White Paper
March 31, 2016, 6:27 PM EDT
Staying in the Fast Lane – Put a Little More 'T' in Your 'C' suite
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Abstract:
Table of Contents
Get Your Technology Muscle in Shape
2. Use consumer digital tools in your day to day life. There are some great digital tools out there that can serve a double purpose for your team. They can help you learn to get comfortable using technology, give you a better understanding of some of the terms in the world of Social, Mobile, and Cloud technologies, and they can make your personal life a little easier. Here are some of my favorites:
- Google Photos – This great photo app not only backs up your photos to the “cloud” but uses advanced algorithms to enable you to search and find your favorite “sunset” pictures, or all the pictures of your Aunt Martha. This is a great consumer tool to protect your precious memories, but can also start the brain thinking about big data, and how that might give you greater insights in your business.
- Uber – Take a ride on this disrupter. I don’t think the taxi industry expected an “app” on a smartphone to digitally disrupt their world, but it did, and it did so in a dramatic fashion. Uber has over a million active drivers, and delivers over 3 million rides per day. A lunchtime conversation about Uber can help stoke the (much-needed) fire of paranoia in your C-suite.
- Tesla – Even if no one in your executive team owns a Tesla, they should study what Elon Musk is up to with Tesla Motors. This all electric vehicle, assembled by robots, is updated over the internet and has the best self-driving technology available to the general consumer. The model S scored 103 out of 100 on the consumer reports test. Now Tesla is aiming for a more mass market car with the introduction of the Model 3. Can this upstart take on the big automakers? More paranoia? Good.
3. Look at examples of disruption outside your industry. To quote the late, great Andy Groves, “only the paranoid survive.” The industry is littered with examples of companies who thought it “couldn’t happen to them.” Kodak, Blockbuster, Borders all lost out to the digital tsunami that is upon us. How can you apply their lessons to your company’s strategic planning sessions? Will Tesla be able to surpass GM? Their model S already outsells the high end luxury models in the U.S. What small company is gunning for a share of your market? How are they thinking about it? Probably very differently than you. Maybe you should ask some digital natives to sit in on your next strategy meeting when you are thinking about the threats to your business model.