In 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. During rescue efforts, the drill rod eventually broke as well. Millions of gallons of oil then spread into the ocean leading to a unprecedented environmental disaster.
At the time, all eyes were on BP's then ceo and thus chiefly responsible for the catastrophe, Tony Hayward. How did he respond as a leader?
'I want my life back'
He spoke neither of the severity of the environmental impact nor of a plan to deal with the disaster. Indeed, he immediately made himself the most hated Englishman in America by saying: "I want my life back". He eventually did. Thanks in part to his legendary remark, he was fired not much later.
Complaining about the present and longing for the past is human nature. Especially in the current situation, people are already nostalgic for the days before 2020. But "everything used to be better" is perhaps the most unproductive statement there is. After all, it never gets back to the old days. Continuing to resist the future is just as nonsensical. No matter how difficult the current situation is.
Life has changed
'Normal' life will continue to be impacted considerably by the coronavirus and its consequences for some time to come. Legions of business models will have to be re-examined. What is the best way to adapt to the current situation will vary by industry, by situation.
Nor is there any guarantee that a solution that works now will work later. So, more than ever, you will have to get back to real business and bet on innovation. Trying out new things. And not just now, but continuously.
A phenomenal piece of engineering
So when I worked at Google, the mantra was also: Launch and iterate (freely translated: launch and improve) and that has done them no harm. Think of self-driving cars and products like Google Maps and Gmail. But also less successful innovations like the Google Glass. A phenomenal piece of technology that no one was really waiting for. But innovative it certainly was.
In that respect, the innovation sessions were the best training sessions to give at Google. Developing new business models and strategies together with the customer. I still do that today, only in the area of vitality within the organization. There too, many companies need to innovate and adapt, because otherwise in a few years all their employees will be sitting at home on the couch. Only then with burnout.
Continued innovation is essential
That companies will fall over in the coming period is obviously terrible. However, other companies will come back that respond to what is happening in society. If you are not able to move along with that, your business may disappear as quickly as Kodak did when it introduced the digital camera (nota bene their own invention).
Martijn Aslander and Erwin Witteveen also confirm this in their book Never finished. You will have to continually innovate and reinvent yourself and your business, because as the authors state; due to the speed of developments, your product or service is already obsolete as soon as it enters the market and thus **never finished.
Fortunately, we in the Netherlands are proud to have such a innovative country are, but now we will all really have to prove that. As Charles Darwin stated: it is not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one who can best adapt to change, however.
