Page 100 - (DK) The Business Book

98 98 CHANGING THE GAME

change.” But to be truly successful,
and to outlive the tenure of a highly
driven leader, the desire to disrupt
must be pervasive. The energy,
innovation, and courage required
What today seems odd, to repeatedly disrupt industries Problems cannot be
unnecessary, offbeat—maybe must be deeply ingrained in the solved at the same level
even outrageous—may corporate culture, which must also of awareness that
prove integral to solving allow for flexibility to change. created them.
tomorrow’s problems. In the case of eBay, Omidyar Albert Einstein
Pierre Omidyar realized that the future was German-born physicist (1879–1955)
unpredictable and nonlinear,
and decided to structure his new
venture with the approach of a
software engineer (his former job),
“who has learned to strive for
desktop-bound roots, in a format flexibility in design.” While a users to do most of the work. These
that few, at first, expected to be software program might seem features nevertheless ensured
popular. The iPad ushered in initially to provide more than its that eBay evolved not only around
a new era of computing, and customers need, this is what gives Omidyar’s ideas and energy, but
remains, even in an increasingly it the flexibility to change and also around the requirements of the
crowded tablet-computer market- “prepare for the unexpected.” entire eBay community.
place, the industry standard. Ebay’s self-sustaining system
required little intervention and was Embracing failure
Corporate culture able to adapt and grow according However, such deeply embedded
Apple has changed the game so to customer needs. Its design game-changing mentality is rare.
significantly that the brand has effectively embedded disruption Heroic leaders—game changers and
entered the cultural zeitgeist: its within the core structure. The idea risk takers—are difficult to find and
products are seen everywhere— of allowing users to rate each other even more difficult to replace. With
from coffee shops and classrooms was both new and risky—as was fewer than one in ten new product
to television shows. Apple’s a business model that required ideas making it to market, people
technology has made its products
ubiquitous and its customers
fanatically brand loyal. With such a
competitive edge, it is no surprise
that the company’s prices are able
to sit well above industry averages.
But the challenge for any
organization is to ensure that
such game-changing mentality
informs the spirit of the whole
company. As French businessman
Pierre Omidyar, founder of the
online auction site eBay, suggests,
a leader must be “a catalyst for

Pierre Omidyar, chairman and
founder of the popular auction site
eBay, has embedded the desire for
innovation and dramatic change within
his company’s corporate culture.