Page 198 - (DK) The Business Book
P. 198
196 AVOIDING COMPLACENCY
t is often easier for people
IN CONTEXT outside a company to spot
I complacency than it is for those
FOCUS
inside; executives are sometimes
Business change
blind to it until their company
KEY DATES plunges into a downward spiral. A strategic inflection point is
1979 Michael Porter writes Research in Motion (RIM), a time in the life of a business
How Competitive Forces Shape manufacturer of the once-iconic when its fundamentals are
Strategy, saying that managers BlackBerry, developed the idea of about to change.
must always be aware of what sending and receiving emails on Andy Grove
the competition is doing. mobile phones, and their innovation
helped them to become the market
1994 In The Empty Raincoat: leader. However, RIM rested on its
Making Sense of the Future, success instead of continuing to
Charles Handy uses a graph innovate, and did not notice or
to illustrate how organizations foresee the direction in which
have to be alert and respond Apple’s products were developing. framed by five questions (see
to threats. The rival technology company’s below), and became the title of one
iPhone delivered mobile emails and a of Grove’s books. Grove had fled the
1996 Andy Grove writes Only
range of other features. RIM quickly communist regime in Hungary, and
the Paranoid Survive.
went from being the market leader learned from a young age that
2010 In The Black Swan: into a period of decline, because it paranoia could be a useful survival
The Impact of the Highly had become complacent instead skill. Many years later, when he
Improbable, Nassim Nicholas of remaining alert to technological joined Intel, he transferred the skills
Taleb explains that we cannot change, or threats from competitors. of watching out for himself to
predict the future from the It is human nature to relax when monitoring the company, steering
past, so must expect (and things are going well, but history it safely through a series of threats.
prepare for) the unexpected. shows this is the very moment to
be wary. Former CEO of Intel, Andy Strategic inflection point
Grove, believes that “Success Every business faces change.
breeds complacency. Complacency Occasionally change can be massive,
breeds failure. Only the paranoid and positions once taken for granted
survive.” The latter phrase was can shift dramatically. Grove calls
Grove’s Five Questions
Are you
Do you Is your old rival relying on a Where would
think your no longer the complementary Is everyone you point a
talking about
competition biggest company to make someone new? gun if you
has changed? threat? your company had one?
attractive?
Only the paranoid survive.
