Peter Fisk

At the age of 4, Esben Østergaard built his first Lego robot. Four decades later the Danish entrepreneur has developed and sold two robotics companies for €560 million and is an early pioneer of the “cobot”, which are nimble and flexible collaborative robots being deployed on factory floors across the world.

At his first company, Universal Robots, he deliberately chose to remain the CTO, rather than take on the CEO role, as he much preferred the excitement of technology to administration. When I interviewed him at the Thinkers50 European Business Forum, held in his home town of Odense, Denmark, he said he was looking forward to stepping back  from everyday business.

“I’m a curious nerd” he confessed. “I was always interested in technology and changing the world. I studied robotics and AI to try to find out if consciousness is related to or separate from intelligence. I think robots can teach us something about what it means to be human since they are kind of mimicking us. They can do much of what we can do physically, sometimes better.”

He described how he now wanted to contribute more to doing good in the world, and how his wife had sat him down on Christmas Eve with a powerpoint presentation describing the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. She said “Now I have an opportunity to make a real difference” so he set about exploring how robotics could do more for society.

Within three months, the Cover-19 pandemic took hold. Østergaard knew he had to do something, and started exploring how to automate the swab-based virus testing process, as recommended by WHO.  Last week he launched Lifeline Robotics with a team of 10 colleagues from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), aiming to take their fully-automated “swab robot” from prototype to market in just 4 weeks.

The innovation will be operating in hospitals from later this month. “The robot picks up the swab after the patient has scanned her ID-card, and it then identifies the right points in the patient’s throat through artificial intelligence-based computer vision” he explains. “This means that medical staff are no longer in danger of infection, and can spend their time treating other patients who need more human care.”

The SDU newsletter takes the story further:

“In just four weeks, a team of the best robotics researchers from the University of Southern Denmark has succeeded in developing the world’s first fully automatic throat swab robot, scheduled to swab the first patients for Covid-19 already by late June.

With a 3D printed, specially designed disposable tool, the robot holds a swab and hits the exact spot in the throat from which the sample is to be collected. Subsequently, the robot puts the swab into a glass and screws the lid on to seal the sample. And the researchers have tested the robot.

“I was one of the first to be swabbed by the robot. It went really well. I’m still sitting here”, laughs Professor Thiusius Rajeeth Savarimuthu of SDU Robotics “I was surprised at how softly the robot managed to land the swab at the spot in the throat where it was supposed to hit, so it was a huge success.”

Savarimuthu is in charge of the team of ten researchers who have been working around the clock in the Industry 4.0 Lab at the University of Southern Denmark to develop the prototype as quickly as possible, so that the healthcare staff avoids the risk of infection when carrying out throat swabs. “We have successfully demonstrated the world’s first fully automatic throat swab and delivered a “Proof of concept” of the processes in a robotized throat swab” he says.

Test, test, test says WHO, but at the same time, health professionals are at risk of becoming infected when doing throat swabs on potential corona patients. Therefore, a throat swab robot was also high on the wish list when Savarimuthu, after Covid-19 made its entry in March, spoke with his research colleagues at Odense University Hospital, OUH.

“There are prospects in developing a throat swab robot so that robots can take over the throat swabbing work both in relation to Covid-19, but also in all future viruses” he says. In this, Medical Director Kim Brixen from OUH fully agrees. He has with keen interest been following the development of the robot in the hands of the researchers. He also sees great advantage in the fact that the robot doesn’t get tired and bored of monotonous work.

“Currently, healthcare professionals are carrying out throat swabs for Covid-19; but working conditions can be a challenge. The task entails long working days of monotonous work. At the same time, the employees are in great demand in other functions”, says Brixen, pointing out that the robot can also play a leading role in a new strategy against more common types of flu.

“Large-scale testing is part of our community’s reopening strategy. The robot has great potential for mass screening for Covid-19 in the healthcare sector, but also in connection with border control or at airports. At the same time, we see that regular flu seems to have decreased during the lockdown. This may imply that we may need to rethink our strategy against the flu.”

In the shadow of the coronavirus, the researchers have in record time managed to develop a robot that can safely be entrusted with the swab. Now the robot is ready to move out of the lab.

“We have created the company Lifeline Robotics A/S, where our vision is to get the robot out to do good on the global market as quickly as possible: in airports, in refugee camps or where else it might be needed” says Søren Stig from Lifeline Robotics.

While researchers have been struggling with robotics, power management and vision technology, Stig has been struggling to get investment in place and bring together a strong team aiming at turning the throat swab robot into a commercial success internationally, in line with other proud robotic bigwigs.

Other like co-founder of Universal Robots and investment company REInvest Robotics, Esben Østergaard, and Vækstfonden support the project, and if everything goes according to the ambitious plan, the robot will be swabbing the first patient’s throat in a month. “The Covid-19 pandemic abounds. The ambition is, therefore, that we must get on the market as soon as possible. The plan is that we have a prototype that swabs patients by the end of June, and that the robot is completed and ready for the market this fall when the second Covid-19 wave hits” says Stig, director of Lifeline robotics. “Everyone on the team is working incredibly hard. If our plan holds, we will have achieved in 3-4 months what usually takes three years.”

More robots in healthcare

Meanwhile robots have been doing much more in hospitals – from dispensing drugs to disinfecting rooms.

A cylindrical robot rolls into a treatment room to allow health care workers to remotely take temperatures and measure blood pressure and oxygen saturation from patients hooked up to a ventilator. Another robot that looks like a pair of large fluorescent lights rotated vertically travels throughout a hospital disinfecting with ultraviolet light. Meanwhile a cart-like robot brings food to people quarantined in a 16-story hotel. Outside, quadcopter drones ferry test samples to laboratories and watch for violations of stay-at-home restrictions.

These are just a few of the two dozen ways robots have been used during the COVID-19 pandemic, from health care in and out of hospitals, automation of testing, supporting public safety and public works, to continuing daily work and life.

The lessons they’re teaching for the future are the same lessons learned at previous disasters but quickly forgotten as interest and funding faded. The best robots for a disaster are the robots, like those in these examples, that already exist in the health care and public safety sectors.

Research laboratories and startups are creating new robots, including one designed to allow health care workers to remotely take blood samples and perform mouth swabs. These prototypes are unlikely to make a difference now. However, the robots under development could make a difference in future disasters if momentum for robotics research continues.

In hospitals, doctors and nurses, family members and even receptionists are using robots to interact in real time with patients from a safe distance. Specialized robots are disinfecting rooms and delivering meals or prescriptions, handling the hidden extra work associated with a surge in patients. Delivery robots are transporting infectious samples to laboratories for testing.

One important lesson is that during a disaster robots do not replace people. They either perform tasks that a person could not do or do safely, or take on tasks that free up responders to handle the increased workload.

Outside of hospitals, public works and public safety departments are using robots to spray disinfectant throughout public spaces. Drones are providing thermal imagery to help identify infected citizens and enforce quarantines and social distancing restrictions. Robots are even rolling through crowds, broadcasting public service messages about the virus and social distancing.

At work and home, robots are assisting in surprising ways. Realtors are teleoperating robots to show properties from the safety of their own homes. Workers building a new hospital in China were able work through the night because drones carried lighting. In Japan, students used robots to walk the stage for graduation, and in Cyprus, a person used a drone to walk his dog without violating stay-at-home restrictions.

Robodog on patrol

We have also seen Spot, the robodog, patrolling Singapore’s Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park as part of a pilot trial to promote safe distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Built by Boston Dynamics, the yellow and black robodog will patrol the park during off-peak hours.

Far from barking its orders, Spot politely asks runners and cyclists to stay apart and keep to safe distancing measures. “Let’s keep Singapore healthy,” it said in English as it roamed around.  “For your own safety and for those around you, please stand at least one metre apart. Thank you,” it added, in a softly-spoken female voice.

Boston Dynamics call Spot “a nimble robot that climbs stairs and traverses rough terrain with unprecedented ease, yet is small enough to use indoors. Built to be a rugged and customisable platform, ithas an industry track record in remote operation and autonomous sensing.”

The robot is controlled remotely, reducing the manpower required for park patrols and minimising physical contact among staff members, volunteer safe distancing ambassadors and park visitors. “This lowers the risk of exposure to the virus. Unlike wheeled robots, SPOT works well across different terrains and can navigate obstacles effectively, making it ideal for operation in public parks and gardens,” the authorities said.

Starship delivers your groceries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw1wqURD8Yo

 

A robot barista is being used in a South Korean coffee shop to help maintain social distancing, as the country is successfully transitioning towards what the government calls “distancing in daily life”.

A café in Daejeon, South Korea’s fifth-largest metropolis, is using a robot barista to to handle orders, serve people lattes and make it easier for consumers to stay the recommended six feet apart, according to a report from Reuters.

“Our system needs no input from people from order to delivery, and tables were sparsely arranged to ensure smooth movements of the robots, which fits will with the current ‘untact’ and distancing campaign,” said said Lee Dong-bae, director of research at Vision Semicon, a smart factory solution provider, which developed the robot barista together with a state-run science institute.

The robot can make 60 different types of coffee and serves orders to consumers at their tables. It also senses the clearest routes in the shop for social distancing and communicates that information to other devices. An order of six drinks, processed through a kiosk, took just seven minutes, according to Reuters. Just one human works at the cafe to oversee operations and handle cleaning tasks.

The team from the factory and institute is estimating that they will distribute robots to a minimum of 30 cafes in 2020. Korean manufacturers have been researching ways to automate the café experience for years now, but the arrival of the covid-19 pandemic engendered a surge in demand as companies searched for ways to help keep customers safe from potentially spreading the virus.

Adapting to a low-touch economy

The Board of Innovation has just launched a great report on how to adapt, and thrive in a post-pandemic environment where social distancing and low-touch are the priorities for doing business.

The term Low Touch Economy refers to the way businesses across the globe have been forced to operate in order to succeed as a result of Covid-19. The best way to define its meaning is to list its main characteristics so far:

• To mitigate health risks, businesses have been forced to adapt to strict policies, including low-touch interactions, limited gatherings, travel restrictions, and so on.
• Multiple aftershocks in global markets can already be seen. These include shifts in consumer behavior, new regulations, and supply chain disruptions.
• Medical experts and business leaders assume Covid-19 will directly influence the economy until late 2021.
• Businesses that survive the Covid-19 pandemic will be those that rely on business models tailored to this new normal while keeping everyone as safe as possible.

The BOI report says that forced isolation and social distancing restrictions, put into place during the Covid-19 health crisis, are expected to have a lasting effect on the world as we know it. Or should I say, once knew it.

In just a few weeks time, society has already undergone a major overhaul in the way companies and citizens live and work. It’s truly impressive how adaptable human-kind can be when it needs to.

But with every passing day and with every bit of extra time added to our confinement, it is becoming harder and harder for us to return to the way things were before.

That’s not to say this new world will be better or worse. Just different. With many isolation-induced behaviors becoming ingrained habits that usher in a whole new set of societal norms. During this period of influx, some businesses will thrive in this change and reach accelerated success, while others will struggle to find their footing in all of the chaos.

No matter what. We are all in store for a period of rapid learning, marked by plenty of ups and downs and economic uncertainty.

The next years will be shaped by the current crisis

Remember back when a handshake was the standard form of greeting? For as long as we can remember, the handshake has been used as a way to convey trust between friends, colleagues and even strangers. But in the midst of the current global health crisis, maybe it’s time to examine a new standard gesture.

The Low Touch Economy will go far beyond shaking up the standard handshake. We can expect that the regulations driving change, will also have both short and long-term impacts on consumers and the economy.

And with a vaccine still far off in the horizon, we shouldn’t be getting too comfortable. Buckle up. It’s going to be a rollercoaster ride of trial and error, as our governments try to navigate society to a place where we are ready for recovery.

18-24 months to get back to a new normal. Brace yourself.

The health crisis triggers a series of aftershocks that will affect how consumers and businesses interact with each other. We can expect a series of subsequent waves of measures. The scenario below gives one example of what the next period could look like.

Robot sceptics had believed humans would have an edge in those jobs. That could be changing as lockdowns have made humans more comfortable with the idea of connecting remotely. The instructor or adviser on the screen doesn’t need to be a real person, it just needs to think and act like one.

A 2017 report by global consultants McKinsey predicted a third of workers in the US would be replaced by automation and robots by 2030. But events like pandemics have the potential to change all the timelines and experts say it’s really up to humans to decide how they want to integrate this technology in the world.

Having spent much of the last year working with Microsoft, helping them to reframe and reenergise their focus on their markets, it dawned on me how important their acquisition of LinkedIn was a few years ago.

While $26 billion might seem a hefty sum for what might seem like a side business, I don’t see it that way.

Networks are the future of tech companies. Networks are what connect people, and it’s in those relationships that value is created. Value in the form of co-created content, value in the form of mutual opportunities, value in new sources of revenue. And the exponential effect of networks, means that as the network grows, that value multiplies.

Maybe it’s not surprising then, that the tech geek behind Reid Hoffman’s brainchild, Kevin Scott, was the man chosen by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to be the new CTO of the combined Microsoft group. As Nadella urged a shift to cloud and AI solutions, as core Microsoft services to business, then Scott would have the insight into how to make these capabilities work for Microsoft in an exponential way.

Now, as Microsoft’s chief technology officer, and executive vice president of AI and Research, Scott has authored a new book, “Reprogramming the American Dream: From Rural America to Silicon Valley, Making AI Serve Us All.”

The book, published by Harper Collins is a great read. Here is Chapter 1.

In the book, Scott goes back to his roots in rural Virginia, making the case that there is a middle ground between the extreme viewpoints about the future of artificial intelligence — one in which short-term disruption is followed by long-term benefits as technology augments and improves human endeavours.

In a recent interview, Scott reflected on the messages in his new book, and also the implications of where we are now, in the midst of a pandemic. Here are some extracts:

On his rural upbringing:

“When we began the process of writing the book, one of the first things that I did was take a trip back home to rural Central Virginia, where my family still lives, and I still have a ton of friends and family. I had this ‘aha’ moment as soon as I started chatting with people. These are some of the most ingenious and industrious people that I have ever known.

“And they have always been able to take the tools that were available to them and create really interesting things to make businesses that did good things for their customers, that created jobs, that created benefits for their communities, that helped individuals fulfill their creative or entrepreneurial visions, and really let them do incredible and compelling things.

“It just became immediately obvious to me that they were going to be able to do great things with AI.”

On democratising AI:

“Because of open source software and cloud platforms and all of the educational materials that are available online, a motivated high school student could do what was a difficult thing for me, that took six months 16 years ago. They could do it in two days, over a weekend. The tools are there.”

“The things that we have to go solve in these communities are about access. How do you get kids educated, where they have the skills they need to participate in the digital future, to be able to take what is already available to them in terms of these AI tools and build things and create opportunity for themselves?  How do you get them the role models that they need to see themselves in these jobs of the future?

“And then how do we solve things that should be prosaic at this point but that still are still barriers, like broadband access for everyone? You can’t expect businesses or individuals to be able to connect themselves to a digital future when they can’t connect to the internet.”

On AI and future jobs:

“If you look over very, very long periods of time, technology and automation is almost always a good thing for society. We’ve benefited from fire and agriculture and our existing industrial base, and we will benefit from AI, as well.

“There’s this pattern that happens when a new disruptive technology comes along. There are going to be jobs, for sure, that are impacted, but I think it’s actually more complicated than people imagine. Just thinking about it as a cost cutting tool is a colossal failure of imagination. How can this be a tool that enhances and augments human beings to let them do more of what they are truly great at? That’s the right way to think about AI.”

On the Covid-19 pandemic:

“We have a sobering set of circumstances right now, both in terms of the human cost of the virus and the economic impacts. We’re very fortunate that we have a technology infrastructure that allows us to remotely collaborate with our colleagues. Software development has been trending in this direction for a long while, where you can do virtually a lot of your work now, even from an operations perspective, in the cloud.”

“I don’t think that the pace of innovation, at least in software and biosciences, slows down as a consequence of this. I think if anything, what you’re going to see is, when you come out the other end of this, we will have the conditions for even more innovation than we’ve ever seen before in both of these areas, just because there’s going to be so much investment and such a very, very important and urgent need from the public for all of this stuff, the technology infrastructure and our capabilities with healthcare and pharmaceuticals, to get much, much better much more quickly.”

3 months after China’s lockdown was lifted, the nation is recovering from the worst effects of Covid-19, and the rest of the world is looking for clues as to how the post-pandemic world might look.

In many ways, China has returned to around 90% of its pre-Covid performance.

A 90% economic recovery might not sound too bad, but analysis by the Economist shows how it could be catastrophic

Factories are busy and the streets are no longer empty.  However the missing 10% include large chunks of everyday life. Travel on public transport and domestic flights are down by a third. Discretionary consumer spending, on such things as restaurants, has fallen by 40% and hotel stays are a third of normal.

People are weighed down by financial hardship and the fear of a second wave of covid-19. Bankruptcies are rising and unemployment, one broker has said, is three times the official level, at around 20%

And this in a country which had one of the shortest lockdowns, and has huge state support.

The latest IMF economic outlook report shows that the pandemic is inflicting high and rising human costs worldwide, and the necessary protection measures are severely impacting economic activity.

As a result of the pandemic, the global economy is projected to contract sharply by –3 percent in 2020, much worse than during the 2008–09 financial crisis.

In a baseline scenario, which assumes that the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and containment efforts can be gradually unwound, the global economy is projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2021 as economic activity normalises, helped by policy support.

The WEF says the crisis will catalyse some huge changes. Few industries will avoid being either reformed, restructured or removed. Agility, scalability and automation will be the watchwords for this new era of business, and those that have these capabilities now will be the winners.

More from Peter Fisk:

• How do you see the future? Future Recoded … Reimagine markets. Reimagine work. Reimagine business. Reimagine success.
• Why innovate in a downturn? Whilst everyone else is losing their heads, the companies of tomorrow are being created right now 
• What are the impacts of COVID-19? What business leaders should do now, to support people and society, and secure their business future.
• Liquid Business … Covid-19 is accelerating a shift in how we work and compete, with the emergence of new types of “liquid” business models
• The latest edition of my “Fast Leader” magazine … Time to move forwards, to reimagine the future … Reimagination, The Big Pivot, Word Changing Ideas, Ripples of Reinvention

Lots of companies have pivoted during the current Covid-19 pandemic. Companies from Burberry to Louis Vuitton sprang into action making protective equipment and hand sanitiser. Airbnb shifting to online experiences when its physical travel and accommodation business was decimated.

But the most urgent pivots are in healthcare, in the search for Covid-19 treatments.

Akash Bakshi, Nadja Mannowetz, and Andrew Bartynski are the co-founders of University of California, Berkeley-based biotech company YourChoice Therapeutics. When they realised that the drug they were working with, currently with completely different applications, had potential to be repurposed as a Covid-19 treatment, they immediately changed course.

Here’s Nadja talking about their original contraceptives business:

YourChoice was studying niclosamide, “a drug that had been thoroughly relegated to the dust bin of history” in spite of its safety and efficacy, for use as a spermicidal contraceptive. They had just filed with the USA Food and Drug Administration in early March 2020 when, in what was initially a joke, someone asked out loud whether niclosamide might be an effective treatment for Covid-19. That became their new mission.

It didn’t take much searching to find out that the drug had been tested against SARS, in the 2003 pandemic, and had proved effective against the replication of that virus. The virus that causes Covid-19 is closely related, so the team believed they had not just good reason but a moral obligation to start investigating whether niclosamide would also would also treat and possibly even prevent Covid-19.

ANA Therapeutics, their reimagined company (Akash, Nadja, Andrew!), was born. It was only a few more weeks before their analysis showed that showed not only that the drug prevents SARS-CoV-2 from replicating, but that “it does so more effectively (at a lower concentration) than any of the drugs currently being tested in the clinic.” From that moment, especially since they were the only biotech company with access to clinical-grade niclomaside, they were determined to get the drug into a phase 3 trial.

Along the way, from investors to suppliers to manufacturers, ANA Therapeutics had the unique experience of being a startup to which “no one said no, and everyone said yes.” This has allowed the company to move forward quickly alongside the many other biotech efforts looking for a vaccine. The whole industry, including the FDA, is moving at never-before-seen speeds in order to, as Akash told me, “take multiple shots on goal.”

I learnt about their story from Eric Ries, author of the Lean Start Up, in his Apple podcast interview with the ANA team.

Leaders are forged in times of crisis.

Most obviously we have seen the soaring leadership of Jacinda Ardern, Mette Frederiksen and Tsai Ing-wen as they calmly guided their nations – New Zealand, Denmark and Taiwan – through uncertainty. And we have seen the chaos of Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump as they dithered and delayed, blamed others and created confusion, and the consequences for their nations – UK, Brazil and USA – with some of the highest death tolls.

3 women, and 3 men … Maybe the distinction is already clear?

New organisations, new innovations, new projects are forged in a crisis too. 57% of all companies in the Fortune 500 were founded in downturns – as entrepreneurs and business leaders step up to not just survive but look ahead in a crisis. How CEOs respond to Covid-19 will shape our loyalty for some time to come. Handle this well and you’ll build respect and loyal customers. Handle it poorly, and you and your business may not survive the year.

Some key themes have emerged: empathy, clarity, honesty, decisiveness, humility, calmness, reassurance, togetherness and making progress.

Customers and shareholders will quickly revolt against a company that fails to be empathetic with human priorities, to put customers and employees first, their health and safety. They won’t even listen to anything else if this doesn’t comes first. People want to hear human not corporate speak. Thoughtful humility, not slick rhetoric. Companies need to communicate in a personal, authentic and even vulnerable way. Use stories, specific examples. We’re in this together and communications should come across that way. Small gestures matter too – like saying that its ok to take days off if you feel unwell, or need to care for others. “Nobody is counting days” said Dan Glaser, CEO Marsh & McLennan.

Here are some more examples of letters from CEO to their people in recent months. All men, I’m afraid, but still with a strikingly familiar style:

Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks: 

“As I write to you on this beautiful spring day in Seattle, I am reflecting on the fragility of the human experience. Six months ago, who could have predicted the world would be united in a common cause: overcoming the human impacts of COVID-19 – the loss of life, feelings of isolation and loneliness, concerns about health and fears of economic uncertainty. But here we are, navigating this together. During times of adversity, values are tested. I remain inspired by your resilience and am optimistic that together we can overcome this challenge. Words cannot capture the immense pride and gratitude I have for you, my Starbucks partners, as you demonstrate support for one another, your customers and the thousands of communities we serve.”

Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestle: 

“First and foremost, we would like to thank you for what you have done already to weather this crisis and to get our company prepared to cope with this situation. Your commitment makes all the difference. We would also like to reassure you that as a company we are resilient. Over the course of 154 years, we have seen – and mastered – many challenging moments. We are convinced that we will overcome this one too. And we would like to remind you of the special responsibility that a company like ours has at this time. Food and beverage products are essential to peoples’ lives. In moments like these our purpose and values matter a lot to the people and communities we serve.

It is in times of crisis that heroes are born. In all modesty, we want Nestlé’s values to shine at this difficult hour. We earnestly and humbly request all of you to contribute to this. This is the moment for extra effort, for going the extra mile. I fully recognize we are asking a lot because all of us are also busy managing challenging personal and family situations at this moment. Your effort will make a huge difference to our company and to our society. We would like to recognize in particular our frontline employees and factory workers – your commitment and your discipline are critical at this time to maintain business continuity. It is our priority to support you in this important endeavor.

Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon: 

“One thing we’ve learned from the COVID-19 crisis is how important Amazon has become to our customers. We want you to know we take this responsibility seriously, and we’re proud of the work our teams are doing to help customers through this difficult time. I am extremely grateful to my fellow Amazonians for all the grit and ingenuity they are showing as we move through this. You can count on all of us to look beyond the immediate crisis for insights and lessons and how to apply them going forward.

My own time and thinking is now wholly focused on COVID-19 and on how Amazon can best play its role. I want you to know Amazon will continue to do its part, and we won’t stop looking for new opportunities to help.

There is no instruction manual for how to feel at a time like this, and I know this causes stress for everyone. My list of worries right now — like yours I’m sure — is long: from my own children, parents, family, friends, to the safety of you, my colleagues, to those who are already very sick, and to the real harm that will be caused by the economic fallout across our communities. Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones. I know that we’re going to get through this, together.”

Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock: 

“When I originally sat down to write this letter, I was in my office, thinking about how to describe the events of 2019 and what BlackRock achieved last year. Today that seems a distant reality. BlackRock’s offices globally are nearly empty and instead, I write to you in isolation from home, like millions of other people. Since January, the coronavirus has overtaken our lives and transformed our world, presenting an unprecedented medical, economic and human challenge. The implications of the coronavirus outbreak for every nation and for our clients, employees and shareholders are profound, and they will reverberate for years to come.”

Brian Chesky, Co-founder and CEO, Airbnb: 

This is my seventh time talking to you from my house. Each time we’ve talked, I’ve shared good news and bad news, but today I have to share some very sad news. 

When you’ve asked me about layoffs, I’ve said that nothing is off the table. Today, I must confirm that we are reducing the size of the Airbnb workforce. For a company like us whose mission is centered around belonging, this is incredibly difficult to confront, and it will be even harder for those who have to leave Airbnb. I am going to share as many details as I can on how I arrived at this decision, what we are doing for those leaving, and what will happen next. 

Let me start with how we arrived at this decision. We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime, and as it began to unfold, global travel came to a standstill. Airbnb’s business has been hit hard, with revenue this year forecasted to be less than half of what we earned in 2019. In response, we raised $2 billion in capital and dramatically cut costs that touched nearly every corner of Airbnb. 

While these actions were necessary, it became clear that we would have to go further when we faced two hard truths:

1. We don’t know exactly when travel will return. 
2. When travel does return, it will look different. 

While we know Airbnb’s business will fully recover, the changes it will undergo are not temporary or short-lived. Because of this, we need to make more fundamental changes to Airbnb by reducing the size of our workforce around a more focused business strategy. 

Out of our 7,500 Airbnb employees, nearly 1,900 teammates will have to leave Airbnb, comprising around 25% of our company. Since we cannot afford to do everything that we used to, these cuts had to be mapped to a more focused business. 

A more focused business 

Travel in this new world will look different, and we need to evolve Airbnb accordingly. People will want options that are closer to home, safer, and more affordable. But people will also yearn for something that feels like it’s been taken away from them — human connection. When we started Airbnb, it was about belonging and connection. This crisis has sharpened our focus to get back to our roots, back to the basics, back to what is truly special about Airbnb — everyday people who host their homes and offer experiences. 

This means that we will need to reduce our investment in activities that do not directly support the core of our host community. We are pausing our efforts in Transportation and Airbnb Studios, and we have to scale back our investments in Hotels and Lux. 

These decisions are not a reflection of the work from people on these teams, and it does not mean everyone on these teams will be leaving us. Additionally, teams across all of Airbnb will be impacted. Many teams will be reduced in size based on how well they map to where Airbnb is headed.

How we approached reductions 

It was important that we had a clear set of principles, guided by our core values, for how we would approach reductions in our workforce. These were our guiding principles:

• Map all reductions to our future business strategy and the capabilities we will need.
• Do as much as we can for those who are impacted. 
• Be unwavering in our commitment to diversity. 
• Optimize for 1:1 communication for those impacted. 
• Wait to communicate any decisions until all details are landed — transparency of only partial information can make matters worse. 

I have done my best to stay true to these principles.    

Process for making reductions 

Our process started with creating a more focused business strategy built on a sustainable cost model. We assessed how each team mapped to our new strategy, and we determined the size and shape of each team going forward. We then did a comprehensive review of every team member and made decisions based on critical skills, and how well those skills matched our future business needs. 

The result is that we will have to part with teammates that we love and value. We have great people leaving Airbnb, and other companies will be lucky to have them. 

To take care of those that are leaving, we have looked across severance, equity, healthcare, and job support and done our best to treat everyone in a compassionate and thoughtful way. 

Severance

Employees in the US will receive 14 weeks of base pay, plus one additional week for every year at Airbnb. Tenure will be rounded to the nearest year. For example, if someone has been at Airbnb for 3 years and 7 months, they will get an additional 4 weeks of salary, or 18 weeks of total pay. Outside the US, all employees will receive at least 14 weeks of pay, plus tenure increases consistent with their country-specific practices. 

Equity

We are dropping the one-year cliff on equity for everyone we’ve hired in the past year so that everyone departing, regardless of how long they have been here, is a shareholder. Additionally, everyone leaving is eligible for the May 25 vesting date. 

Healthcare

In the midst of a global health crisis of unknown duration, we want to limit the burden of healthcare costs. In the US, we will cover 12 months of health insurance through COBRA. In all other countries, we will cover health insurance costs through the end of 2020. This is because we’re either legally unable to continue coverage, or our current plans will not allow for an extension. We will also provide four months of mental health support through KonTerra. 

Job support

Our goal is to connect our teammates leaving Airbnb with new job opportunities. Here are five ways we can help:

• Alumni Talent Directory — We will be launching a public-facing website to help teammates leaving find new jobs. Departing employees can opt-in to have profiles, resumes, and work samples accessible to potential employers. 
• Alumni Placement Team — For the remainder of 2020, a significant portion of Airbnb Recruiting will become an Alumni Placement Team. Recruiters that are staying with Airbnb will provide support to departing employees to help them find their next job.
• RiseSmart — We are offering four months of career services through RiseSmart, a company that specializes in career transition and job placement services. 
• Employee Offered Alumni Support — We are encouraging all remaining employees to opt-in to a program to assist departing teammates find their next role.
• Laptops — A computer is an important tool to find new work, so we are allowing everyone leaving to keep their Apple laptops. 

Here is what will happen next

I want to provide clarity to all of you as soon as possible. We have employees in 24 countries, and the time it will take to provide clarity will vary based on local laws and practices. Some countries require notifications about employment to be received in a very specific way. While our process may differ by country, we have tried to be thoughtful in planning for every employee. 

In the US and Canada, I can provide immediate clarity. Within the next few hours, those of you leaving Airbnb will receive a calendar invite to a departure meeting with a senior leader in your department. It was important to us that wherever we legally could, people were informed in a personal, 1:1 conversation. The final working day for departing employees based in the US and Canada will be Monday, May 11. We felt Monday would give people time to begin taking next steps and say goodbye — we understand and respect how important this is.

Some employees who are staying will have a new role, and will receive a meeting invite with the subject “New Role” to learn more about it. For those of you in the US and Canada who are staying on the Airbnb team, you will not receive a calendar invite.

At 6pm pacific time, I will host a world@ meeting for our Asia-Pacific teams. At 12am pacific time, I will host a world@ meeting for our Europe and Middle East teams. Following each of these meetings, we’ll proceed with next steps in each country based on local practices.

I’ve asked all Airbnb leaders to wait to bring their teams together until the end of this week out of respect to our teammates being impacted. I want to give everyone the next few days to process this, and I’ll host a CEO Q&A again this Thursday at 4pm pacific time.

Some final words 

As I have learned these past eight weeks, a crisis brings you clarity about what is truly important. Though we have been through a whirlwind, some things are more clear to me than ever before.

First, I am thankful for everyone here at Airbnb. Throughout this harrowing experience, I have been inspired by all of you. Even in the worst of circumstances, I’ve seen the very best of us. The world needs human connection now more than ever, and I know that Airbnb will rise to the occasion. I believe this because I believe in you. 

Second, I have a deep feeling of love for all of you. Our mission is not merely about travel. When we started Airbnb, our original tagline was, “Travel like a human.” The human part was always more important than the travel part. What we are about is belonging, and at the center of belonging is love.  

To those of you staying, 

One of the most important ways we can honor those who are leaving is for them to know that their contributions mattered, and that they will always be part of Airbnb’s story. I am confident their work will live on, just like this mission will live on.

To those leaving Airbnb, 

I am truly sorry. Please know this is not your fault. The world will never stop seeking the qualities and talents that you brought to Airbnb…that helped make Airbnb. I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing them with us.

Brian

Kanye West is a nine-time Grammy Award-winning American rapper, record producer, and fashion entrepreneur.

He released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, and his third album Graduation in 2007. His first three albums have received numerous awards, critical acclaim, and commercial success. He also runs his own record label GOOD Music.

West grabbed the fashion world’s attention when he debuted sneakers designed in collaboration with Nike in 2009. Retailing at over $200, the shoes were released in extremely limited quantities and sold out instantaneously. He then switched to Adidas as his partner. They now resell in the thousands of dollars.

You are unlikely to miss West.

His matte-black Lamborghini SUV rumbles up his gated driveway on the outskirts of Los Angeles like an earthquake, and when he steps out, in a white T-shirt and dark sweats, the obsessiveness kicks in immediately.

First, there’s the house: The lushly landscaped exterior of the property he shares with his wife, Kim Kardashian West, and their four children (North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm) serves as stark contrast to the unadorned alabaster walls within. Nearly every surface is a monastic shade of white. The floors are made of a special Belgian plaster; if scuffed, the delicate material can be repaired only by a crew flown in from Europe. “The house was all him,” Kardashian West later tells me. “I’ve never seen anyone that pays such attention to detail.”

West is now a billionaire.

Over the years, his finances have remained mostly a mystery. However Forbes recently reported that the rapper-turned-footwear mogul has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. West can attribute most of his fortune to his lucrative sneaker company, Yeezy. The sneaker brand — which is now produced, marketed and distributed by Adidas — was on track to $1.3 billion in footwear revenue in 2019, according to Bloomberg.

While the bulk of West’s income is generated from Yeezy, the rapper also possesses about $200 million in other assets, including real estate properties and his music catalog. Bloomberg reports that his music catalogue — which includes everything from the albums The College Dropout to Jesus Is King — is worth about $110.5 million, according to a valuation by the Valentiam Group.

In true West fashion, soon after Forbes published its story proclaiming him a billionaire, the rapper argued that he’s actually worth more than that. “It’s not a billion,” West texted to Forbes. “It’s $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.” West’s personal accountant, David Choi, provided an unaudited balance sheet to Bloomberg, claiming the rapper’s net worth to be $3.15 billion.

Indeed, West has come a long way since claiming to be $53 million in debt just four years ago. In February 2016, after revealing his financial woes on Twitter, the rapper also used the social media platform to personally ask Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion in his work.

“I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt… Please pray we overcome… This is my true heart…,” West tweeted at the time. “Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas … after realizing he is the greatest living artist and greatest artist of all time.”

Read his full story in this Forbes article Kanya’s Second Coming: Inside the Billion Dollar Yeezy Empire

The global pandemic is accelerating our shift to the future of work, the future of retail, the future of healthcare, the future of education … more “liquid” in the way it fuses physical and digital, employees and consumers, purpose and profit.

The pandemic has accelerated the “megatrends” which were already shaping our future.

Whilst some people say “nothing will change”, others say “everything has changed” … the reality is somewhere in between. 3 months of lockdown, and a likely 2-3 years of economic impact, are likely to have a lasting effect on business and markets, and also on our attitudes and behaviours.

New consumer behaviours … the shift to digital me

For consumers, whilst many underlying “jobs to be done” might not have changed – we still want to create a better meal with our family, to perform to our best in sport, to be educated to get a better job – the ways in which we achieve this may well have done.

Life under lockdown forced new behaviours upon us. Most significantly, the need to stay connected, and for most that meant using digital media in more fundamental ways – online chats, online shopping, online working, online learning. Zoom parties were happening in every room of our house. My 80 year old mother started using FaceTime, and shopping online. My daughters now prefer online lessons, and few colleagues look forward to long commutes to work again.

In particular, in this new “Zoom” world, belonging has become much more important. Not just wanting to stay in touch with families and friends, but also our awareness of neighbours, our concern for our communities, for local businesses. Whether this comes in the form of singing from balconies in room, favouring local suppliers, or clapping at front doors for frontline workers.

Our digital dependence has accelerated the shift from “physical me” to “digital me” … which in so many ways is no different: we are still human beings, just using technology to help achieve our enduring needs. But in Maslow’s hierarchy, one thing has changed in particular, and that is the increased important, or essentialness, of belonging.

So will these habits last? Neurologists say that it takes around 90 days for new bridges to form between synapses in our brain. If we interpret this as the time for new habits to emerge, then we have now had long enough in a Covid-19 world, for new behaviours to become new habits, and to have a lasting consequence.

New business models … the shift to “liquid” businesses

Indeed, 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”.

And in every economic cycles, financial downturns are matched by innovation upturns. In fact 57% of the current Fortune 500 were founded in a downturn. Right now, the next generation of businesses are taking shape. So below today’s business turmoil, a tremendous digital revolution is taking shape.

Consider some of the “big pivots” right now, the ways in which companies are adapting to survive and thrive in these crazy times.

Fundamentally, we are seeing a rapid shift to more “liquid” business models.

In chemistry, you will remember, a “liquid”  state exists between a solid and a gas – between a structured and unstructured state. In the business world, between a physical and digital world. “Liquid” is a much better word than hybrid – it means that we can fuse together the best of physical and digital formats, and also give consumers much more choice in how it is constructed.

Liquid businesses are more accessible and agile, responsive and personal.

These “liquid” attributes permeate both the inside and outside of business – shaping the new ways in which we work – how we communicate, collaborate and learn – and the new ways in which we compete – sell, create, manufacture, and support customers.

The megatrends which I have described in recent months will only be accelerated by this pandemic – the shift in economic power, the shift in demographic audiences, the shift in sustainable practices, the shift in urban development, the shift in intelligent technologies. Some of the details may change, but only to accelerate the realisation of these emerging futures.

Liquid Business … driven by human and tech ingenuity

The 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).

In particular we will see

• Liquid Health … the fluid combination of digital technologies like Babylon Health and Good Doctor, providing smartphone consultations, AI-enabled diagnostics, robotic surgery, together with empathetic care.
• Liquid Work … the fluid combination of more distributed and remote working from anywhere, more flexible jobs and employment, and more diverse and collaborative teams, creative people augmented by tech.
• Liquid Production … the fluid combination of made remotely and on demand, embracing 3D printing to print what we like as we need it, the shift from fragile slow supply chains to dynamic personal ecosystems.
• Liquid Retail … the fluid combination of digital consumers, with physical delivery – dark kitchens of Deliveroo delivering restaurant meals to our home, luxury brands sold direct from Tiffany to Common Threads.
• Liquid Mobility ... the fluid combination of multi-modal transport, as we shift to electric and autonomous cars, we shift from ownership to subscription, enabling a choice of transport modes, as we become more local.
• Liquid Learning … the fluid combination of distance and physical learning experiences, for children to executives, lifelong learning becoming the norm with flexible qualifications, topped up over time, relevant and applied.

And many other forms of “liquid” transformation.

Time for leaders to step up … to create a better future.

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.

In my forthcoming book Business Recoded I describe how organisations need a new code for success. And business leaders need to step up to make the 7 shifts:

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, to more personalised experiences, more distributed businesses, supported by more agile ecosystems of global and local supply and demand, a more flexible workstyle, fast projects replacing traditional jobs … and better leaders who look forwards not back.

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?

More from Peter Fisk:

• How do you see the future? Future Recoded … Reimagine markets. Reimagine work. Reimagine business. Reimagine success.
• Why innovate in a downturn? Whilst everyone else is losing their heads, the companies of tomorrow are being created right now 
• What are the impacts of COVID-19? What business leaders should do now, to support people and society, and secure their business future.
• The latest edition of my “Fast Leader” magazine … Time to move forwards, to reimagine the future … Reimagination, The Big Pivot, Word Changing Ideas, Ripples of Reinvention

The Global Advanced Management Program (Global AMP) is IE Business School’s flagship program for executives stepping up to lead the future of business.

It’s time for leaders to step up, to create a better future

It’s for leaders who are stepping up to become the next CEO, or maybe to join the C-suite, to run a business unit, or getting ready to do so. It’s for leaders who seek to be re-inspired, re-energised ready for an incredible future – to drive business-wide transformation, to reimagine their industry, to change the way their entire business and market works.

If you can see yourself leading your business into the future … if you can start to imagine a business of the future, beyond that currently imagined by your leaders and peers. … then this is for you.

New ideas for leaders to accelerate business recovery

The Global AMP is more relevant than ever, as the global Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted every market and business, demanding that leaders step up to think and act in new ways. As people around the world have shifted to digital technologies at home and work, we are likely to see an acceleration in new business models, new ways of working, and new lifestyles.

The pandemic has acting as a catalyst for innovation, not just to survive through crisis and uncertainty, but to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Indeed it is no surprise that 57% of companies are founded in a downturn, and most innovations are born out of crisis too. Now, more than ever is the time when business needs leaders with new mindsets, new skills, and who can combine advanced learning with simultaneous business transformation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_5Vxufidg&feature=emb_logo

With a more liquid learning style, more accessible and convenient

To make the Global AMP program even more accessible, practical, and applied to the changing needs of you and your business, we have enhanced the format. It will now take on a much more liquid learning structure, so that you can continue to work, and accelerate your leadership development, during these uncertain yet important times. The program will combine online and physical formats over a longer period, enabling you to learn more, apply more, and get more practical value from the experience.

The content is entirely updated, anticipating the changing needs of business and its people as we emerge from crisis, and through the next decade – from the megatrends that drive global markets and intelligent technologies, to the convergence of markets and emergence of new business models, new ways of working and the challenges of leading for today, and tomorrow. The program takes on a more dynamic learning style, helping your to explore how to transform yourself and your business, for a world of rapid and continuous change.

Delivered by top business leaders, thinkers and experts

I will be joined by some of the world’s most inspiring and thoughtful faculty. This year it includes

• Jim Snabe, chairman of Siemens and Maersk, one of the world’s top leaders
• Tendayi Viki, a psychologist-based innovator, partner of Strategyzer
• Antonio Rodriguez Nieto, the world’s top project manager
• Joost Minaar, half of Corporate Rebels, all about making work more fun
• Bernard Marr, the world’s leading expert on big data, and more
• Verónica Reyero, anthropologist of a more human future.

They add to the existing IE team that includes

• Mark Esposito, leading futurist and AI pioneer
• Terence Tse, expert on the future of finance and healthcare
• Juan Carlos Pastor, leading on authentic leadership; media expert
• Lola Martinez, media expert, on storytelling and presenting
• Marcos Cajina, on the neuroscience of emotional engagement
• Steven MacGregor, on executive fitness, and many more

In addition to exploring the very latest business ideas and theories, the program is highly personalised in two ways – a personal leadership coaching program helps you to make sense of your own strengths and style, and coaches work with you to develop this, to respond to the new needs, and to prepare to step up to business leadership – and a personal “Gamechanger” project in which we work with you over the entire duration of the program to help you develop your own blueprint for transforming the future of your business, or industry.

Starting in September 2020, or January 2021

Modules 1 and 3 will be online, built around a 4 hour session each Friday for 10 weeks. During these sessions we will bring together the best ideas from around the business world, with expert faculty, and also take you on “deep dives” into what is happening right now in some of the world’s leading businesses.

Modules 2 and 4 will be residential, one week in Segovia, a world heritage site in Spain, and one week in the capital, Madrid. These weeks will also feature leading faculty brought together from around the world, and also enable more time for group networking and collaboration with colleagues who typically come from many different industries and every part of the world. Week 4 concludes with your graduation at IE Business School.

There are two alternative start dates – September 2020 or January 2021 (for the online module 1), and both groups will then merge together in March 2021 (for the residential module 2, and all subsequent modules). This gives you the option of starting at a more gradual pace this year, or waiting until the new year, when we all hope to return to less unusual times).

Module 1 (Online, half-day Fridays): Sep 25th – Dec 19th, 2020
Module 2 (Residential- Segovia Campus): Mar 22th – 26th, 2021
Module 3 (Online, half-day Fridays): Apr 9th- Jun 19th, 2021
Module 4 (Residential- Madrid Campus): Jun 28th -Jul 3rd, 2021

We are really excited by this new format, and also by all the enhanced content for the program. There never has been a more urgent or important time for leaders to step up, to make sense of a changing world, and prepare to create a better future.

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?

• How do you see the future? Future Recoded … Reimagine markets. Reimagine work. Reimagine business. Reimagine success.
• Why innovate in a downturn? Whilst everyone else is losing their heads, the companies of tomorrow are being created right now 
• What are the impacts of COVID-19? What business leaders should do now, to support people and society, and secure their business future.
• The latest edition of my “Fast Leader” magazine … Time to move forwards, to reimagine the future … Reimagination, The Big Pivot, Word Changing Ideas, Ripples of Reinvention

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, to more personalised experiences, more distributed businesses, supported by 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.

Steve Jobs thought that it was “more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy”.

Of course, trying to build your own startup is hard. But there is probably nothing harder in business than trying to innovate inside large corporations. While startups have enemies and competitors outside the company, innovators within large companies often have enemies and competitors inside their own company as well.

Large companies are faced with a paradox – they have to innovate for the future, while running their core business. It is the management of the core business that tends to get in the way of innovation.

And yet a lot of large corporations have entrepreneurial employees who are constantly trying to innovate. Although they can be viewed as disruptive rebel pirates, these innovators can see the future coming and they are passionate about ensuring that the company survives into the future. Most intrapreneurs recognize that they can not keep doing innovation as a series of one-off projects that have to jump through political hurdles. They realise that there is a need for some change inside their companies to allow innovation to happen as a repeatable process. But how do they get this done?

Tendayi Viki’s fabulous new book, Pirates in the Navy, is written for innovators working in large companies.

Some of his favourite soundbites include

• “Making innovation happen inside organisations is really hard, but innovation matters more than ever.”
• “Not just one-off innovation, but a repeatable cycle of taking new ideas to market successfully.”
• “The business case is the worst thing. The business case is what crushes innovation.”
• “Entrepreneurs inside organisations are full of ego, they rub people up the wrong way, and fail.”
• “Pirates, or more accurately privateers, can bring an entrepreneurial culture, and play the corporate game.”
• “Have a little humility, you are not Elon Musk or Steve Jobs and you don’t know everything.”

Tendayi Viki is a passionate innovator, putting his psychology background to good use, in seeking to make sense of organisation cultures, and how innovation can most effectively thrives in big companies.

Originally from Zimbabwe, he is now based at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. He was shortlisted for the Thinkers 50 Innovation Award and named on the Thinkers50 2018 Radar List of emerging management thinkers to watch.  He is co-author of The Corporate Startup and The Lean Product Lifecycle, part of the Strategyzer business model innovation team.

We’ve worked together a number of times, particularly at the European Business Forum. He is a fantastic, thoughtful, likeable guy. This year he joins me in delivering the flagship executive education programs at IE Business School.

If you have ever asked yourself the questions below, then Pirates in the Navy is for you:

• How do we actually create an innovation ecosystem and bring it to life?
• How do we change the culture within our company?
• How do we start a movement that transforms how innovation is managed?
• How do we influence our leaders to prioritize innovation?
• How do we work with detractors and naysayers?
• How do we collaborate with enablers such as finance, HR, legal and brand?
• How do we bring about lasting change that sticks and makes our company more innovative?
• In other words, we get the theory and we get that innovation is important – but how do we actually get it done in our companies?

He is convinced that it is possible for innovators to succeed as Pirates in the Navy.

He says his book will provide innovators with practice tools and guidance to navigate the choppy water of corporate politics while successfully transforming their companies. Hi colleague Alex Osterwalder, author of bestselling Business Model Generation, says “This book answers key questions for innovators and their managers: how to influence leadership to prioritise innovation, how to work with naysayers and how to start a movement that transforms the way innovation is managed within companies”.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Be The Change – On how innovators need to have an authentic commitment to lean innovation and startup methods; and truly understand the underlying philosophy of these new ways of working. In other words, no innovation theatre!
• Chapter 2: Innovator’s Choice – On how innovators need to make a clear choice – Do they want to run innovation as an underground movement or do they really want to change how innovation is done within their company? Each choice has its pros and cons.
• Chapter 3: A Little Humility – On how you are not Elon Musk or Steve Jobs and you don’t know everything that will save your company. Relationships matter on this journey.
• Chapter 4: Start With Discovery – Before you are understood, seek first to understand. Eat your own medicine and take the time to understand your company in a deeper way.
• Chapter 5: Start Small – On how innovators should not try to change the whole company at once. Instead start with early adopters then slowly scale the change.
• Chapter 6: Early Wins – On how business is still about the bottom line. We don’t innovate for the fun of it, we do it because we believe we can create new revenue growth engines for the company. Getting an early win shows that our methods work.
• Chapter 7: The Catalysts – On how to create a network of support for your movement. This will include key stakeholders, leaders, enablers, coaches and innovation teams.
• Chapter 8: Options, Options, Options – Not all innovation has to happen in innovation labs and accelerators. What other options do we have for embedding innovation within our company.
• Chapter 9: Repeatable Process – On how to embed innovation as a repeatable process, rather than a series of one-off projects. How you can take your company through the four maturity levels of an innovation ecosystem.
• Epilogue – How To Run A Successful Underground Movement – If all else fails, how do we run an underground innovation movement that still succeed in building great new business models for our company.