On leadership, growth hacking, and change agents (Part 2)

A few months back, I have discussed that t’s important in this world of speed-of-light cycles and rapid tech revolution to know how to sell change and that to be an effective leader today, you need to have a unique set of skills to be a change agent and assume the responsibilities that go with it.

But what change are we talking about? 

2016 has seen the advent of the conversational economy fueled by artificial intelligence’s maturation (in the consumer world) and we are now certain that the next 5 years are going to see a complete redefinition of how we live and work. 

Indeed, as the pace of innovation and product cycles is accelerating faster than ever before, Change Agent leaders should be looking to start adapting their businesses for a brand new world of radical technologies, business models and customer experiences.

the new customer

The new wave of digital natives are thinking and acting differently from every generation before them. As their elders were making decisions based on their experience and how they went through life, today’s generation has a profoundly different value system. They’re rethinking education, whether they want full-time jobs or want to be entrepreneurs, even redefining ownership to such an extent that the automobile industry views Gen Z as a threat.
 
In other words, they’re forming relationships with products and services based on the things they value and appreciate, most importantly they want authenticity and transparency. The new customers are a very disruptive force and they’re the ones to watch out for today.

redefining doing business

Businesses are moving from products to services to experiences, and as a result, ideas don’t really count until you can demonstrate relevance, engagement and momentum. Entrepreneurs who have a purpose will succeed, those who have a product won’t. If you don’t understand this, you will be completely irrelevant because you never tried to be relevant in the first place.  

Additionally, today’s connected consumerism means customers have become more demanding, informed and more connected - this means businesses need radically different business models to support a much more dynamic approach to the market. More precisely, don't go to market believing that the functions of sales and marketing and services are just the bolt-on pieces to go and be successful around your vision and your product, when in fact, it’s the opposite.

a new tech frontier

From healthcare and biomedical to extreme personalization and robots in the workplace, an explosion in sensor technology and the real revolution in data and data mining, the next tech frontier is currently being defined by ai.

It’s not just tech that’s changing, it’s the way we interact with tech that’s being totally revolutionized: interfaces are becoming incredibly user friendly and the scale of what is possible is changing considerably. 

Soon, every business will incorporate these new technologies. You’ll have coffee shops that have big data knowledge of customers—as they walk in, the drink is being prepped, because they know that every day, Jane Doe orders the same thing - they are going to use these technologies to be as real-time and efficient as possible.

The new skill of Change Agent Leaders is now to layer this new reality on top of that culture, comfort and familiarity—the human aspects of a fun place to go.

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My name's phil mora and I blog about the things I love: fitness, hacking work, tech and anything holistic. 
Many Career Hats. thinker, doer, designer, coder, leader.
Head of Product Magic at Sikka Software.
 Here's my contact info. ​

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