FINDING YOUR MOJO In a “no-distance” world, many leading companies are solving problems at the speed of the market --------Words_Simon Caulkin
the phrase may seem tactless when they’re fighting for their lives, but for many companies the COVID crisis really is an existential opportunity. It’s the ideal moment to go back to ground zero, as Peter Drucker regularly advised, and ask yourself: “If we were starting from scratch, is this how we would do it?” Of course, such a reboot involves risk – but, to be blunt, no more than hanging on in the hope of business resuming as normal. It won’t. And the reward for getting it right is concomitantly high. It was almost shocking at the recent Drucker Forum, held online this time around, to hear companies as varied as GE Appliances, Michelin and Handelsbanken declare, in essence, ‘Crisis? What crisis?’ GE Appliances reported experiencing a “phenomenal response” to changing conditions, with employees solving problems “at the speed of the market”. What’s more, 2020 was panning out as “the best ever year in our history”, according to CEO Kevin Nolan. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brighter future ahead of us.” Venerable tyre giant Michelin, in the middle of a surge of self-generated change, was doing “fantastically well” at its COVID-refreshed version of sustainability – protecting its associates, customers and cash. Under pressure from below, “I see my job as sucking stress out of the front line and putting energy back in,” said CEO Florent Menegaux. Handelsbanken had no need to adjust anything much when COVID struck. Being highly decentralised, each branch a mini business responsible for its own customers, credit decisions, profits and balance sheet, it got on with doing good business as usual, with results, if anything, better than ever. 86 — WIN TER 2020
