Global Disruptions which impact businesses across one or many industries can create havoc, change the rules of competition and establish new winners and losers. Examples can include global pandemics, military invasions/terrorism, trade wars, technology revolutions, natural disasters, financial crises, and new regulatory frameworks.
Strategic questions can include:
How long will this condition last?
How deep will the impact be?
How will customers respond?
How will suppliers be impacted?
What will become the "new normal"?
Which segments will recover first?
Will the government provide any help?
What changes do we need to make to our operations?
What new opportunities does this create?
How can we offer hope to those around us?
How I help:
I work with the leader and his team to assess the situation and develop a strategic path forward to create the best opportunities in an uncertain future.
This often involves performing scenario analysis to better understand different potential futures, developing based on the most likely scenario (and to help create an attractive future), and establishing a mechanism for monitoring how reality is unfolding and adapting the plan as appropriate.
Through this process, I work with the team to ensure:
the leader owns the strategy,
the strategy provides clear and actionable direction,
the team buys-in to the plan,
the strategy becomes embedded in day-to-day operations, and
there's a mechanism for reacting to changing realities.
My approach also helps build confidence in the leadership and helps rally the entire organization around a plan that provides hope in the midst of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
How faith factors in:
In business, as in all of life, anything not done for the Lord and relying upon the Lord is vanity. External events that radically change how your business operates create tremendous uncertainty and fear and require making hard decisions. Look to God for help and assurance, knowing that He is sovereign and good. We labor for the Lord, pursuing His will and wisdom and glory, and trusting Him for the results. Here are a few guiding principles:
Remember, God is in control.
We are called to be faithful stewards of the business he has entrusted to us.
God's greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind,
The second commandment is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. Especially in times of dramatic change, we should be compassionate ministers to those hurting and in fear around us.
We should always go to Him in prayer, asking for help, wisdom, and grace.
We must spend time in His Word to know His will, His priorities, and His ways, and for the comfort it provides.
We must be vigilant discerning the times and managing resources well.
We should be sensitive to opportunities to offer the greatest hope and peace of all, salvation in Jesus Christ.
We should proceed with humility and flexibility and patience, working hard but seeking God's glory as He works in His way and in His timing.
My relevant experience:
God has blessed me with many opportunities to manage through many global disruptions. Here are a few highlights from my career:
In the early 1990s, I recognized the potential impact the Internet could have on businesses and industries and helped position WilTel to be at the forefront of helping others through the change.
In 1995, when WilTel was acquired and the new CEO didn't share that vision, I left that company and co-founded Digital Frontiers to help businesses implement websites and participate in the Internet revolution.
After we sold Digital Frontiers to the Williams Companies, my team developed solutions to help the company's 40,000 business customers capture the power(e.g. websites, e-mail) and manage the danger (e.g. firewalls) of the Internet.
An example of a company we helped was Pennwell Publishing. Pennwell had been publishing The Oil and Gas Journal, the weekly standard for the energy industry for over a century. Although not yet apparent, we helped Pennwell recognize the threat the Internet represented to print publications and partnered with them to build OGJonline, a closed industry portal featuring Pennwell content and creating a vibrant online network of industry professionals.
While at TeleChoice, the bursting of the dot-com bubble created an existential threat to many of our clients who relied directly or indirectly on venture capital funding. We helped many evaluate their strategic options enabling some to survive.
After joining Sprint in 2003, I identified mobile/wireless technology as the next technology revolution that would change the rules for competition across industries. I began meeting with Sprint customers, speaking at industry conferences, and writing articles to help companies prepare. The month that Apple announced the iPhone, I submitted the manuscript for my book The Power of Mobility: How Your Business Can Compete and Win in the Next Technology Revolution, which Wiley published later that year.
During the 2008 Financial Crisis, my team evaluated the impact the crisis would have on business and consumer purchase and use of wireless services and developed plans to minimize downside risk and position Sprint for upside growth in prepaid services.
During the COVID crisis, I gave talks and published articles to help companies apply a "startup mindset" to rethinking how their businesses can operate in "the new normal."
To further help companies develop post-COVID strategic plans, I developed a fictional case study of how Altimeter Software would navigate COVID. Read the case study.
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