There were siren voices in the run-up to the millennium, but few heard. Tom Peters wrote a rip-roaring thesis, Thriving on Chaos, which stands up well to this day. Hammer and Champy’s seminal reengineering work advanced the logic of an emerging de-layered, re-focused enterprise. But the status quo was all too comfortable: our long-shared experience was of marketplaces dominated by hierarchical businesses engaged in ‘push marketing’ and ‘shove sales’.
Now, of course, corporate networks are global, embracing company sites, suppliers and customers, and reaching every place on earth. Business processes and work responsibilities are now frequently handled by remote teams (company-owned or outsourced), services piped in, data warehoused and applications externalised, on a worldwide basis.
What does it all mean? In the time-honoured reverse order of the talent show countdown: Three – businesses now face vastly greater competition than ever before, and must differentiate to be visible. Two – differentiation demands innovation, which can only come from collaboration (rather than confrontation) with workforces, suppliers and customers. One – courtesy of the unparalleled choice and reach now available, customers are so much in the ascendancy that corporate survival can only be achieved if they and their needs are the focus of ‘solutions’.
It’s a very different world from the recent past. And yet, and yet, a lot of businesses still look and behave too much like their 20th century counterparts.
In the context of these marketplace realities, Martin Thomas’s book Loose is timely and important.
Fact: it’s a different world
From social media generally, to crowdsourcing, to mutualisation, to the rictus grin of Gordon Brown, Thomas builds his evidence to provide a comprehensive overview of the complicated and messy reality of our connected world. Normally, we tend to think about these elements only in a fragmentary way, so putting it all together, as Thomas does, is extremely valuable.
In a wholly accessible style, he compiles a persuasive argument – packed with great examples from the worlds of business, economics, politics, the media and more – to show that businesses must change radically if they are to be successful. But how?
Loose is the new way to win
Thomas shows that, in a high-speed, hyper-connected world, old-business-style command and control is too prescriptive, too hidebound, too limiting. The new market environment calls for strong internal cultures built on mutual trust, openness and transparency with all stakeholders, operational agility, a willingness to work with continual change, and collaboration with all key stakeholders.
Loose presents an exciting challenge that will scare the pants off command and control freaks. But I’m sure it’s a correct analysis, and one that will repay serious and urgent attention.
Loose. The Future of Business is Letting Go by Martin Thomas, Headline, £12.99.
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