To succeed and thrive in this era of rapid change, one needs to think and act ambidextrous. What this means is inculcating a Janus like spirit, a strong vision of the future rooted in the social context of the present.
How does one sail smart during tough times? Which is a more critical arsenal, marketing or innovation for business success? Such questions become more pertinent, as growing economic turbulence, and shrunk technology life cycles have made austerity the new normal and continual innovation the imperative for survival.
However hard one may try, there is no escape from resolving the above dilemma which we often face. Yes, this is all about the paradox of exploiting the present and exploring the future. And, this calls for honing new skills, a set of hybrid skills, a multidisciplinary approach, rooted strongly in adaptive collaboration, and constant experimentation. The future demands a new breed of knowledge workers: who combine broad understanding of business with deep practical execution in a functional area.
To succeed and thrive in this era of rapid change, one needs to think and act ambidextrous. What this means is inculcating a Janus like spirit, a strong vision of the future rooted in the social context of the present. Where strategy and execution are a continuum of the same river, and transcend the narrow barriers of the execution trap. The metaphor of the two-faced god ancient Roman God, Janus connotes transitions and transformation as he looks to the future and to the past.
The real challenge lies in accomplishing this balance of past, present and future, mastering the science of exploring new avenues and the art of exploiting existing ones. Indeed, this is easier said than done. While Ambidexterity is tough to master, individuals, businesses, and nations alike have little choice, but to improve their Janus Quotient (JQ). This is more relevant to a country like India, which has slipped to a dismal rank of 66 in the global innovation index.
What is required is blending the traditional arsenal of the vision, risk tolerance, adaptive spirit and agility needed to score early-mover edge with a persistent focus on futuristic skills to outsmart competition.
To infuse ambidexterity, we must understand the diversity and dynamism of our environment and implement the appropriate approach. Each approach requires a different set of interventions and implies a radicle shift that can helps us make that uncanny choice at the right time to stimulate incremental or disruptive ideas that resides at the intersection of invention and insight.
Regardless of which approach we choose, we just need an ounce of common sense to catalyze success. The problem is in today’s fast paced life, common sense has become very uncommon, almost facing extinction. Indeed, the biggest truths are simplest. Yet, we miss them past in the mundane grind. It is high time, we start asking questions like kids, without any biases, and look beyond the obvious for answers.
A perfect Janus’s Quotient (JQ) calls for thinking outside the box, empowering the bottom of the pyramid, and creating value in a social context, for ourselves, businesses and society. Empowerment is the key words as a flock of choice less doers at the grassroots can have a crippling effect. A balanced exploratory and exploitative approach is a precursor to this. This holds true whether we are focusing on personal goals, or experimenting with new products, process or business models that impact business and societal progress.
Make no mistake. Only innovation will help us differentiate, to score competitive edge, one country from the next, as well as one economy from the next. And, those equipped with the right skills will set and lead the innovation agenda. For instance, marketing and innovation can be thought as a two sides of the same coin that work in synergy to accelerate a firm’s success. This is vital as many marketing managers often dream up creative campaigns to drive top-line sales but shy away from the balance sheet impact of their promotional programs.
Calibrating success in a world where information rules necessities starting gathering and contextualizing the data, drawing rich insights, and using these insights to create relevant, personalized, targeted experiences that help enhance the productivity and deliver on metrics to drive success. The best way is to break the inertia and start small as real innovation is about incremental gains, not always about world-changing discoveries.
This will pave way for adaptability, scalability and sustainability of ideas that matter, and can act as catalysts for accelerating .the progress of the human race. We just have to work as a global community to embrace open collaboration, and take the leap to the future. Are we ready?
The Blogger is Kiran Kumar Yellupula: The views expressed here are purely personal. Please share your feedback at mediavalue@yahoo.com
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