The Wrap #2 | Leadership in the digital age
A shot of thinking fuel, brought to you each month by Futurestate Design Co.
As we enter the most atypical Q4 imaginable, it’s clear that the changes forced on business – and perhaps society as a whole – have only just begun.
When any organisation goes through a major transformation, whether driven by ambition or crisis, we always advise its leaders to exhibit an excess of leadership. Everyone in the organisation needs to understand and get behind a common purpose. They need to be over-informed, better listened to and constantly reminded of the key elements of the strategy.
Sound familiar? Governments are just big organisations: the same rules apply.
Here’s a handful of the articles that have got our attention this month.
Facebook and other tech giants 'too big to fail'
What’s going on?
Researchers Carl Öhman and Nikita Aggarwal are calling for Facebook to become better regulated, to minimise social and economic fallout in case of future collapse. They’re suggesting it become an online equivalent to a UNESCO site – ‘a site of digital global heritage’.
Why is it interesting?
Thinking about ways in which you can put yourself out of business – how would you compete to make your current business obsolete? – helps you future-proof. Not only can you come up with new ideas this way (and own the innovation), but you’re more likely to be on the front foot in terms of knowing your threats, and therefore in the best position to defend yourself. Facebook’s unruliness is being called into check here, but Öhman and Aggarwal are helping them overcome the challenge of survival, in case they aren’t in fact ‘too big to fail’, all the same.
Behind the headline: Facebook and other tech giants 'too big to fail'?
The rise and fall of Pret
What’s going on?
When your user base disappears, and you find your business is dangerously close to the cliff edge, then it may be necessary to pivot. Pret-a-Manger, the sandwich company, have recently created a subscription service – where £20 a month will get you unlimited coffee – alongside their offering hot dinner delivery. Not only that, but the law has recently changed so that business, retail and commercial spaces don’t need planning permission to change what they’re used for.
Why is it interesting?
Alongside many businesses, Pret has big challenges to overcome, but we’re optimistic that their approach – their design-lead planning, based on data and sense, and acceptance that they’ll need to be ‘disruptive’ – means we’ll not see the last of them any time soon.
Behind the headline: The rise and fall of Pret a Manger
On to launch subscription service to drive circular economy in sportswear
What’s going on?
Sportswear brand On have set up Cyclon – a trainer subscription service. Rather than a pivot in the interests of shareholders alone (like Pret, above) this endeavour is in the interests of sustainability and creating a circular economy. Subscribers don’t own their trainers, they ‘borrow’ them until they need replacing at which point they get sent back to be recycled, and a new pair replaces them.
Why is it interesting?
Purchases that benefit the planet haven’t previously been readily available within the capitalist model. On provide, here, an intelligent redesign that turns consumption into a sustainable action. Think about what your equivalent reimagining could be: if your product became a service, or if that service became a subscription model. You might not find solutions straight away (sustainable or not), but you will challenge previously held assumptions around what your business does and what your customers need, all with a few well placed ‘what ifs?’
Behind the headline: On to launch subscription service to drive circular economy in sportswear
Full Disclosure: How Smartphones Enhance Consumer Self-Disclosure
What’s going on?
Drawing on a series of large-scale research studies, authors Shiri Melumad and Robert Meyer confirm a hunch that we may have all had from time to time: that we give far too much away on our phones. Their findings show that the more ‘intimate’ relationship we have with our phones breaks down behavioural barriers that exist on other platforms, so we share more personal information, and behave less formally.
Why is it interesting?
We’ve long recognised that there’s a kind of ‘zoning in’ that happens when people are engaged in tasks on their smartphones, but this is substantive proof that this new mode drives a major change in underlying behaviour compared to using the same service on other devices. While it shows again the power of putting value in the palm of your customers’ hands, it’s also a reminder of why companies with strong digital ethics can build distinctive positions in markets where many will try to capitalise for short-term gain.
Behind the headline: Full Disclosure: How Smartphones Enhance Consumer Self-Disclosure