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"Sir, this is a revolt,’ Louis XVI is reported
to have said to the Duc de la Rochefoucauld on hearing of
the storming of the Bastille. ‘No, sire,’ was his
answer, ‘it is a revolution.’ The theme of the articles
contributed to his book by many leading management thinkers
that there is a revolution going on in the corporate world
and those who do not take in what is happening around them
are headed for the metaphorical guillotine.
A common strand that runs through all the articles is that
change is occurring at a far greater pace than even most of
its advocates realize. Consequently, say professors Holmberg
and Ridderstrale of the Stockholm School of Economics, the
whole notion of developing competencies, which has been central
to the training agenda, is on the wrong track. "It is
our experience,’ they write, "that competencies…often
represent retrospective cores.’ Professor Paul Evans
of INSEAD argues that the right model for leadership is competition
yachting which, rather than holding a steady direction, means
‘managing a constant but shifting tension between the
need to maintain a particular course and the changing winds
and currents.’
What is causing all this volatility is that technology is
igniting an explosive mix of new product creation, globalization,
social change and consumer demand-and the more options are
open, the more the market demands. The cascade of new products
is breathtaking and their shelf life extremely brief, conferring
a temporary advantage while they enjoy a monopoly position,
writes Peter Lorange of IMD. The issue will be one of finding
new opportunities and expanding them extra fast,’ he
says, and to do so, ‘it will be of the utmost importance
to be able to generate as many viable new business ideas as
possible.’
Speed will become a major determinant of corporate success,
writes HR guru Dave Ulrich. ‘With speed comes the requirement
for agility to change, adapt, learn more quickly. ‘The
people who can deliver on that will be –and already are-in
short supply. Lorange thinks that the importance of finding
and retaining talent will change the basis of executive remuneration,
which will be related, not only to financial results but also
to having "the right things and reaching the right milestones."
Though agility and being to learn quickly will be a key capability
a word that is beginning to replace competency in the HR vocabulary-it
also involves a paradox. Paul Evans warns against moving high-potential
people around so quickly that they never actually acquire
the ability to do anything, other than think about strategy.
He quotes Dan Karp, number two at Kodak, whose principle it
is never put anyone into a strategic role unless they have
shown the ability to run an operation successfully.
Several contributors stress that leaders have to have credibility:
‘mastery of a profession or trade will managers’,
writes Caela Farren from the US. That is because Generation
X looks for bosses whose position is legitimized by contribution,
not rank.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, another star name, argues that what
is called for a new commercial concept, not just products.
It’s the richness and diversity of ideas that come out
of Silicon Valley, not chips that make it the most dynamic
business environment in the world today; that and sheer brainpower-a
word, she points out, that doesn’t often crop up in recipes
for business success.
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