Is Adapting Too Little Too Late?

For quite some time I have admired Ichak Adizes, his articles, philosophy regarding sound business practices, and intelligent ways to look at how we approach things. Now his son, Shoham, is writing and has produced a fine piece on how we should face our current challenging and fast paced environment. He has called it, "Don't Adapt - Pro-act".

He points out that adapting is simply not enough. Because the dinosaurs adapted too slowly, they perished. Biologists have noted that as the rate of change increases, more and more species go extinct, despite their ability to adapt. Isn't business similar? Customers are demanding change faster because the markets demand it. What results is that we try to meet needs that have come and gone; we are simply too late. We have to only look at the automobile industry; wow.

So what are we to do? Well, we need to predict the future, to forecast more effectively, before it is being felt. We cannot do this with our heads firmly in the sand or paralyzed with fear. We must risk or we will eventually perish; it's that simple. We can waste away slowly, or we can move now: be proactive not reactive.

Executive leadership must guide their people to the same page, to see the same threat, so all can meet the challenge together and head-on.

Our global market complicates this; we not only have our domestic state of affairs, but things can be very different in other cultures, in other countries. We need to understand each other and band together to understand and conquer our challenges.

To be proactive is to have the sourage to stay ahead, instead of reacting to the past. Don't be giving too little too late.