I would like to share with you
some fascinating ideas that I came across as I watched the thoughtful,
envisioning, and inspiring presentation by business thinker Gary Hamel, Reinventing Management for the 21st
Century. His forward looking vision, and the passionate way in which he explains
what he believes to be the daunting challenges facing organizations in the
twenty first century prompted me to write this post. I have made some of his ideas mine and I hope
you will do the same.
According to Hamel, we are the
first generation in history that has to cope with an accelerating rate of
change. The number of internet connections, the capability to store data, the
number of mobile phones connected to web, CO2 emissions, among others; are all dramatically
changing characteristics of today’s landscape that directly condition the way in
which businesses are run. Change is changing faster!
In this unstable and hyper-competitive context, barriers, and competitive advantages are being eroded
constantly. Companies are left in a bare knuckle fight to defend its profit margins,
with innovation, creativity and adaptability being their only reliable tools to
succeed.
Moreover, in our Information Society, the speed with
which knowledge is exchanged through different communication channels, the
abundance of consultants benchmarking companies and transferring knowledge from
one company to another, among many other reasons, have made it extremely
difficult to gain sustainable competitive advantages through knowledge. Knowledge
has become a commodity. Nowadays everything is much less about how much or what
you know, and it is more about how fast you can create new knowledge.
In essence, the successful company
of the 21st century needs to change as fast as change itself and innovation
must be the work of everybody, all the time, every day. Knowledge needs to
flourish constantly.
The web, which is a defining
factor of our times, has some very specific core values embedded. The web is
adaptable and collaborative. It praises openness, meritocracy and flexibility. Every
twenty first century company must embrace those values.
Hamel Capped off his presentation
by stating that the successful corporations of the 21st century will
be humane above all things. Humans are adaptable and enormously resilient by
nature. Humans have essential qualities that organizations usually lack.
I kindly invite you to watch the
presentation. As a corporation with a clear mission to innovate and design new
solutions to help governments become more efficient, there are a lot of ideas
we could apply to make Smartmatic even more successful.
Ernesto Parisca
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