IS YOUR COMPANY GLASS OR RUBBER?

Our team at Chief Reinvention Officer had a big September.

First, I made a trip around the world (Columbus - Toronto - Frankfurt - Nur Sultan - Seoul - Vancouver - Chicago - Columbus.... Even typing it up makes me dizzy!)

Then we launched the Fall 2019 Class of our foundations-of-reinvention course. (All those emails. Yes, we are done. Back to weekly articles!)

Then we started our own company reinvention - our quest for better team flow, better tech, better value for all of you...


So, when the idea came up to hold our next big strategic discussion while taking a walk at a beautiful park, I jumped. 

What can be better than talking about letting go of no-longer-useful ideas while watching the trees letting go of their leaves?!

So, here we were, turning a corner of the park, talking about our mission - about the shift required in how we manage our organizations to meet the challenges of speed and uncertainty.

I am in my normal all-knowing preachy self, talking a lot.

And then our CEO says something that completely shuts me up. 

It was so clear, so perfect, so visual, I had nothing better to say.

(By the way, did you just realized that I'm NOT the CEO? Nope, I am our company's Chief Reinvention Officer, that's all. But back to the story).



"We keep mistaking rigidity for strength," he said.  "Hit a glass, and it will shutter. Hit a rubber, it will bounce back."


Wow. That's some metaphor. Can I just say how MANY glass companies I've worked with?
Rules. 
Regulations.
Budgets.
Controls.


When the disruption hit, all these became the rigid constraints not letting the companies absorb the shock. 

So, they cracked.

And that's the message to all of us today: if we want to survive the storm, glass will not do.

The illusion of sturdiness is not just unhelpful - it's dangerous as it gives you a false sense of security.


It's time to bring some bounce into our management processes.

So, where will you start?

P.S. So many people missed my free live online Masterclasses that I gave in to the requests and made the replay available. You can catch it here - and share it with colleagues.

That bacteria story is guaranteed to have you talking ;)