by Tom Goodwin
In the wonderful and cathedral-like impressive new terminal at Barcelona Airport they have huge digital signs on most columns, not showing the time, but showing the temperature and the humidity. I can’t think of any reason why anyone would want this.
We want to listen to customers, that’s what improving service is all about. So I will never get over the arrogance of a ‘hey, how was it?’ e-mail, sent with the opening line ‘we want to know how your stay was’, from an @noreply e-mail inbox – and which simply wants me to click on a survey.
Final steps for success
Until the mid-19th century, artists in Europe kept their paint in pigs’ bladders. It made carrying around paints extremely difficult. The bladders were very hard to close properly, and were likely to burst at any moment. It was because of these limitations and problems that artists were largely confined to painting in their own studios. It was the invention of the metal paint tube which changed virtually everything in art. Painters could much more easily paint outside. The impact of this simple technology was profound. Pierre-Auguste Renoir said ‘without colours in tubes, there would be no Cézanne, no Monet, no Pissarro, and no Impressionism’ (Hurt, 2013). It was the effect of natural lighting and the ability to paint anywhere which unleashed a special movement.
Technology changes societal norms. Until the common placement of elevators in 19th-century Paris, ground floors were grand and airy and the top floors were servants’ quarters. Elevators literally turned apartment living upside down and a penthouse movement of grand conversions with grand views soon became a key part of Parisian society.
We are in the middle of the greatest change we’ve ever seen. Technology is empowering us to do near magical things on a daily or hourly basis. And quite frankly we appear to be lost in confusion. We are looking to each other for help, we are distracted by shiny things and we’ve collectively lost sight of what matters. To best deal with this, we can at best do something inconsequential and easy, and at worst we can hide. Can we please step up our game a little?
It’s strange to me how few companies or industries feel especially excited about what new technology makes possible each day. As I have stated in earlier chapters, the cycles between ‘ages’ of technological change are getting shorter. It becomes harder to prepare for the longer term. Leading a company, a department, or even your own life thus becomes a principle of risk management.
I appreciate that I may appear contradictory when I say that we need to look at upcoming technologies in both a pragmatic but also a more daring way. Let me be absolutely clear on this point. Companies need to embrace the future of commerce, and the future of society. If they don’t, then they will fail. If leaders cannot work with the new pace of change then I question their effectiveness in managing a business for the future. Change will come (it’s already coming) and we all need to adapt – and quickly.
However, with that change comes a refreshed way in looking at how we view the customer. The end customer pays all our wages. Companies which fail at customer service will lose brand favourability, market share, shareholders, and market capitalization. That’s not conjecture – it’s a statement of fact. It means that we cannot look at touchpoints in isolation, even if technology defaults us to that behaviour.
In conclusion, what I have aimed at achieving in this book is a call to re-humanize not just technology, but our interactions with each other. With some irony, one might argue that this is the most important time in civilization to be human. Processes can be outsourced. Logic can be contracted out. Even intelligence can be engineered into printed circuit boards. But, the age-old tenets of reason, of creativity, of appreciation and of empathy will always be with us. It’s now up to you, and me, and all of us to foster a more human world. We have incredible tools and more equipment at our disposal, which are more accessible, with more profound implications than ever before. We can either choose to embrace the power of the unknown, seek to create our own destiny, or we can pretend to, or we can hide. In a world where it is those best able to adapt who survive, who anticipate and embrace, and who confidently strive to accomplish what is only just about possible, I know what I’d do, and it’s what I hope others will too. I’m confident it’s this attitude that will be most successful in the age of Digital Darwinism.
References
Hurt, P (2013) Never underestimate the power of a paint tube, Smithsonian Magazine, May issue, available from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/never-underestimate-the-power-of-a-paint-tube-36637764/ [last accessed 6 December 2017]
Willshire, JV (2012) Make things people want> Make people want things [blog] Smithery, 12 January, available from: http://smithery.com/making/make-things-people-want-make-people-want-things/ [last accessed 6 December 2017]
Tran, N (2015) Peak-end theory: How correct is our memory? [blog] Positive Psychology Program, 19 February, available from: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/peak-end-theory/ [last accessed 6 December 2017]
INDEX
Note: Page numbers in italics indicate Figures.
3D printing 6, 14, 15, 170, 187
5G 17, 19, 42
Abruzzese, L 21
Adner, F 77, 80
Airbnb 70, 86, 101, 110–11, 139, 148
Alibaba 70, 101, 101, 103
Alphabet 19, 101, 103 see also Google
Altman, I 93
Amara, R 44
Amazon 4, 5, 19, 20, 38, 68, 70, 84, 87, 101, 114, 131, 139, 163, 175, 208
Alexa 173
Echo 14, 49, 62, 69, 169, 177
Kindle 118
American Airlines 20, 62, 119
computer glitch at 137
Apple 19, 20, 62, 107, 120, 156, 206, 208
Face ID system 63
HomePod 177
iPhone 68, 101, 102, 152
iPod 80–82, 84
iTunes 80
Music 82
Pay 69, 86
Siri 69
Atkins, R 126, 127
banks 4, 9, 19, 38, 65, 83, 85, 101, 111, 115, 136, 139, 148, 149, 176
and cheques 104
First Direct 121
Midland Bank/HSBC 121
Monzo (UK) 108
in the US 104
Bannister, R 86
Bariso, J 133
‘The Battle for the Customer Interface’ (TechCrunch, 2015) 10 see also Goodwin, T
Berr, J 188
Bezos, J 14, 16, 85, 131, 193
Bishop, T 16
Bitcoin 14, 84, 169
Bloomberg 101
and its list of top largest companies in the world (2006) 19
BMW/BMWi 121–22
Boston Matrix 16
Bradshaw, T 126, 127
Branson, R 179
Brexit 14, 180
business in the age of disruption (and) 1–24
asking hard questions 3–4
change as threat at core level 6–10
a changed world 1–3
focusing on people 16–17
innovation as distraction 11–12
key topics to inspire 17–22
digital at the core 19
Digital Darwinism 17–18
leapfrogging 20–22
mid-digital age 18–19
paradigm leap 19–20
remember what is not changing 5–6
self-disruption 10–11
time for action 22–23
uncertainty as the only certainty 14–16
underestimates of depth of change 12–14
business dynamics today (and) 125–43
accounting and outsourcing risk 128–29
big companies – why do they not innovate? 126–27
buying innovation as fashionable 127
celebrate failure, accept imperfection 133–34
charismatic leadership 131–32
and culture 131
create a process to change (and) 135–42
hack legislation 138–39
leverage the power of expert generalists 140–41
o
ptimism 143–44
the role of IT 137–38
steps to transformation 135–36
use imagination 141
what do insurgents wish they had? 139–40
work like a start-up – but mean it 137
data, a sensible view on 135
establishing a leadership for change 129
intolerance of bureaucracy 132–33
maximize outcomes; do not minimize risk 134–35
short-termism as killing ambition 129–30
success takes time 130–31
businesses, metaphors for 8
businesses visualized as skyscrapers 6–7
Calatrava, S 142
Carnegie, A 179
Cerf, V 174
a changing canvas (and) 147–65
bifurcation of retail 163–64
buying as simplicity 163
experiential shopping 163–64
and what to do about it 164
companies – what they can do about digital disappointment 148–49
first do the basics well 149
look around and further afield 149
digital disappointment 147–49
IM and its meaning for business 161–63
not conflating bots with IM 162–63
opportunity for everyone 161–62
intimate screens and data (and) 157–60
personalizing communications 159–60
targeting people at moments 159
using power of intimate data 159
one-on-one communications with instant messaging (IM) 160–61
and key advantages 161
pervasive internet: create experiences that flow across devices 156–57
pervasive internet: QR codes as solution 155–56
pervasive internet: what companies can do about it 153–55
change the mental model 154
form bridges 155
time limited, stuff abundant – so 149–52
make it easier to extract more money from people 151
make it easier for people to buy your products 151
make products that stand out and create demand 162
young older people – the over-50s 164–65
Cheng, E 83
China 106
currency in 83
high-speed trains in 21
innovation process in 134
Mobile 19
QR codes in 155
Christensen, C M 69, 70–71, 85, 110
and ‘jobs to be done framework’ 110
Clark, A 83
Clark, J A 33
climate change 180, 187
cloud computing 17, 56, 108, 119, 122, 177–78
Copernicus 72
Creighton, F 79
Crick, F 140
Culkin, J 44
currencies 21, 83–84
and cryptocurrencies 83, 85, 141
customer relationship management (CRM) 17, 97–98
data literacy 67
Davies, A 21
digital transformation (and/and the) 91–105
applying new thinking at the process layer: the how 100
communications layer: the outermost layer 94
deeper transformation: companies with new thinking at the core 101–02, 101
digitization vs digital transformation 102, 104–05, 103
ease of innovating at the edge 98–99
an era of bolted-on change 91–93
innovation at the marketing level 99–100
marketing layer: supporting communications 95
mission, importance of 96–97
onions – and social penetration theory 93–94, 94
prioritization framework for innovation 97–98, 98
process layer: the ‘how’ of a company 96
product layer: what you make 95–96
disruption see starting your disruption
Dow Jones Index, rise in (2017) 14
drones 15, 21, 69, 70, 98, 107, 113, 136, 139, 187
Dropbox 61, 96, 177
Dru, J-M 85
Drucker, P 181
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) 130
The Economist 160
electric cars 4, 13, 82, 84, 121, 128
the electrical revolution that never was (and/and the) 27–45
electrical shift 32–33
electrification of factories 30
group drive 33–34 see also General Electric
hard sell of electricity 28–30
line drive system 30–32, 31
real change: re-imagining factors around electricity 35–37
thinking driven by economists 34–35
what can be learnt from this 37–44
assume (rather than underestimate) changes 44
assumptions about current needs may be limiting 40
change needs to be deep 40–41
economics are not imaginative enough 38–39
existence of a mid-stage 42
need for foresight 41
newer/newly built companies lead change 43–44
people think they’ve got it when they haven’t 38
technology is background, not foreground 41
timing as vital 42
empathy 168–69, 194–95, 204–10 see also people, a focus on and imagination 16
Encyclopædia Britannica 69, 182
Evans, B 170, 172
Facebook (and) 4, 10, 12, 19, 20, 68, 70, 99, 101, 119, 134, 139–40, 162, 171–72, 175, 180, 183, 208
acquisitions 120
Instagram 120
WhatsApp 114, 120
Faddell, T 68
Failure, Museum of 133
Faraday, M 28
Feldman, D 116
Ferenstein, G 174
Figures
a brief to the new optimal solution 75
a brief to the optimal solution 74
capital investment from companies in hardware and software 56
the conceptual layers of a company 94
a cotton mill in Lancashire (1914) 31
frequency of term ‘computerization’ in the English language corpus (1800–2000) 58
frequency of term ‘electrification’ in the English language corpus (1800–2000) 52
the leap between the locally optimized and the optimal design 76
Match Group mobile data apps: US market share by session Jan. 2013–Nov. 2014 117
problems and opportunities matrix 98
smartphone era: market-value rankings of companies since first iPhone launched 103
US productivity per worker in real GDP (1947–2016) 47
the world’s most valuable public companies (November 2017) 101
final focus on people see people, a focus on
Ford (re electric cars) 39
Ford, H 179, 181
and the Model T 84
Fosbury, D 138–39
and the Fosbury Flop 138–39
Fraley, C 120
France 187
and Tour de France 22
Franklin, B 84
Freeman, J 127
Gehry, F 142
Goodwin, T 10
Google 4, 101, 171, 173, 174, 175
Alphabet 19
Chrome 156
Docs 177
Drive 57
Home 62, 177
Maps 9
Translate 188
Ventures 122
Wi-Fi 49
Gretzky, W 167
Groth, A 130
Haire, M 76
Haldane, A 129
Hoffman, B 6
Hurt, P 210
IAC media and internet group 116, 118, 117
IBM 119, 137, 182
IKEA 97, 100, 112
Industrial Revolutions, the four 57, 59
instant messaging (IM) 160–62
advantages of 161
insurance companies 101–02 see also Lemonade
Internet of Things 17
internet tec
hnologies across the world 112–13
IT, role of 137–38
IT and PICNIC (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer) 55
Japan (and)
cassette players 77
QR codes 155
Softbank 122
Jobs, S 80, 133, 179
Johnson, R (CEO, JC Penney) 107
Kahneman, D 209
and peak-end theory 209
Kaufman, G 79
Keller, S 133
Kodak 4, 61, 70, 85
Kuhn, T 72–73
legacy businesses 9, 11, 118, 126
legislation (UK)
Electricity Supply Act (1926) 51
and the National Grid 51
Public Utility Holding company Act (1934) 51
Lemonade (contents insurance) 101–02
Levie, A 63, 84
Levitt, T 110
Levy, S 14
LinkedIn 109, 171, 188, 190
Little, A D 50
Loftus, J 176
Loras, S 155
McCullagh, K 170
McLuhan, M 44
mail order 59, 84, 116
management engineering 50–51
Marshall, A 21
Martin, C 108
Massoudi, A 122
Meaney, M 133
Medlock, K 21
Megginson, L 185
Meixler, E 100
Microsoft 19, 118, 119–20
millennium (Y2K) bug 91
mobile payments services: Lending Club; TransferWise and Venmo 102
Molla, R 131
music (and)
Discmans 78, 84
MP3 players 79
Sony Walkman 76–78, 84
Musk, E 71, 132–33
Netflix 61, 70, 115–16
New York 5, 9, 34, 84, 112, 163–64, 205 see also United States (US)
Stock Exchange 92
New York Times 12
Nokia 4, 61, 125, 198, 206
O’Connor, E 20
peak complexity 18, 61, 66
Pearson, N 182
people, a focus on (and) 203–12
empathy, not technology (by) 204–08
focusing on what matters 206–07
rethinking the operating system 207–08
structuring around people 205–06
final steps for success 210–12
focus on empathy and design thinking 208–10
Peters, T 133
Planes, A 21
du Pont, P (president of DuPont) 122
Potter, Justice S 181
and Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) 181
Preisenger, I 121
preparing for the new world (and) 166–84
anticipatory computing and seamlessness (and the) 170–73
Internet of Things 172–73
portal era 171
search era 171
social era 171–72
