Peter Fisk

“Don’t even try to recover, instead find a new path” was the challenging message from Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient who created microfinance as a way for people to escape poverty through work. He joined me online last month for The Recovery Summit alongside over 80 leading thinkers from business, politics, media, sports and beyond.

A unique pause in our careers, a message from the future, a once in a lifetime opportunity. The disruption of today’s global pandemic, may well become a turning point in how we lead our organisations, and live our lives. Rob Shorter’s “Imagination Sundial” has emerged in recent weeks as a new design tool to help us imagine what we might seek from the future, and how.

Shorter, from the north-west of England, spent the last decade working for the Co-op, one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives, owned by millions of members, and the UK’s fifth largest food retailer. He has now joined “doughnut” economist Kate Raworth and her team, whose model has recently been embraced by the cities of Amsterdam and Copenhagen in recent months, as a blueprint for better growth.

He describes his goal as “to cultivate the collective imagination” towards an economy in which “people and planet thrive in balance.”

The “Imagination Sundial” emerged from a view that we are living in a time of imaginative decline at the very time in history when we need to be at our most imaginative. Rob Hopkins who worked alongside Shorter says “we believe that this decline is first and foremost underpinned by the rise in trauma, stress, anxiety and depression which, neuroscientists have shown, cause a reduction in the hippocampus, the part of the brain most implicated in imagination.”  Wendy Suzuki agrees, writing in Forbes “long-term stress is literally killing the cells in your hippocampus that contribute to the deterioration of your memory. But it’s also zapping your creativity”.

If imagination is, as John Dewey defined it, “the ability to see things as if they could be otherwise”, and given that we need to see, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) put it “rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”, then nurturing our capacity to have the most resilient and dynamic imagination possible is vital.

The sundial contains 4 main elements, described in more detail by Shorter and Hopkins:

• Space … the mental and emotional space that expands our capacity to imagine. Our busy and stressful lives are riddled with fear and anxiety which inhibits our potential for imagining. Space is about how we can slow down, feel safe, open up and connect with others and the natural world to rekindle this capacity. “Morning pages” is a practice recommended by Julia Cameron in “The Artist’s Way” to help people with artist’s block. It is an individual practice of continuous freefall writing of three sides of paper every morning, an unfiltered emptying of your mind, and appreciation of what is there.
• Place … the gathering points for collective imagining, designed for connection and creation, collaboration and chance encounter, encouraging diversity of people and ideas. In Portland, Oregon, Intersection Repairinvites residents who live around a shared intersection to come together to imagine what they want their street to look like, then collectively paint the road surface. The results are truly beautiful and it starts to change the way people see the place. Communities start holding street parties, setting up mini libraries and just generally gathering in the place they once ignored.
• Practices … that connect us and change our frame of possibility. Practices are the things we can do together that take us out of our rational thinking minds into something altogether different, breaking down our internal constraints and societal norms to open up a greater sense of what is possible. A good practice creates bridges between the real and imagined, the known and unknown.For example, “what if” questions are a simple way to open up a range of possibilities. They are sufficiently open-ended that they don’t feel prescriptive while allowing people to shape their own creative responses.
• Pacts … of collaboration that catalyse imagination into action. Action drives belief, and belief inspires further action. It is an agreement that brings together people and organisations who together can make things work. In Italy, for example, Bologna’s Civic Imagination Office works with communities across the city through 6 labs, using visioning tools and activities to come up with a diversity of ideas for the future of the city. When good ideas emerge, the municipality sit down with the community and create a pact, bringing together the support the municipality can offer, and what the community can offer. In the past 5 years, over 500 pacts have been created.

You can download a high resolution PDF of the Imagination Sundial here.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) create a structured framework for developing better business strategies and transforming markets.

Achieving the 17 goals, agreed by all member states in 2015, would create a world that is comprehensively sustainable, says the UN, which they define as socially fair, environmentally secure, inclusive, economically prosperous, and more predictable. The goals are interconnected, like the world, so progress on them all will have much more impact than achieving only some.

Whilst businesses are clearly important to achieving the SDGs, they also create new opportunities for businesses to grow in a more positive way.  The challenge therefore is to embed the 17 goals as a guiding framework for development, particular at a time when companies are looking to reimagine how they work, more in tune with society.

Making the business case for the SDGs in 2017, the UN’s Business and Sustainable Development Commission estimated that they represent a $12 trillion opportunity, combining cost savings and new revenues.  They particularly highlighted the opportunities for food and agriculture, cities, energy and materials, health and well-being, together representing 60% of the global economy.

The commission said “to capture these opportunities in full, businesses need to pursue social and environmental sustainability as avidly as they pursue market share and shareholder value. If a critical mass of companies joins us in doing this now, together we will become an unstoppable force. If they don’t, the costs and uncertainty of unsustainable development could swell until there is no viable world in which to do business.”

Example: Cemex and the 17 SDGs

Cemex, the global cement business based in Mexico City, uses the 17 SDG framework as a way to develop its business strategy, and measure impact. This starts with its purpose “to build a better future for everyone” through better communities, which are built on towns, homes, schools and hospitals. This is about much more than cement, or even construction.

The global leader’s CEO, Fernando Gonzalez, says “Our social initiatives aim to make cities and communities more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. By building strong, high-quality infrastructure, undertaking actions to combat climate change, and offering sustainable products and solutions, we directly contribute to many of the SDGs”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU-jsG2BpKE

“We have identified 11 of the 17 SDGs to which Cemex contributes directly (see diagram below) with SDGs 9 and 11 particularly related to our core business” he says, adding that “a growing number of investors and analysts agree that leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices can generate higher profitability and may be better long-term investments.

Cemex managers were asked to take the “SDG challenge” and write a postcard to themselves stating what action they would take to be an “SDG mover” describing how they each contribute to specific SDGs through day to day activities. Cemex’s Integrated Report brings together this mapping, tracked by specific KPIs, and detailed by function and geography.

 

More on the UN’s 17 SDGs and how they drive business innovation and growth

Gary Hamel is one of the world’s great business thinkers.

Today the world is facing many challenges from Covid-19, reducing CO2 emissions, addressing income inequality, cleaning up the oceans, to overcoming political extremism.

“In a world of unrelenting change and unprecedented challenges, we need organisations that are resilient and daring” says Hamel. He argues that organisations should be rebuilt in order to get through all of this. Authoritarian power structures and bureaucratic processes are a drag on organisational resilience and a significant liability in a world of accelerating change.

Resilient, creative, and passionate – those are the qualities organizations now need, Hamel said, yet many organizations can be described with the words inertial, incremental, and inhuman. He implied that in many ways our organizations are less human than the people inside them:

• Humans are adaptable – but organizations are (mostly) not.
• Humans are creative – but organizations are (mostly) not.
• Humans are passionate – but organizations are (mostly) not.

Hamel emphasises that even though openness, flexibility, and creativity are essential, our current bureaucratic organizations are not allowing us to pursue those qualities. A change is needed.

He proposes 5 steps companies can take, in order to create resilient, innovative, and entrepreneurial organisations:

1. Count the cost

According to Hamel, we need to be honest about what the old model is costing us. Most of the bureaucracy is invisible, so leaders should see what is the Bureaucratic Mass index of their organization. You can find out how your organization is doing with this assessment tool by Hamel and his colleague.

2. Learn from the vanguard

Hamel suggested we learn from those organizations that are leading the way in new developments and ideas. He mentions Nucor, Buurtzorg, and Handelsbanken as examples of entrepreneurial and flexible organizations. When looking at these successful and profitable organizations, Hamels says, it is clear that we do not need the old bureaucratic model anymore. Even large organizations can be led with only a few layers of management.

3. Embrace new principles

Hamel stated that we cannot create new organizations with old principles, which is why in addition to new practices, we also need new principles, and even new problems to work on. Before we needed to think about how to maximize compliance, and thereby, operational efficiency. Even though those things are still important, Hamel implied that now it is more crucial to think about how to maximize human contribution and thereby impact. Instead of focusing on the traditional principles like stratification, standardization, specialization, formalization, and routinization, Hamel recommended us to rather focus on principles like experimentation, meritocracy, openness, community, and ownership.

4. Hack the management model

“Bureaucracy is not going to die in one Armageddon-like battle”, says Hamel. He suggested we need to build many hacks across the organization. A top-down reorganisation is not the best way to get rid of bureaucracy. Actually teaching and letting people hack the old model and innovate on new principles and practices is more likely to work better. Hamel further emphasized that change management is not the way to go, because the change should start from the frontline one experiment at a time. “All effective change is going to roll up, not down”, Hamel concluded.

5. Start from where you are

Hamel advised that we should go back to our team with these ideas, and take a few hours to just consider: what should we change in order to get serious about openness, creativity, experimentation, and meritocracy? He proposed that we would not try to blow up our entire organization immediately, but rather start by thinking about what small steps can we take to reduce bureaucracy and encourage innovation across our organisations.

Do these companies exist?

Yes of course they do. Just consider some of these more enlightened business, covered in my recent blogs and in my new book Business Recoded:

• Organisation made of thousands of micro enterprises, eg Haier
• Teams self organised around key problems, eg Buurtzorg, Valve
• Front line employees drive innovation, eg Intuit
• Strategy is crowd sourced, eg Red Hay
• There are no internal monopolies eg Zappos
• Teams choose their own leaders, eg Haufe, WL Gore
• Every employee thinks like an owner, eg Nucor
• Employees contract with each other, eg Morning Star
• Pricing decisions are entirely decentralised, eg Handelsbanken

In Humanocracy, Hamel and his co-author Michele Zanini make a passionate, data-driven argument for excising bureaucracy and replacing it with something better.

Drawing on more than a decade of research, and packed with practical examples, Humanocracy lays out a detailed blueprint for creating organizations that are as inspired and ingenious as the human beings inside them.

Critical building blocks include:

• Motivation: Rallying colleagues to the challenge of busting bureaucracy
• Models: Leveraging the experience of organizations that have profitably challenged the bureaucratic status quo
• Mindsets: Escaping the industrial age thinking that frustrates progress
• Mobilisation: Activating a pro-change coalition to hack outmoded management systems and processes
• Migration: Embedding the principles of humanocracy—ownership, experimentation, meritocracy, markets, openness, community and paradox—in your organsation’s DNA.

He says “If you’ve finally run out of patience with bureaucratic bullshit. If you want to build an organization that can out-run change. If you’re committed to giving every team member the chance to learn, grow and contribute. Then this book’s for you.”

Read an extract from the book Humanocracy

 

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Many people – from future-looking corporate leaders to business academics, hapless politicians and passionate social activists – have asked how can we use the recovery from Covid-19 to create real, lasting change?

We have seen dramatic change during the pandemic. The shift to digital living – work, school, entertainment, healthcare, shopping, and more. But the status quo is often resistant to meaningful transformations.

The UK-based RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) believes in a world where everyone is able to participate in creating a better future. It’s new “future change framework” is a way to think about how we have responded to Covid-19 and how that can drive positive change.

The RSA’s framework seeks to help leaders to think through what you’ve stopped, what you’ve paused, what you’ve put in place temporarily, and how you’ve innovated. Focusing on these areas will help you discover the most important actions to take into the future for your organisation, local community, team, or network.

Many of the people and organisations that have already used the framework to host conversations are seeking the same exploration: to make sense of what’s going on and think about their journey to the future. These conversations can occur at a variety of levels – from the individual to the community, the organisation to the system. Being clear about where we are looking and why will make it more likely that we are engaging the right people in better conversations.

Are we looking at a team’s response to Covid-19 or are we looking more systemically? If so, how are we defining the system? Of course this is not a one-off exercise, but a tool for continuous learning.

The RSA offers the following approach to using the tool:

Scan 

The first challenge is to see what’s changing. Drawing on some principles of systems thinking, we start by spotting events – the actions and activities that people are taking, the events that are happening, the trends that are emerging. These are the most visible and obvious signs of change.

Digging a little deeper we can see how individual and collective behaviours, relationships, networks, rituals and so on are changing. Underpinning these are structures such as rules, policy, laws, incentives, many of which have changed significantly post-Covid, of course. At the deepest level of our systems are the mental models, thinking, principles, values and assumptions that form the existing paradigm within which everything else exists. To ‘think the unthinkable’ is to challenge these accepted norms.

To shift the paradigm is to open up the possibility of more fundamental, lasting change. In scanning these different levels within the system, we should also consider different scales, from the local to the global.

Map and evaluate

Next, as we collect these examples, we map them on the future change framework. This starts with the top row being those things that are new as a result of the pandemic, and the bottom row being those things we’ve stopped. The former will inevitably be more visible. Crucial to the latter is to see what is no longer there – what’s fallen by the wayside, whether by accident or design. What does that tell us about the importance and value of each activity during – and after – the crisis?

For now, of course, we may not have enough information to accurately allocate the things we’ve found to the four quadrants. We may need patient experience or user feedback, cost or performance data alongside contextual information in order to determine whether an intervention is one we want to amplify or whether it was specific to the crisis response. Waiting until we have such information is an important point in avoiding knee-jerk decisions – and speaks to the importance of the time dimension.

Track

To get to the required level of detail requires us to track changes over time. The actions we take in the systems we work in and the changing context we are responding to mean that we are continuously ‘course-correcting’ and responding to the presenting issues. This stage is therefore crucial in order to determine what, over time, we might see as a temporary or lasting measure, and whether other work and approaches become redundant as things change.

It is entirely likely, as some have found, that certain measures shift category over time. Something that was innovative and seemed worthy of amplifying into the future may be rendered a temporary measure as time moves on. Measures that were relevant in the immediate aftermath of the lockdown may not be those required to meet the demands of the next phases of opening up society. In any event, society itself is in a different place to where it was eight, ten, twelve weeks ago.

Respond

The toughest phase may be the next one – determining how (and when) we best respond to the resulting challenges for each quadrant. How might we…

• end temporary measures in ways that enable us to learn from the experience?
• amplify innovative measures in ways that lead to systemic change?
• let go of obsolete activity in ways that avoid regression to the norm?
• restart paused activity in ways that add most value?

Previously the RSA has undertaken research into new ways of addressing complex societal challenges such as these, defined as the imperative on public servants to move fast and fix things. In the study, they identified a range of methods that support work in complex settings where traditional approaches are not fit for purpose.

We can’t address questions such as these through linear processes of planning and delivering solutions – we are not working in areas where reductionist thinking and presumptions of direct causation are helpful. Instead, we advocate the combination of systemic understanding, entrepreneurial activity and commitment to impact that underpin theapproach to change.

Reflective learning

Of course, models are only helpful if people find them useful. The way people have used the RSA future change framework in a variety of contexts has been enlightening. Organisations and teams have used it to frame conversations (both internally and systems-focused), often in an impromptu fashion or as part of existing meetings. The value of these conversations may never be known, but perhaps, alongside other models and tools and with inspirational leadership from people across systems and communities, such conversations are helping shape a more positive future.

We live in a world of constant change that emerges from the interactions of the various parts of complex dynamic systems, now longer can we assume stability and direct causality.  As a result, we can’t predict, mandate and control events with any degree of certainty in order to bring about the kinds of change we want to see nor manage the kinds of change we don’t. No amount of centralisation, command-and-control management or prescription can achieve that.

Working in such uncertainty requires leaders who “ask the right questions rather than provide the right answers, because the answers may not be self-evident and will require a collaborative proves to make any kind of progress”. The RSA says that such leadership is less about pulling levers of hierarchy and power and more about taking human approach, leveraging the power in co-operation, humility and empathy. And it is those who are able to host open, collaborative conversations in this spirit – with families, teams, organisations, communities – who will be the kind of leaders we’ll need.

With thanks to theRSA.org

Melanie Perkin’s Canva … She founded a unicorn by 30, now she’s taking on the tech giants

Canva is a workplace collaboration platform, and one of the world’s most valuable female-led start-ups.  It enables people to create graphics, presentations, videos, marketing materials and social media content. It has 30 million users across 190 countries, creating 80 designs per second, a total of over 3 billion designs since launch.

Melanie Perkins, its 32-year-old Australian founder, used to describe Canva as a graphic design tool, but “reframed” it as a workplace collaboration platform, and therefore comparable to hyped businesses like Slack and Zoom, transforming perceptions and valuations.

Perkins was a teenage entrepreneur. She launched her first business at 14, designing and selling handmade scarves to sell in her hometown of Perth. 8 years later, she founded her next company, an online system for schools to design their yearbooks called Fusion Books, which is now the largest yearbook publisher in Australia.

In 2013, she launched her third business, Canva, a platform that allows anyone to create professional-quality designs no matter their level of expertise. The platform is available in 100 languages and has a library of over 3 million images, with new inspiration added every day. Within 5 years Canva had 250 employees, and became a $1 billion-valued unicorn.

“Before Canva, creating a professional looking design was a complex process – you had to purchase expensive software, learn how to use it, purchase stock photography, decide on a layout, slice images, design, share ideas between the team by email only to find revisions needed to be made, then send your design to print.”

Individuals and companies pay a flat subscription fee that enables them to set up a brand kit with logos, preferred colours, fonts and assets, and ensure consistency across their designs, access to billions of images and much more, and a print service that gives users the ability to produce professional prints in a variety of formats and sizes, delivered straight to their doorstep.

Perkins says that Canva has seen huge demand during the pandemic, as the world has shifted online, people have adapted businesses and launched new concepts.

“Canva’s accelerated growth during Covid-19 is indicative of the new normal, as more teams realize the need for a more scalable, more collaborative, more affordable and more user-friendly design platform” she says. “Now more than ever, organisations of all sizes are doubling down on building a reliable remote workplace, and are turning to modern productivity platforms like Canva to ensure they remain flexible and scalable.”

Ankiti Bose’s Zilingo … She’s set to become India’s first female unicorn founder – and she’s only in her 20s

27-year-old Ankiti Bose is on course to become India’s first female unicorn founder with her near-$1 billion fashion start-up Zilingo. Bose describes the business as a technology and commerce platform in the fashion industry. The Singapore headquartered startup was founded in 2015 by Bose and her colleague Dhruv Kapoor, and now has operations spanning across Asia and USA. Today, the company employs over 600 staff representing more than 20 different nationalities, and works with close to 50,000 partners across the fashion supply chain. The idea came from when Bose was on holiday in Bangkok and noticed that many of the small and medium-sized shops had no online presence. Zilingo, a play on the word “zillion”.

Carousell … Could this be Southeast Asia’s next $1 billion start-up?

Carousell was founded by Siu Rui, Lucas and Marcus back in August 2012 – giving its small business entrepreneurs the tools to solve problems- whether it’s decluttering or earning side income. “At Carousell, we believe in more than just buying and selling. We believe in the power of possibilities that people bring to the process. Through every buyer, seller and listing, we believe there’s opportunity beyond the transactional. Our mission is to inspire every person in the world to start selling and buying to make more possible for one another, on a global scale. We believe that technology is an enabler to solve meaningful problems at scale. We are crafting the most seamless user experience for people to sell what they don’t need and find what they need” says Rui. CNBC explores how the three 30-somethings are using Artificial Intelligence to fuel the rapid growth of their online marketplace, Carousell

Su Jin Lee’s Yanolja and the rise of the love hotel, South Korea’s latest $1 billion business

In the Korean language, Yanolja means “Hey, let’s play.” To be a successful entrepreneur, they say you’ve got to have passion. That’s something Su Jin Lee had in spades when he started his business. After all, he was going after an industry built on the stuff. Lee is the founder of Yanolja, an online accommodation bookings platform that has reinvigorated South Korea’s once dying love hotel industry and given birth to the country’s latest billion-dollar start-up. Love hotels are a type of short-term, pay-per-hour accommodation famed across the global for their exotic — and indeed erotic — stylings. The Korean entrepreneur started the company in Seoul in 2007 in a bid to modernize what he saw as a misrepresented market. It has since grown it into a multifaceted hospitality business with 32 million downloads and a major millennial following. But what has everyone so hot for love hotels? CNBC heads to Seoul to find out.

Bom Kim’s Coupang … How a Harvard dropout founded South Korea’s most valuable start-up

Bom Kim made history as the founder of Korea’s most valuable start-up and the country’s newest billionaire. Coupang is one of the largest and fastest-growing consumer internet companies in the world. Our innovative technologies and novel approach to mobile commerce and customer service have set a new standard for e-commerce in Korea and beyond. Powered by its proprietary technology infrastructure, Coupang offers the largest end-to-end fulfillment operation in Korea and one of the most revolutionary last-mile delivery services in the world. “We’re on a mission to revolutionize everyday lives for our customers, employees and partners. We solve problems no one has solved before to create a world where people ask, ‘How did we ever live without Coupang?’” CNBC met with the Coupang CEO in Seoul to hear how he went from a Harvard Business School dropout to the founder of Korea’s answer to Amazon.

Chang Wen Lai’s Ninja Van … He quit banking to build Southeast Asia’s next big thing

Chang Wen Lai’s express delivery service, Ninja Van, is tipped to be one of Southeast Asia’s next $1 billion unicorns. Launched in 2014, Ninja Van started operations in Singapore to address the logistics needs of customers by offering them options of tracking their parcels, receiving real-time updates and gaining access to alternative pickup points. Recognising that consumers across SEA want a consistent experience regardless of where they buy from (domestic and/or international) and clients want a singular access point into the region, we decided to expand our network to cover SEA. Our vision is to have a Ninja within reach of any consumer in Southeast Asia. “At Ninja Van, we exist to revolutionise logistics through our technology-enabled delivery systems in Southeast Asia (SEA). Combining our passion for harnessing cutting-edge technology solutions and our in-depth knowledge of e-commerce needs, we ensure that logistics is a hassle-free affair for our business partners and consumers. Just like real Ninjas, we are dependable and deliver on our promises to you” says Chang. CNBC met the 32-year-old CEO in Singapore to hear about his bold bet to go from trading floor to entrepreneur.

Min Liang Tan’s Razer … how a billionaire gamer built a pandemic-proof business

Business is booming for gaming giant Razer. Razer is the world’s leading lifestyle brand for gamers. The triple-headed snake trademark of Razer is one of the most recognized logos in the global gaming and esports communities. With a fan base that spans every continent, the company has designed and built the world’s largest gamer-focused ecosystem of hardware, software and services. Razer’s award-winning hardware includes high-performance gaming peripherals and Blade gaming laptops. Razer’s software platform, with over 70 million users, includes Razer Synapse (an Internet of Things platform), Razer Chroma™ (a proprietary RGB lighting technology system), and Razer Cortex (a game optimizer and launcher). In services, Razer Gold is one of the world’s largest virtual credit services for gamers, and Razer Fintech is one of the largest online-to-offline digital payment networks in SE Asia. Founded in 2005 and dual-headquartered in Irvine and Singapore, Razer has 18 offices worldwide. CNBC spoke to the company’s self-made billionaire co-founder, Min Liang Tan, to hear how he’s pivoting his brand in response — and what it could mean

Image: Unsplash

Tesla is now the world’s most valuable automotive company, with a market cap of $209 billion on 1 July, just ahead of Toyota. It is now worth more than the combined value of the top four European companies – Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and Ferrari.

A decade ago, many questioned the ambitions of Elon Musk and his team in Palo Alto. Just two years ago, Musk was said to be sleeping on his factory floor, as he worked day and night to ramp-up production. And Tesla, of course, has never yet made a profit.

In recent months Covid-19 has accelerated demand for electric vehicles. Tesla also offers a uniquely low-touch experience, bought online and delivered to your home, and recharged remotely. There’s also features such as the “bio-weapon defence mode” air filtration system that has become popular in a pandemic.

Tesla, however is much more than a car brand. Musk has been particularly keen to accelerate development of its Tesla Semi all-electric truck, as the road haulage market is expected to rapidly migrate to electric, and then driverless models. 6 months ago he also launched the futuristic Cybertruck with striking angular design and (almost) unbreakable windows.

Even more significantly, in 2017 Tesla Motors changed its name to Tesla Inc. and has steadily diversified its business activities, most notably into battery energy storage, for both home and large-scale use. It also acquired Solar City, the solar roof tile business. Musk described Tesla’s purpose as “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”.

Combining the capabilities in battery technology and vehicle development has particularly excited investment analysts, Musk has revealed plans for a “million mile” battery lasting up to 16 years, which Tesla’s Chinese supplier Catl has been working on and which is predicted to significantly lower the cost of electric vehicles.

Perhaps Tesla’s situation helps to explain why stock markets are proving remarkably immune to the economic turmoil created by the global pandemic, and felt by most of us right now. While stores are closed, jobs lost and the future seems uncertain, stock markets are booming, above pre-pandemic levels of early 2020, and around 10% up on last year.

Why? Firstly a stock market, like the value of any company, is a reflection of future potential profits, rather than current profitability. This is tempered by confidence in the future, which is still strong in the mid to longer-term. Secondly, most stocks are held by the wealthiest in society, who are less affected. And third, technology companies like Amazon and Apple, Google and Microsoft have done well during lockdown, as life has migrated to digital platforms, and are by far the largest players in the markets.

“There has never been a moment quite like this” said Cosimo Turroturro, as he introduced The Recovery Summit, an ambitious thought leadership ultra-marathon, a 40 hour webinar over 5 days.  With a global audience of almost 10,000 people, inspired by 80 of the world’s leading minds, he continued “Individually and together we face challenges we have never encountered, but also opportunities which we have never had before.”

Participants included:

• Joseph Stiglitz – Nobel Laureate, ex Chief Economist at World Bank
• Paul Romer – Nobel Laureate, ex Chief Economist at World Bank
• Prof. Andrés Velasco – Dean of London School of Economics, former G20 member
• Muhammad Yunus – Nobel Peace Prize, Grameen Bank
• Jacques Attali – economist and social theorist, advisor to French presidents
• Ingrid Betancourt – anti-corruption activist who spent six years in captivity
• Dr Moisés Naím – international columnist, expert on global politics
• Pierluigi Collina – FIFA Referee’s Chairman, six times referee of the year
• Jim Hagemann Snabe – co-author of Dreams and Details, ex CEO of SAP
• Lord Sebastian Coe – President of World Athletics, Olympic Gold medallist
• David Coulthard MBE – former British Formula 1 racing driver

Here are some of the best quotes, from leaders of business, politics, sports and much more:

“Now is the time for leaders to accelerate the future, with an inspiring dream and practical capabilities” began Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of Siemens and Maersk, describing how to look beyond traditional strategies. He went on, “now is the time to be bold”, to create a more human, digital and collaborative future, and “to unleash human potential.”

“We were already in a bad place” declared Dambisa Moyo, Zambian economist, and board member of Chevron and 3M. “Economic growth had stagnated, and governments had built up enormous debt or deficits. The pandemic has accelerated this”.

“The pandemic has challenged old ideas of nations, hierarchies and strategies, and is teaching us that networks, collaboration, and communities across borders, are more important and powerful” said Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics. “As leaders, we have suddenly found that with technology we can be much more accessible, collaborative and productive.”

“There are two crises – one is a health crisis, the other an economic crisis – that will hit the emerging world hardest. We already have a cure for the latter, if we have the courage to act now” added Andrés Velasco, Chilean economist, based at the London School of Economics. “People are asking is it worse to die of the virus, or of hunger. What will we do?”

“If we keep doing what we are doing now, it will be a long, slow recovery” warned Paul Romer, Nobel economics laureate and former Chief Economist of the World Bank. “We should be taking bolder action now, addressing the big issues of social inequality and environmental crisis”.

“We’re all now in a high-assumption environment, where strategy matters more than ever, with so many new opportunities to innovate. It’s time to be proactive” says Rita McGrath, strategy professor at Columbia Business School, and author of “Seeing Around Corners”.

“Covid-19 has accelerated change over the next 20 years into the next 2 years. The way in which awareness of Black Lives Matter spread across the world in days shows that we could be on the cusp of a better world” said Ian Goldin, director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Technological and Economic Change.

“People don’t like change, because they can’t see a better future. We like to live life in a straight line. We don’t like to deviate. If we reach an obstacle, we crash. Instead we need the courage to explore new directions” proclaimed Bertrand Piccard, Swiss psychiatrist, round the world balloonist, and founder of Solar Impulse. “Like a balloonist we need to increase altitude, by dropping our ballast”.

“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf … then take a moment to say ‘kia kaha’ to yourself, the Maori word for stay strong” said global adventurer Debra Searle, before also suggesting “Protect your mindset with the habit stack: songs, exercise, meditation, sleep, humour, and generosity”.

“There will not be a new normal (normal = ordinary, average, predictable) … Instead the new context is about 5Cs: chaos + crisis + complexity + confusion + constant change (chaos = exponential speed and uncertainty)” said Paulo Gallo, author of “The Compass and the Radar”.

“We need to build a new DNA for organisations that anticipates more shocks, that enjoys disruption, that thrives on constant change” said South African futurist Graeme Codrington. “Covid-19 is a unique invitation to reimagine our future”

“Asian companies have been much faster to adapt and pivot during the pandemic, to move online, to change activity” observed IMD’s Howard Yu, adding “Leadership teams need to be much more diverse – ethnicity, gender, religion, age, whatever – to embrace cognitive diversity”.

“I believe in 5 keys to personal resilience: clarity of purpose, perform under pressure, think positively, build a support network, manage your energy” shared Anna Hemmings, the six times world champion canoeist.

“How do you become an invincible company? Constantly reinvent yourself, compete on superior business models, transcend industry boundaries” said Alex Osterwalder, having just launched his great new book, “The Invincible Company”.

“We are only conscious of 5% of our behaviours. Most new behaviours become habits after around 66 days. Use marginal gains to make progressive change” said Steven MacGregor, author of “Chief Wellbeing Officer”, and founder of the Leadership Academy of Barcelona.

“Now is the time to try new things, the greatest risk is not to risk. We all need a challenger mindset, deep curiosity and fearless courage” offered Inc magazine columnist Terence Mauri summarising it as “a bit of Finnish sisu, and a bit of Japanese soshin”.

“Success in life is defined by how we overcome adversity” concluded Jay Sean, the record breaking R&B singer/songwriter, reflecting on how we are all faced with moments of big choices, “to take the blue pill or red pill” and “how we respond defines the next stage of our journey.”

Time to be bold and braver, to look forwards with courage and imagination, to create a better future for yourself, your business and the world.

So which are the most celebrated “failures” of the last decade, and what can we learn from them?

Some of them failed because they were fanciful dreams of technologists with little real insight into the latent needs of customers, others were just plain crazy, and some were just ahead of their time.

Google Allo (2018)

Google has tried again and again to field a viable messaging alternative to Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Apple’s iMessage, and it has failed each time. The latest casualty is Allo, which launched in September 2016. After less than two years pushing Allo, Google announced in April 2018 that it was “pausing” development of the app in favor of a new messaging effort it’s calling “Chat.” This means Allo is effectively dead, even if it is supported for a few more years. Google’s own head of messaging Anil Sabharwal admitted that Allo didn’t even come close to meeting Google’s hopes. “We set out to build this thing, that it [would be] a product that we would get hundreds of millions of people to get excited about and use,” he told The Verge. “And where we are, we’re not feeling like we’re on that trajectory.” Why did Allo fail? To begin with, it did not have the advantage of being the default messenger on Android phones. Google had to push users to download it, and this was difficult, given the traction other platforms had already gained. Plus, Allo had no real differentiating features. It was basically just another good enough messaging app. In the end, only 50 million people downloaded it, The Verge reported. Allo’s failure can be seen as another Google defeat in the field of social apps. It’s not just messaging that has been a third rail for Google. More broadly, social apps have been a problem. From Google+ to Google Wave to Google Buzz (see above), and now Allo, Google can’t seem to build social platforms. It seems Google is better at delivering services like search, advertising, email and maps, than it is at content and connecting people.

Facebook Portal (2018)

Facebook Portal was released in 2018 as a standalone device designed to help people hold better video conferences. With computer vision AI and an auto-zoom feature, the Portal was able to follow people as they moved to better frame the video shot. The device was released just 8 months after the Cambridge Analytica scandal that embroiled Facebook, and consumers were suspicious of adding a Facebook camera to their living rooms. As Recode put it in its October 2018 review, “Facebook could improve video calls. The question is whether people will let it.” The answer so far has been a resounding “no.” Facebook initially said that the devices wouldn’t collect data for ad targeting, but reversed this statement shortly afterward, acknowledging that data from the devices could be used to inform the ads Portal owners see on other Facebook properties. Sales remained “very low” through the device’s first year, according to Fast Company, with some sources suggesting Facebook shipped as few as 54,000 units of the product’s first iteration. Facebook released a smaller, second-generation version of the device in September 2019. It remains to be seen whether global social distancing in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak will spark a surge in sales.

Mercedes Home Battery Pack (2017)

Daimler, parent of the Mercedes-Benz car brand, decided that it would go after the US home energy market. It teamed up with Vivint, which installs solar systems, and marketed an energy storage battery that looked quite a bit like Tesla’s Powerwall system. Like the Powerwall, the Mercedes-Benz battery was intended to store energy from solar panels. The major flaw in solar power is that it obviously is basically produced during the day and in sunny weather, so storage systems are needed if electricity is to be generated at other times. However, in April 2018 Mercedes-Benz announced that it’s dissolving the US subsidiary set up to run this home energy business and ceasing manufacturing of home battery packs globally. What happened to the would-be Tesla killer? It was expensive for the market, and basically over-served its customers. One Daimler spokesperson told Greentech Media: “It’s not necessary to have a car battery at home: They don’t move, they don’t freeze. It’s over-designed.”

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (2016)

Few corporate flops on this list have been as explosive as this one. Launched in August of 2016, the Note 7 boasted powerful hardware and had consumers chomping at the bit to get their hands on them. The anticipation quickly faded, though, as reports of Note 7s catching fire started hitting the news. By September 2, Samsung had stopped sales of the device. Next came a formal recall in the US on September 15th and a worldwide recall on October 10th. The product was completely abandoned on October 11th.

Keurig KOLD (2016)

The well-known coffee maker tried to get into the at-home soda machine market, but failed big time. For one, its machine was $369 compared to $79 for SodaStream. The pods themselves were also expensive, ranging from $3.99 to $4.99 for a pack of four. Each pod made an 8 oz glass of soda. Users complained that the machine was too loud and took a long time to cool down. The company pulled the product.

Nintendo Wii U (2016)

While a few Wii U consoles were still being produced early in 2017 in the Japanese market, the system that marked a low point in Nintendo’s corporate history was effectively killed at the end of 2016. The Wii U was a resounding failure. The Wii U sold only about 13.6M units in its entire lifetime. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch, its successor launched in 2017, is expected to sell that many units by April of 2018, just a year or so after launch. What made the Wii U so unlovable? It was a relatively complicated system with a UI that wasn’t up to the already mobile-influenced user standards of the time. It failed to innovate on its predecessors’ introduction of physical play and motion as an integral aspect of gaming. It also had relatively few hit titles tied to it once the buzz around launch titles had dissipated, so enthusiasm wore off. Nintendo’s huge success with the Switch, a whole new type of console that is portable and is being bolstered by a succession of hit games, shows the Japanese company learned its lessons well.

Hoverboards (2015)

Hoverboards seemed like the next big thing, until they started exploding. Thousands of hoverboards from at least eight brands were recalled in 2017 because the lithium-ion batteries in the devices caught fire. But the problems were occurring well before that, as several airlines banned hoverboards altogether in 2015.

Nike FuelBand (2014)

Nike’s wearable fitness tracker was well-received by reviewers, but failed to find a following with consumers, accounting for just 10% of the market two years after its release in 2012. By April 2014, Nike had fired most of the team behind Fuel.

Amazon Fire Phone (2014)

The Kindle Fire tablets were a hit with consumers, so the development of a phone wasn’t much of a surprise. But the device turned out to be clunky, have limited app options, and even the Firefly feature (which recognized products and songs) couldn’t win over customers.

Juicero (2013)

Juicero was a California-based startup that raised $120M for its fresh-squeezed juice device. But after it was found that its $400, Wi-Fi-enabled machines were no more effective at making juice than squeezing the pre-packaged fruit with your hands, the company shut down within months of its launch.

Facebook Phone (2013)

The Facebook Phone was surrounded by speculation from the moment the first rumors of it surfaced, so almost any product would have failed to live up to the hype. What the public got was the HTC First, an Android-skinned device whose main feature was being geared towards the Facebook Home application. The phone’s exclusive carrier, AT&T, drastically slashed the price to 99 cents in a “temporary sale” that became permanent until the phone’s death.

Lululemon Astro Pants (2013)

Yoga pants are designed to be form-fitting, but some models of pants and leggings from the yoga gear giant proved to be a bit too revealing, becoming translucent when wearers bent over. Inflammatory remarks from founder Chip Wilson only exacerbated the public relations fiasco. Wilson later issued an apology and the company issued a recall.

Pond’s Toothpaste (2012)

Pond’s is one of America’s oldest cosmetics brands, but when it launched a toothpaste in 2012, its customers couldn’t get on board. Ironically, the toothpaste itself wasn’t the problem — though most consumers failed to distinguish Pond’s toothpaste from Colgate’s — it was the Pond’s brand. Customers so strongly associated Pond’s with beauty and skincare products that they weren’t accepting of a different product. The toothpaste was eventually pulled off the shelves.

Bic for Her (2012)

Bic received heaps of derision in 2012 when it launched a line of Bic for Her pens designed specifically for women. Advertised as being built for women’s comfort and available in colors such as pink and purple, many consumers considered the product to be sexist and its Amazon page attracted a slew of mocking reviews — with some satirically suggesting that they would need their husbands’ or fathers’ permission to buy the pens.

Google Nexus Q (2012)

This weird black orb thing was a media device that could connect to your TV and speakers and stream a list of various music tracks and YouTube videos that you and your friends co-created. It only played Google-approved content (YouTube and music) and just couldn’t compete with other media-streaming offerings like Apple TV.

HP Touchpad (2011)

Following Apple’s unveiling of the iPad in 2010, dozens of companies released tablets of their own. HP launched its TouchPad in July 2011 — and discontinued after only 6 months. Sales of the device, which ran on HP’s proprietary webOS operating system, were disappointing. The product was largely ignored by the tech press in favour of Apple’s iPad 2, which went on sale in March 2011. Just 25,000 of the TouchPad’s initial 270,000-unit run were sold, prompting HP to dramatically reduce the price of the HP TouchPad in August. Retailers sold out of the significantly cheaper tablets almost immediately, but the product was ultimately discontinued.

Jawbone Fitness Tracker (2011)

Wearable company Jawbone was once valued at more than $3B. However, intense competition in the wearables market and a protracted legal battle with dominant incumbent FitBit resulted in considerable financial losses that ultimately sank the company. Jawbone, which was founded as AliphCom in 1999, originally developed military-grade audio hardware before moving into the consumer market with its popular Bluetooth-enabled wireless speaker. Jawbone diversified once again in 2011 when it unveiled its fitness-tracker wearable. Despite the popularity of Jawbone’s Bluetooth speakers, the company was beset by problems for more than a year prior to its closure. Jawbone struggled with inventory shortages and a series of high-profile executive departures, and customer service standards deteriorated as its legal battles wore on. The company finally entered liquidation in 2017.

Netflix Qwikster (2011)

Just as Netflix’s streaming service was beginning to take off, CEO Reed Hastings hit upon a plan to wring more money from consumers who wanted to continue receiving DVDs in the mail a la the service’s original process. His solution: rebrand the mailing option as “Qwikster” and require users to register (and pay) for both services. It was a PR nightmare and the idea was dropped weeks later.

PlayStation PSP Go (2009)

The PSP performed admirably, despite its weird format choice of UMDs for its games. The Go was smaller and sleeker, but lacked the ability to use UMDs, so there was little incentive for PSP fans to “upgrade” to this one. Go also had a weak catalog at the exact moment when phone games were storming onto the scene, trampling this underwhelming console beneath their heels.

Twitter Peek (2009)

This was a dedicated device that just sent out and received tweets, but couldn’t even do that properly, giving users only a 20-character preview of their tweets. Users passed on this gimmicky handheld.

Tata Nano (2008)

In 2008, Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors launched the Tata Nano, an ultra-compact hatchback designed specifically for the domestic Indian market. Tata Motors launched the Nano with motorcyclists in mind. To appeal to them, Tata manufactured the Nano as inexpensively as possible; the Nano was priced at 100,000 rupees, or approximately $2,500 in 2008 dollars. The company hoped the Nano’s compact design and low price would make it a popular choice with residents of urban areas, many of whom relied on motorcycles and mopeds for personal transportation. However, the low price tag led to numerous cut corners in production, which resulted in serious safety flaws. Reports of Nanos bursting into flames after rear collisions were common in the months after the vehicle’s debut. Tata ultimately sold fewer than 8,000 Nanos before pulling the vehicle from the market entirely.

Microsoft Windows Vista (2007)

Windows XP had been the Windows version for five years when Vista hit the scene, so many customers were loathe to change over. Even moreso when reviews revealed that the new OS was less user-friendly than XP. This led to users paying to have their Vista systems downgraded back to XP and Microsoft admitting its mistake and allowing computer manufacturers to offer XP on new computers. It hastened production on Windows 7.

Joost (2007)

Founded by the guys behind Kazaa and Skype, Joost was supposed to deliver content at near-TV quality via a peer-to-peer format. Despite financial backing, an innovative technological concept, and some early content deals with the likes of Viacom and others, a lack of international rights and pullouts by content providers ultimately hamstrung this fledgling service.

Heinz  EZ Squirt Ketchup (2006)

The idea was simple enough: take ketchup, traditionally some shade of red, and turn it different colors through the magic of science. Seeing as how ketchup is the beloved condiment of choice for kids of all ages, this seemed like an easy win, and for a while it was, driving Heinz’s market share above 60% for the first time ever. The novelty wore off quickly and though it remained in production for 6 years, this house on fire had long since burned out.

Evian Water Bra (2005)

As one of the best-known brands of purified water in the world, Evian occupies an enviable position in the broader beverage industry. In 2005, the company decided to diversify by manufacturing a support brassiere that could be filled with water. The garment’s primary purpose was to offer women a cooler alternative to traditional bras during hotter months. It also featured a small pouch that could hold a bottle of mineral water. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the bra failed to catch on and was discontinued shortly after its introduction.

Segway (2001)

These two-wheeled, self-balancing scooters looked dumb and cost a fortune, so when they didn’t catch on, no one was surprised. Now reserved for mall cops only.

 

Most of us are feeling somewhat anxious, frustrated and uncertain right now.

For 12 weeks or more we’ve been living in different states of enforced lockdown as the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps across our world, reminding us of our global connectedness and human fragility. As we work from home, school from home, shop from home, miss our friends, worry about relatives, lose out on business, and watch economies plunge, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with these tough emotions.

It would be easy to obsess about our situation, about our feelings. It would also be easy to bottle our emotions, to pretend everything is sort-of normal or at least will be very soon. It would be easy to categorise our world as good or bad, positive or negative, happy or sad. But such polarisations are not a true reflection of humanity. Now is not the time to grit our teeth, or to simply persevere. It’s easy to try and pretend, most of us do, at times.

We can do better. Now is the time to cultivate the wisdom and courage to move forward with a more open mind, a flexible approach, to be resilient yet real, to engage with emotional agility.

Susan David’s book Emotional Agility is about the empowered navigation of our thoughts, feelings, and narratives as they relate to the various spheres of our lives.

She argues that the way we perceive our inner selves is the determinant of how we live and the successes we incur. To maintain a negative self-image is destructive, and impairs our potential for success. She acknowledges the inherent evolving structures that we possess, citing adaptation as the key to transforming ourselves in order to attain the success and happiness we desire.

To be emotionally agile is to be flexible with our thoughts and feelings, and not hold the beliefs of our past to be immutable, as this cannot lead to change. A seed cannot grow from concrete, only from a mixture of fertile soil, water, and sunlight. We must also allow a combination of different experiences and thoughts to shape us.

Her book explores adaptation and advocates for consistent values as the core of who we are—the only transient point for values being to refine them when necessary in order to evolve. We can never cling too strongly to one emotion, thought, or feeling, but must learn to accept these as fleeting and allow them to move on. Only when we do this can we catalyze and bring about healthy change.

She cites four key concepts: showing up, stepping out, walking your why, and moving on. These concepts emphasize the overall point in her book about creating emotional strength and adaptiveness to change.

1. Showing Up

To face your thoughts or feelings is arguably the most difficult thing to do but it is also the most imperative to facilitate positive change. David suggests being curious about them, accepting both your difficult and positive thoughts equally in order to see them for what they are.

2. Stepping Out

This concept is all about detachment—a detachment from your inner monologue, thoughts, and feelings in order to see that they are just emotions, not you. These emotions are not bound to you and are not an essential part of your being. To detach from them will result in you feeling far more autonomous over your actions and decisions.

3. Walking Your Why

You need to retain core values, as these are a fundamental part of who you are. You shouldn’t give these up, but use them to dictate your actions. They provide you with your substance, your identity and roles, and as long as they aren’t negative values then no refinement is needed. Your values are your driving force.

4. Moving On

Her next step of moving on involves making small, deliberate, and purposeful tweaks to your mindset, motivation, and habits to align them with your core values. In doing so, she says you can make a significant difference in your life.

The pyramid model, developed by Susan David, illustrates the critical steps we can follow to deal with both the reality of our present and the emotions that come with this reality, in a healthy way. The steps outlined can leave us more resilient and stronger than ever.

• Gentle Acceptance: As much as we want to, we cannot control every situation–especially a global pandemic. There is no value in struggling to deny or suppress feelings of anxiety, hopelessness or grief. This only makes us feel worse. By showing up to a difficult situation and accepting it, we are freed up to move beyond it. Acceptance is the prerequisite for positive change.
• Compassion: You must be kind to yourself. These are not normal times: tens of thousands of people are dying and losing their livelihoods. Recognize with kindness that you are trying to live your life and juggle competing demands in abnormal circumstances. Give yourself a break and let go of perfectionism. Now is not the time for perfection but for forgiveness and flexibility. Also, see if you can let go of judging others. They, too, are doing the best they can. You don’t have insight into the history of the woman who is hoarding food or what it is she has seen in her past, but she is scared. Try to broaden your scope.
• Routine: Human beings need routine in order to maintain a sense of order. It’s the glue that holds us together from day to day. When we are faced with the unfamiliar, we tend to fill in the gaps with fear. We are currently away from our routines–working from home, homeschooling, and living in close quarters with others. We are adapting to unprecedented circumstances. This can be scary. So let’s fill in the gaps of the unknown with things that are comfortable, familiar, and connected with our values. Healthy routines are essential, specifically those associated with sleep, exercise and eating. Our bodies and minds are so interconnected and our physical health is reflected in our psychological state. Try to ground yourself during the course of the day by incorporating experiences that are reminiscent of your normal lifestyle. Whether that means waking up at the time you normally would to commute to work or maintaining your family tradition of Friday movie night, the preservation of these small habits will give you comfort. Remember that it may not be possible to adhere to all aspects of your regular routine and approach this new reality with grace instead of rigidity.
• Connection: It’s important to note that “social distancing” is really physical distancing. Connection is so important, now more than ever. Even though you cannot be in someone’s physical presence, you can continue to nourish your relationships, especially if you’re feeling lonely. You need that support. Also, if safe, make sure to hug your child and/or partner. Put down your phone and laugh with your family, play games, do puzzles.
• Courage: Research now shows that the radical acceptance of all of our emotions–even the messy, difficult ones–is the cornerstone to resilience, thriving, and true, authentic happiness. But courage is more than just the acceptance of emotions. Our emotions are data that tells us what we’re missing in our lives. A ‘guilty’ parent might be missing real connection with her child. Grief is love, looking for its home – reminding us of the our special times. Slow down and face into your difficult emotions with courage. What you find there will signpost to you how to make better decisions and take values-based actions.
• Reset: This is the time for reflection. What priorities did you once have that no longer seem important? What parts of ‘normal’ do you not want to rush back to? Gather your data, keep a journal, and reflect on what you learn about yourself. This information is valuable and it will guide you as you move forward.
• Wisdom: Life’s beauty is inseparable from its fragility. We are young until we are not. We walk down the streets sexy until one day we realize that we are unseen. We are healthy until a diagnosis brings us to our knees. The only certainty is uncertainty, and once we realize this as truth, the healthier and more authentically happier we will be. When I was little, I would wake up at night terrified by the idea of death. My father would comfort me with soft pats and kisses. But he would never lie. “We all die, Susie,” he would say. “It’s normal to be scared.” He didn’t try to invent a falsely positive buffer between me and reality. It took me a while to understand the power of how he guided me through those nights. What he showed me is that courage is not an absence of fear; courage is fear walking.

Our time on this earth is all too short and all too precious. Life is asking us all right now “are you agile?”

Let the answer be an unreserved “yes.” It’s a time to recognise who you really are. Because in seeing yourself, you are also able to see others, too. Emotional agility gives us a sustainable way forward in a fragile and uncertain, yet incredible and beautiful world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_6hu6JLH98

The infographic below, from Forbes magazine, outlines how important emotional agility is in the workplace.

Research shows us that:

• Emotional intelligence and agility explain 58% of a leader’s job performance
• 90% of top performers are high in EQ
• Employees whose managers are open, approachable and emotionally agile are more engaged
• More engagement leads to lower turnover, higher operational efficiency and increased performance

Want To Increase Emotional Agility? Follow These Seven Steps

• Release Resistance: to make room for more choice
• Increase Rapport With Yourself: to build mental muscles and calm the mind
• Make New Meaning: and choose the story you want to tell
• Anchor The Outcome You Want: to make success inevitable for yourself and others
• Enroll And Engage With Others: as you bring emotional agility to your tribe
• Build Tribal Agility: to expand and keep change going
• Expand Tribal Power: to help your tribe navigate any obstacle, thrive on feedback and redefine their personal best

Here’s how many people find it helps

Benefits You Will Reap

• 87-93% less time in Critter State (fight/flight/freeze)
• 94% increased confidence that you can handle anything
• 92% increased compassion for others
• 85% increased compassion for self

The Net-Net

• Emotional agility is critical at work and in life overall.
• There are seven proven steps to increase emotional agility.
• The tangible benefits that you and your organization will reap are profound.

How emotionally agile are you? Take this 3-minute assessment and find out.

Find out more in my online seminars on

• Agile Mindset: The New Business Brain
• Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times
• The New Leadership DNA

Thanks to a small bit of contagious RNA we are all now unwilling participants in a seismic experiment that is shaking the foundations of society, technology, economics, healthcare and more. Dan Pink wonders if it’s a message from the future. Klaus Schwab calls it the bonfire of blinkered capitalism. Satya Nadella describes it as a shift “from hierarchies to wirearchies”.

As we move from survival to adjustment, from chaos to catalyst, the next normal (or abnormal) is being shaped right now. The next generation of businesses are being forged. The leaders of the future are stepping up. Great leaders are made in a crisis, and innovation thrives in tough times. How will you seize this moment to do more, to be more, to create a better future?

The leaders of tomorrow are being created right now. 57% of organisations were born in a downturn.

It’s a watershed moment. As the virus followed the flows of money, goods and people around the world, the networks that facilitate our modern lifestyles facilitated the pandemic. 183 countries have reported Covid-19 cases, 3 billion people across the world have been under some form of lockdown, with a $2.7 trillion projected economic loss (according to Bloomberg).

Right now, we are seeing a huge unmasking of our current systems – the fragility of business and society, the consequences of urbanisation and globalisation, our dependence on technology and healthcare. Activities in which consumers are likely to change behaviour most are in travel, shopping, and socialising. And to some extent in work, education and health.

We are faced with a choice to re-build the world as it was, or to realise the possibilities before us. To build stronger economies and more inclusive societies, to harness the power of our resilience and ingenuity to shape a better world of our choosing. We each have a role and a stake in solving humanity’s most pressing challenges, and also seizing its opportunities.

I believe we will see a rising social conscience in business, more future-proofed portfolio- based strategies, an acceleration to digital, a humanising of technology, a shift to dematerialisation, more agile ecosystems of global and local supply and demand, a more flexible workstyle, fast projects replacing traditional jobs, a more liquid learning style … and better leaders who look forwards not back.

Megatrends are accelerating … the shift in power from west to east (Asia continues to grow), the dependent needs of ageing generations (care, infrastructure), the huge concentration of people in megacities (healthcare), the fragility of our environment and natural resources (less is more), and the rise of intelligent, connected technologies (AI).

Driving human and tech ingenuity … pandemic has seen rapid adoption of new technologies, and the “digital me” (belonging and connected) – in distributed working (remote and hybrid), intelligent healthcare (online and data-driven), digital retail (cashless and automated), personal mobility (electric and local) education (hybrid and collaborative).

Creating a better future business… now is the time for leaders to step up, to find a better future, not just recover the old world – more enlightened (purpose beyond profit, human before technology), more agile (networks not hierarchies, fast and liquid), more resilient (innovation not efficiency, future-proofed portfolio).

It’s hard to imagine that there will be a new normal and what it might look like. But since “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” as the Stanford economist Paul Romer once noted, it is worth discussing what we can already learn from the crisis at this point, in order to reshape our economies and societies, redesign our organizations, and improve the way we work, live, and love. The pandemic has exposed what Otto Scharmer calls the three big disconnects: disconnect from our planet, disconnect from the other, and disconnect from ourselves. We can use this crisis as an opportunity to overcome these divides.

• The House of Beautiful Business: What will (need to) change after the crisis?

Next year’s World Economic Forum 2021 in Davos will adopt the theme of “The Great Reset” as the global business elite elbows its way into the Covid-19 debate. WEF will hold an online youth conference alongside its annual meeting at the Swiss resort next January, which will go ahead as planned despite the coronavirus pandemic. The virtual event is a first for the forum and will draw on thousands of young people in more than 400 cities to interact with Davos regulars such as Saudi oil sheikhs, international bankers and messianic tech tycoons as they grapple with the world’s problems.