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The Transformation Myth

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The Transformation Myth

Leading Your Organization through Uncertain Times (Management on the Cutting Edge)

MIT Press,

15 min read
8 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Learn to seize opportunities and thrive when navigating crises, guiding nimble, adaptive teams through uncertainty.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Concrete Examples
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated just how rapidly an unanticipated new context could radically disrupt organizations, necessitating leaders to step up and transform crises into opportunities. Gerald C. Kane, Rich Nanda, Anh Nguyen Phillips and Jonathan R. Copulsky draw from their backgrounds in consulting and academia, offering research-backed approaches to navigating uncertainty and scenario planning for a complex future. Their advice encompasses how to tackle disruption with a growth mindset and ways to harness the power of new technologies, such as cloud computing, AI and machine learning – empowering you to emerge from crises a better leader.

Summary

Thrive during a crisis by embracing a growth mindset and leveraging opportunities.

When facing disruptions of the size and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses must respond rapidly, gleaning crisis strategies from health care workers: Just as health care workers might embrace experimental solutions when dealing with acute medical conditions and discover more sustained solutions for patients whose conditions become chronic, business leaders must experiment with both short and long-term solutions when navigating acute and chronic disruptions. Similar to the way an acute crisis such as a heart attack may function as a “wake-up” call, initiating a sustainable health plan to ensure the condition doesn’t worsen, many leaders embraced new digital transformation strategies, such as “contactless” service, to better protect the long-term health and well-being of workers and clients alike. While companies with “fixed mindsets” view acute crises as something to endure before returning to “business as usual,” those that thrive embrace “growth mindsets,” knowing they can adapt by seizing opportunities.

Organizations that innovate amidst disruption...

About the Authors

Rich Nanda leads the strategy practice at Deloitte Consulting, LLP, where he is a principal. Anh Nguyen Phillips serves as the research director of Deloitte’s Global CEO Program. Jonathan R. Copulsky is a senior marketing lecturer at Northwestern University. Gerald C. Kane is the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry Chair in Business Administration. Kane, Nguyen Phillips and Copulsky co-authored (with Garth R. Andrus) The Technology Fallacy: How People are the Key to Digital Transformation.

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