| When you get right down to it, there are only | | | | extraordinary: |
| three viable strategies for coping with the | | | | Ownership of the de facto industry standards |
| accelerated pace of change: | | | | Lasting position on the leading edge of innovation |
| - Continuous Innovation- Learning | | | | by incorporating technological advances |
| - Speed | | | | - Rapid responses to market opportunities |
| Confronted with a constantly shifting array of | | | | - Opportunity to claim premium prices |
| customers, competitors, strategic alliances, and | | | | - Attractive and strategic distribution channels |
| market volatility, the only hope for survival and | | | | - Higher staff morale and commitment |
| prosperity lies in developing the ability to move | | | | - Off-balance competitors, bewildered and put on |
| and change at least as rapidly as your competitive | | | | the defensive by your constant, quick-paced |
| environment. | | | | innovations |
| Since it's become exceedingly difficult to see | | | | This is an excellent harvest to reap, and the |
| more than a few months into the future in most | | | | opportunities will be there waiting for you in the |
| industries, you have but two alternatives to | | | | new economy - if you can overcome inertia and |
| bankruptcy or unemployment: | | | | learn to make speed an overriding value. |
| - Achieve a commanding enough position to | | | | The key is to recognize the competitive power of |
| dictate the changing rules of the game, or | | | | speed and to turn the pursuit of speed into a |
| - Develop an ability to react immediately to those | | | | central organizing principle in your company and |
| who do. | | | | career. |
| Either way, you get fast-and quickly - or you get | | | | Most people find change, particularly rapid and |
| out of business - quickly! | | | | unpredictable change, frightening and upsetting. But |
| What we are talking about here is not the | | | | turbulence and change are not going away; |
| defensive, keep-up-with-the-Jones's type speed. | | | | indeed, they will become more pronounced, so |
| We're talking about proactive speed, the kind that | | | | get used to it. |
| leaders use as offensive, preemptive, competitive | | | | The good news is that, while we can't slow down |
| weapons. We're talking about creating a climate | | | | the velocity of the external business environment, |
| and a culture of speed: speed of decision-making, | | | | there's much we can do to speed up - to try to |
| speed of execution, speed of performance | | | | keep pace. |
| feedback, etc. | | | | The only effective response to rapidly changing |
| If you can't move fast enough, you're going to | | | | conditions is to develop the capacity to move at |
| get run over. It's that simple! | | | | ultra-high speed oneself. While no one can |
| Of course, one of the greatest threats to | | | | realistically expect to move as rapidly as the |
| developing this kind of organizational quick-strike | | | | constantly changing environment around us, those |
| capability is the age-old syndrome of "paralysis by | | | | who can come closest will be best positioned to |
| analysis." | | | | survive. |
| The only sane response to an increasingly | | | | Your best chance to succeed is to be the one |
| complex, fast-changing world is to build systems | | | | who's driving most of the changes. Of course, not |
| that can move almost as quickly as the changing | | | | everyone gets to be the leader. So it becomes |
| business realities around them. More and more | | | | incumbent on the rest of us to do the next best |
| analysis will not help. | | | | thing. |
| Just as action is ultimately a far more precious | | | | Develop super-fast reflexes that can react |
| commodity in business than pure analysis, speed | | | | quickly, turn on a dime, and make near |
| will beat perfection every time in the emerging | | | | instantaneous adjustments to the turbulence of |
| world of the new economy. | | | | the marketplace. There is simply no alternative! |
| You'll be far better off being 80 percent right and | | | | To accomplish this feat you must leverage the |
| first to market than 100 percent right and six | | | | power of the new information technologies, to |
| months late. IMPLEMENT NOW - PERFECT LATER. | | | | move it into the right hands at the right time. As |
| Try something, test it, learn from it and try | | | | you create and maintain an attitude that |
| again-quickly! | | | | recognizes the supreme importance of urgency |
| Let's be perfectly clear about what's at stake | | | | and speed, by placing them at the center-not the |
| here. For those who really can do things faster | | | | periphery-of the action, you are building a personal |
| than their competitors, the rewards can be | | | | bridge into the new economy. |