond cashmere to include a range of clothing and accessories. His designs are often characterized by neutral tones, fine tailoring, and a sense of relaxed sophistication.

Beyond the fashion world, Cucinelli is known for his philanthropy and dedication to social responsibility. He has invested in restoring the village of Solomeo, turning it into a hub of art, culture, and craftsmanship. His holistic approach to business, blending elegance with ethics, has garnered him respect and admiration in the fashion industry and beyond.

Luxury is independent of time: In his first shareholder letter published in English, Brunello talks about the luxury pyramid, and its positioning:

 

The 8-to-6 Rule: The first example of the unique corporate culture is the very strict working hours. No work related emails or phone calls can be done after 6 o’clock, and 90-minute lunch breaks are obligatory:

Company Guardianship: Brunello is the majority shareholder, and the main reason he took the company public in 2012 was to make sure that it would survive for the next 50 or 100 years:

 

 

 

 

 

The +20% System: BC pays their workers, on average, 20% more than other companies to retain world-class talent and ensure them good living standards:

 

The company is also very careful with growth, and speak a lot about the importance of “not being too widely distributed” as an absolute luxury brand:

 

Although, despite this careful growth framework, BC has grown its revenue and EBIT at ~500% and 1100% respectively since 2009

Brunello uses his personal wealth as well as part of the company’s profits to give back to society. A good example of this is his School of Craftsmanship which he started back in 2013, located in the small Italian hamlet of Solomeo:

Humanistic Capitalism: In every letter, Brunello is preaching about his business philosophy of combining ethics, quality and dignity. Here’s from 2016:

The Honourable Merchant: in 2017, hegot the Global Economy Prize from Kiel Institute for this exact philosophy:

Focus on what you can change: A very nice excerpt from the 2021 shareholder letter:

Here’s another example of Brunello’s long-term thinking and his commitment to society. He calls it a “1000-year project” – the Universal Library of Solomeo (aka “the Hamlet of Cashmere and Harmony”):

In 2021, Brunello was invited to speak at the G20 meeting thanks to his Humanistic Capitalism philosophy. There, he outlined the company’s Ten Ideals for Life and Work:

Read his book “The Dream of Solomeo”, a must read if you want to understand Brunello’s journey and philosophy.

Everyone is familiar with Mark Zuckerberg’s iconic grey t-shirts, but did you know that they are custom made by BC and cost around $300?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walt Disney was never satisfied with making movies.

To him, the idea of a theme park gave so much more scope to add value, to be more relevant and engaging with your audience, and to keep the experience alive.

“A picture is a thing that once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor, you’re through. Snow White is a dead issue with me” he said.

“I wanted something live, something that it could grow, something I could keep PLUSSING with ideas. The park is that. Not only can I add things, but even the trees will keep groving. The thing will get more beautiful every year. I can’t change that picture, so that’s why I wanted that park.”

Disney created “imagineering” as a toolkit for achieving this.

Today, Walt Disney Imagineering is the creative engine that designs and builds all Disney theme parks, resorts, attractions, and cruise ships worldwide, and oversees the creative aspects of Disney games, merchandise product development, and publishing businesses.

At the heart of this process is the “Imagineering Pyramid”.

Even if you’re not building a theme park, the Imagineering Pyramid can help you plan and achieve any creative goal. The pyramid is formed from from the essential building blocks of Disney Imagineering, and teaches you how to apply the pyramid to your next project, how to execute each step efficiently and creatively, and most important, how to succeed.

The principles in the Imagineering Pyramid each fall into one of five categories or groupings, each of which forms a tier within the pyramid.

The tools for imagineering are then an arrangement of fifteen important Imagineering principles, techniques, and practices used by the company in the design and construction of Disney theme parks and attractions.

Tier 1: Foundations of Imagineering

The bottom tier of the pyramid includes the foundations, or “cornerstones”, of Imagineering. These principles serve as the base upon which all other techniques and practices are built. There are five Imagineering foundations:

• It All Begins with a Story – Using your subject matter to inform decisions about your project
• Creative Intent – Staying focused on your objective
• Attention to Detail – Paying attention to every detail
• Theming – Using appropriate details to strengthen your story and support your creative intent
• Long, Medium, and Close Shots – Organizing your message to lead your audience from the general to the specific

Tier 2: Wayfinding

The second tier is focused on navigation and guiding and leading the audience, including how to grab their attention, how to lead them from one area to another, and how to lead them into and out of an attraction. The four Wayfinding principles include:

• Wienies – Attracting your audience’s attention and capturing their interest
• Transitions – Making changes as smooth and seamless as possible
• Storyboards – Focusing on the big picture
• Pre-Shows and Post-Shows – Introducing and reinforcing your story to help your audience get and stay engaged

Tier 3: Visual Communication

The third tier includes techniques of visual communication that are used throughout the parks in different ways. You’ll find examples of these in nearly every land and attraction. These principles include:

• Forced Perspective – Using the illusion of size to help communicate your message
• “Read”-ability – Simplifying complex subjects
• Kinetics – Keeping the experience dynamic and active

Tier 4: Making It Memorable

The fourth tier includes practices focused on reinforcing ideas and engaging the audience. It is the use of these techniques which helps make visits to Disney parks memorable. These include:

• The “it’s a small world” Effect – Using repetition and reinforcement to make your audience’s experience and your message memorable
• Hidden Mickey’s – Involving and engaging your audience

Tier 5: Walt’s Cardinal Rule

The top tier contains a single fundamental practice employed in all the other principles. I call it “Walt Disney’s Cardinal Rule”:

• Plussing – Consistently asking, “How do I make this better?”

The Disney+ documentary series, The Imagineering Story, has also been published as a new book that greatly expands on Leslie Iwerks’ movie of the fascinating history of Walt Disney Imagineering.

The legacy of Walt Disney Imagineering is covered from day one through future projects with never-before-seen access and insights from people both on the inside and on the outside. So many stories and details were left on the cutting room floor, the book allows an expanded exploration of the magic of Imagineering, including:

Sculptor Blaine Gibson’s wife used to kick him under the table at restaurants for staring at interesting-looking people seated nearby, and he’d even find himself studying faces during Sunday morning worship. “You mean some of these characters might have features that are based on people you went to church with?” Marty Sklar once asked Gibson of the Imagineer’s sculpts for Pirates of the Caribbean. “He finally admitted to me that that was true.”

In the early days, Walt Disney Imagineering “was in one little building and everybody parked in the back and you came in through the model shop, and you could see everything that was going on,” recalled Marty Sklar. “When we started on the World’s Fair in 1960 and 1961, we had 100 people here. And so everybody knew everything about what was happening and the status of [each] project, so you really felt like you were part of the whole team whether you were working on that project or not. And, you know, there was so much talent here.”

Here’s a one page summary of imagineering by the illustrator Jeremy Waite:

 

The great Tom Peters said of the book “I can’t exaggerate the importance and the originality of this book. And that is NOT hyperbole. Both/And provides us with a novel and unspeakably powerful and instantly usable way to reframe almost any problem. The argument is flawless. The case studies are engaging and powerful. And every significant point is backed up by unassailable research.”

“The Four Workarounds” 

How the World’s Scrappiest Organizations Tackle Complex Problems

Real-world problems need real solutions. Often “perfect” just isn’t an option, and we need something easy, smart, and quick: we need a “workaround”, a deviation from the norm.

Paulo Savaget has produced a richly illustrated guide to how to work around rules and norms to solve complex problems, with examples from areas as diverse as cryptocurrencies and medicine distribution. Savaget outlines the managerial and domestic benefits to make a wider point about the advantages of adopting a “workaround mindset”.

From remote Zambia to the waves of the North Sea, Brazilian mines to American biohackers, The Four Workarounds shows how seemingly intractable problems have been solved using unconventional tactics. Through these cases – from public urination to the challenges of delivering life-saving medicine to remote communities – we see how some of the world’s most admired companies are already using Savaget’s research to transform the ways they do business.

Savaget draws examples from organizations dedicated to social action that have made an art form out of subverting the status quo, proving themselves adept at achieving massive wins with minimal resources.

They do this by employing four particular workarounds: the piggyback, the loophole, the roundabout, and the next best.

The “piggyback” solution is when you look for something that’s already working and then pair it with your current goal. Your workplace might have a robust mentorship program, but little formal support for new hires — and coupling those resources could help new hires see the same benefits.

The “loophole” solution is where you look for ambiguity in existing rules. It’s similar to where laws might differ by country, and therefore travelling to another place to avoid falling foul legally, Savaget suggests.

“Real-Time Leadership”

Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High

The best leaders, in the biggest moments, know how to read the situation, respond in the most effective way possible, and move forward. You can, too, according to David Noble and Carol Kauffman.

The hardest part of leadership is mastering the inevitable high-risk, high-stakes challenges you will face. Whether you’re making a split-second decision when your business is knocked sideways or you’re finding the best strategy to navigate business-critical long-term circumstances, how can you be in peak form in those most crucial moments?

We all have default reactions to things, and under pressure we become an exaggerated version of ourselves. We are then vulnerable to slide into our automatic ways of reacting. Often these do not serve us, or those we lead and care about. It’s important to learn to make inner space, so as to defy your default mode of acting, allowing you to make the most of every moment.

Finding your winning moves when the stakes are high means being able to have choices at your fingertips when you need them. Victor Frankl wrote that there’s a space between stimulus and response, and in that space is our freedom. But, what can you do with that freedom? What should you focus on, what lifelines do you need to hold onto? Can you slow time down, look around, and gain sense of what you need to focus on? Can you identify what really needs to get done, what inner resources you can access? Are you able to see others clearly, connect with them, and send the right signals? If you could, what would that be like? How much would that serve you?

Here are three examples of stimuli: You are in a major interview and you’re tanking. Will you go into default mode, or can you make a space? You are with a coworker or an extended family member and suddenly they start spouting opinions that are toxic to you. Will you go into default mode, or can you make a space? You want to buy a house or acquire a company and your finances are strained. Will you go into default mode, or can you make a space?

We have a number of ways to help make space, defy your default mode, and find freedom to make the choices you want. We summarize everything we know and clumped it into an acronym so you could remember it in real-time: M.O.V.E.

Gymshark, the activewear brand created by Ben Francis has grown rapidly over recent years, largely serving a young audience, selling online direct, powered by social influence.

It started out by drop shipping bodybuilding supplements online, before branching out into designing and producing its own line of activewear on a made-to-sell basis. By 2016, Gymshark was labelled the fastest growing company in the UK – and, in 2020 was named the UK’s fastest-growing fashion brand globally, boasting an average increase in international sales of 115.7% over the previous two years. 

Today, Gymshark sells its fitness apparel direct-to-customer in almost 200 countries, and has translated its website into 13 languages to support its international growth. Though its initial birth and growth has been completed online, Gymshark opened its first ever physical store in October 2022 – almost a decade after the company was first founded. To highlight the success of the company, its flagship store is located on London’s prime shopping street – Regent Street. 

This innovative flagship store is where Gymshark effortlessly incorporates its trusty digital technologies into a physical, in-person experience – its aim is to not only sell its clothing, but also allow the community to experience the essence of Gymshark. In addition to traditional clothing rails, the store boasts a fitness studio, or ‘The Sweat Room’, the fitness answer to Apple’s ‘Genius Bar’ called ‘The Pro Bench’, a Joe & The Juice concession, and a multipurpose area known as ‘The Hub’. 

For some people, their Gymshark experience starts digitally – the latest video or recommendation on Instagram or TikTok, browsing the online store or app – for others it will start by walking into the store, exploring the Gymshark brand, and its related services. But these are not either/or, nor a linear flow. Brands like Gymshark have become immersive environments, fusing physical and digital as one, where the customer experience becomes a circular journey, where data enables great personalisation, where brands are no longer names of producers or products, but all about the customer and their community.

“Liquid CX” is all about thinking like a customer, enhancing their experience either through efficiency or added value, giving them more choice, serving them more personally, engaging them more deeply, in ways that drive relevant loyalty, and also finding new revenue streams.

Liquid CX is built on a board portfolios of physical and digital assets that can fuse together in a seamless and personal way for each customer. It goes more options for how people can interact with your brand and buy, how they want their products delivered, and what services they want to take advantage of in-store. This choice is what keeps customers loyal and allows them to choose the right journey that suits their needs in that moment.

For instance, with integrated stock management data, retailers can offer flexible fulfilment, giving customers the opportunity to click and collect, buy online pick-up in store, or buy in store deliver home – whichever methods work best for the products on sale and customer needs. This stock data also allows retailers to use stores as local hyper-fast delivery hubs and offer ‘endless aisle’ functionality, giving customers the opportunity to obtain any product they want, regardless of it being in stock in store.

In-person experiences can be elevated for customers with personalised discounts based on past or predicted purchases, and location-based push notifications. Cashier free shopping or mobile POS allow for frictionless checkout, whilst augmented reality (AR) overlays can help customers to source product information autonomously. With the right tools and data at their fingertips, store associates can deliver unforgettable in-store clienteling, giving customers instant information on products and availability without running to the stockroom, and offering advice on items that may be of interest, based on customers’ past purchases.

Liquid CX is most commonly found in fashion retail, but increasingly in food stores, music concerts, art galleries and sporting arenas too.

According to a recent McKinsey study, customers will expect hyper-personalised “liquid” experiences by 2025. Of course, with the help of data analysis and AI tools, retailers today can offer incredibly personalised experiences to their customers, both online and in-store. And the more digitalised the experiences, the more opportunities to capture and use customer data in useful ways

Some great personalisation activities are:

• Showing relevant product recommendations
• Tailored messages and targeted promotions
• Triggers based on customer behaviour
• Communicating timely at key touchpoints
• Curate content based on the customer’s specific interest

According to a 2022 IBM consumer study, 27% of all consumers say that “liquid” shopping is their primary buying method. In the case of Gen-Z, this number goes up to 36%. Knowing that Gen-Z consumers are born from 1997 onward, they hold plenty of purchasing power and will continue to do so even more.

Retail stores have yet to understand and experience all the benefits of “liquid” shopping. There are so many benefits and reasons for physical-centred stores to have an online presence (and equally digital-centred stores to be more physical):

• A more personalised shopping experience
• Better customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Greater customer reach through multiple online and offline channels
• Increased engagement and multiple touchpoints for customers to interact with your brand
• Increased foot traffic thanks to in-store pickup or returns for online purchases
• A competitive advantage among other retailers
• Better operational efficiency, reduced waste, and reduced costs

And, of course, perhaps the biggest benefit of providing “liquid” experiences as a retailer is the possibility to analyze consumer behaviour with unique sales data. Leveraging these insights you canand optimize every aspect of your store, especially things like inventory management, marketing, or customer service.

Perhaps the best example of a successful personalizsd shopping experience is the retail giant Sephora.

In March 2020 when the pandemic hit, Sephora closed its physical stores. But, instead of seeing it as a setback, they embraced the situation and pivoted to appointment-based personal shopping and VR demos and tutorials.

As they saw their efforts paid off, they introduced their AR fitting room and Color IQ technology that scans a customer’s skin to recommend matching foundations.

As the cherry on top, they provided free shipping, same-day delivery, and flexible in-store or curbside pickup options.

Sephora’s successful implementation of these personalized shopping experiences led to increased market share even after the pandemic’s impact diminished.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgNuwb9lpeg

This week I met Quantic Brains, a Spanish AI-based start-up which is reinventing the way content is created for books, videos and games.

I sat down with founders Manuel Lucania and Julio Covacho, chose a title for my next book, and within 10 minutes it was done. A structured narrative, extensively researched, with commentary and insight, which I could then edit and enhance, all about my specific, chosen topic.

When I normally write books – I have written 10 of them, starting with Marketing Genius, through to the most recent, Business Recoded – it takes me about 18 months at least. After 6-12 months of sitting around struggling to focus on a compelling topic, with new angles and insights, it then takes me another 6-12 months of long hours researching, typing, retyping, my 80000 words.

I found the future in Madrid.

Quantic Brains are actually more focused on video and gaming content – how to use AI to instantly create characters, imagery, special effects, music, voiceovers and much more for the visual arts.

“Our vision is that in 5 years most of the films, series, and video games will be automatically generated with none or very little human intervention. Our goal is to democratize audiovisual content creation with AI powered tools for professionals and non professionals.”

“We develop AI brains that encapsulate different sets of skills to automatize character behaviours (talk, walk, swim, fight…). Once the character is on scene, it interacts with other characters and with exclusive smart objects that can only be used by our brains (sword, piano, phone, ball).”

Maybe my next book will be available very soon …

 

Peter Drucker, the Austrian-born consultant turned academic, is often regarded as the father of modern management thinking. He also played a crucial role in the development of consulting firms McKinsey and Bain.

Although he authored 39 best-selling management books, Drucker was more motivated by working directly with business leaders, coaching and challenging them to think different, bigger and better.

Here are 15 of his wisdoms

• Whenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done by a monomaniac on a mission.
• The purpose of a business is to create a customer.
• The best way to predict the future is to create it.
• If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.
• Knowledge is the source of wealth. Applied to tasks we already know, it becomes productivity. Applied to new jobs, it becomes innovation…
• People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.
• Innovation opportunities do not come with the tempest but with the rustling of the breeze.
• Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship that endows resources with the capacity to create wealth.
• Since we live in an age of innovation, a practical education must prepare a man for work that still needs to be created and can be clearly defined.
• Marketing and innovation make money, produce results and create wealth. Everything else is cost.
• Innovation requires us to identify changes that have already occurred systematically — and then to look at them as opportunities. It also requires that we abandon rather than defend yesterday.
• We need an entrepreneurial society where innovation and entrepreneurship are regular, steady, and continuous.
• The enterprise that does not innovate ages and declines. And in a period of rapid change such as the present, the decline will be fast.
• No other area offers more stimulation for an innovator than unexpected success.
• Effective innovations start small. They are not grandiose. They try to do one specific thing.

Drucker, born in Vienna, Austria, in 1909, passed away at 95 on November 11, 2005. He worked as a management consultant before becoming a writer and academic, focusing on the operation and leadership of modern business corporations. Drucker was interested in understanding how people interacted in ways that led to success or failure and sought to systematize his thinking to make it accessible to others. Despite being highly contrarian at the time, he gained prominence during the Japanese economic miracle, as his work led to a renewed respect for Japanese practices after WWII.

Drucker is known for coining the term “knowledge worker” and believing this type of employee was crucial for improving business results. He was influenced by economist Joseph Schumpeter, who used the phrase “creative destruction” and focused on people’s behavior rather than commodity fluctuations to understand markets and productivity. He worked as a professor, consultant, and industrial psychologist. His work on management philosophy in European companies paved the way for a more democratic approach to decision-making in American companies.

Drucker believed management was more than just a profit-chasing activity and defined it as one of the “liberal arts.” He drew lessons from history and religion in his work. He argued that businesses needed to have a greater purpose than just profit-making, with a solid dedication to society, to last through the many challenges that occur in the life cycle of a business. He presciently predicted in his book “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices” that managers of significant institutions, especially in industry, must take responsibility for the common good in modern society, or else no one else will.

Drucker was a palm reader as much as a philosopher and was known for making predictions that often came true and was criticized for occasional misjudgments. Despite this, he remained a prominent figure in management theory and philosophy. He believed the nation’s financial center would eventually shift from New York to Washington. While he was criticized for this prediction, it is now seen as accurate with the introduction of Sarbanes Oxley and Dodd-Frank regulations.