If the succession of eye-watering valuations of pre-IPO companies in recent weeks has taught us anything, it's that the perceived power to disrupt is very valuable - particularly if you are seen as a bona fide disruptor.
Darwin identified that the creatures that evolve to adapt most successfully to their surroundings, are the ones that avoid extinction. That means changing shape and habits that both take advantage of, and influence, the natural environment. That applies as much to the corporate landscape as to the natural world.
Given the increasing rate of change in the global economy, the maxim that you should re-model your own business before someone else does, has never been truer. But although it is the only certainty these days, change is scary and the human condition is that we value security.
Nevertheless, it's the companies that have reinvented themselves, often radically, that go on to become the leaders in their fields. Nokia - which until relatively recently was preeminent in mobile handsets - had made the transition in a few years from a company that specialised in rubber and forestry products.
This was until it too was caught out. First by the market for flip phones and then by touch screens, apps and operating systems, leaving it in its current parlous state. Nokia's nemesis, Apple, had become a successful competitor by changing from being a niche PC maker to a dominant force in portable consumer electronics and music industry.
However, no matter how many examples there are of successful reinvention that has guaranteed longevity, as a successful entrepreneur that has built up an existing business, it's very easy to find excuses not to take action. That may though, be the fastest route to oblivion.
The reality we all face is that global digitisation changes everything. Digital businesses break down traditional barriers between industry segments, creating completely new value chains and opportunities. These may not be filled by incumbent players, so if you think you are not a technology company and different rules apply, think again.
Many of the new generation of disruptive companies owe their success to identifying new ways of engaging with their market. They have worked to use technology as a powerful route to changing a customer relationship, making them formidable competitors in the process.
But you may think you're doing fine as it is. After all, you're delivering excellent numbers and are still growing so why re-imagine your business? You are in an inherently slow moving sector and you know who your fellow traveller competitors are and you are ahead of them. Stop right there.
In today's world, every day you need to track and anticipate changes in the market that may influence the future of your business. It's important to look at the most successful companies in the world and see how you compare instead of merely looking at you current peers.
After all, the business of retailing books had gone on pretty much unchanged for hundreds of years before Amazon arrived and completely revolutionised the sector, using its momentum to do the same in other areas. This included selling its core expertise in cloud computing services. Now, Facebook is capitalising on its reach as social media platform entering the mobile payments business where financial institutions have already been subject to a first generation of external start-up disrupters such as Monitise.
Like repairing the roof when the sun is shining, the best time to think about the future is when things are going well. Free of pressure or even panic, when your results fall short you're much more likely to make considered long term strategic plans to invest, acquire or hire rather than short term tactical fixes.
Once you have calmly figured out where you want to go, then you can decide how to get there and deal with the barriers in your way. Establish a compelling vision and actionable mission, and make small but continuous changes in how you think and act and hire staff to suit the new philosophy. Momentum will quickly build as a result.
It's important to realise though, that cultural change necessary for sustainable transformation takes time, and only happens because of new behaviours and new attitudes arising within an organisation. They however have to be placed there, and have to be embodied in the company's leadership. 'Do as I say, not as I do' does not apply in successful transformations.
To borrow from the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, unleashing 'the perennial gale of creative destruction' should be on your everyday agenda – otherwise you too will quickly get blown away by new, more agile, more digital and better positioned firms that compete by changing the rules of the game.
Given the increasing rate of change in the global economy, the maxim that you should re-model your own business before someone else does, has never been truer. But although it is the only certainty these days, change is scary and the human condition is that we value security.
Nevertheless, it's the companies that have reinvented themselves, often radically, that go on to become the leaders in their fields. Nokia - which until relatively recently was preeminent in mobile handsets - had made the transition in a few years from a company that specialised in rubber and forestry products.
This was until it too was caught out. First by the market for flip phones and then by touch screens, apps and operating systems, leaving it in its current parlous state. Nokia's nemesis, Apple, had become a successful competitor by changing from being a niche PC maker to a dominant force in portable consumer electronics and music industry.
However, no matter how many examples there are of successful reinvention that has guaranteed longevity, as a successful entrepreneur that has built up an existing business, it's very easy to find excuses not to take action. That may though, be the fastest route to oblivion.
The reality we all face is that global digitisation changes everything. Digital businesses break down traditional barriers between industry segments, creating completely new value chains and opportunities. These may not be filled by incumbent players, so if you think you are not a technology company and different rules apply, think again.
Many of the new generation of disruptive companies owe their success to identifying new ways of engaging with their market. They have worked to use technology as a powerful route to changing a customer relationship, making them formidable competitors in the process.
But you may think you're doing fine as it is. After all, you're delivering excellent numbers and are still growing so why re-imagine your business? You are in an inherently slow moving sector and you know who your fellow traveller competitors are and you are ahead of them. Stop right there.
In today's world, every day you need to track and anticipate changes in the market that may influence the future of your business. It's important to look at the most successful companies in the world and see how you compare instead of merely looking at you current peers.
After all, the business of retailing books had gone on pretty much unchanged for hundreds of years before Amazon arrived and completely revolutionised the sector, using its momentum to do the same in other areas. This included selling its core expertise in cloud computing services. Now, Facebook is capitalising on its reach as social media platform entering the mobile payments business where financial institutions have already been subject to a first generation of external start-up disrupters such as Monitise.
Like repairing the roof when the sun is shining, the best time to think about the future is when things are going well. Free of pressure or even panic, when your results fall short you're much more likely to make considered long term strategic plans to invest, acquire or hire rather than short term tactical fixes.
Once you have calmly figured out where you want to go, then you can decide how to get there and deal with the barriers in your way. Establish a compelling vision and actionable mission, and make small but continuous changes in how you think and act and hire staff to suit the new philosophy. Momentum will quickly build as a result.
It's important to realise though, that cultural change necessary for sustainable transformation takes time, and only happens because of new behaviours and new attitudes arising within an organisation. They however have to be placed there, and have to be embodied in the company's leadership. 'Do as I say, not as I do' does not apply in successful transformations.
To borrow from the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, unleashing 'the perennial gale of creative destruction' should be on your everyday agenda – otherwise you too will quickly get blown away by new, more agile, more digital and better positioned firms that compete by changing the rules of the game.
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