Leaders: are you the obstacle to reinvent your business?
Tanguy Cathelain • janv. 06, 2021
The Kobayashi Maru is a famous Star Trek episode.
He was scripted for the first time in the film 1982 The Wrath of Khan and more recently in the new opus Star Trek Into Darkness.
The Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise for young Starfleet officers. It aims at testing them when faced with a no-win scenario.
Young James T. Kirk, not yet commander of the Enterprise, is the only cadet to pass the test ... by reprogramming it to prevent death. Very clearly, he refuses the script written in advance. He decides to play his own scenario, the one that allows him to survive.
What lessons can any leader draw from this for the conduct of their business, especially in a context of disruptive environment?
1. REFUSE THE “NO-WIN SCENARIO”
In many industries, “no-win scenarios” tend to become more and more frequent for traditional players due to waves of technological innovations and revolutions in business models. Disruptions are at work. Traditional business models are being overtaken by new ways to satisfy the customer and by new value chain organizations. Just in a few years, disruptions can bring down well-established companies or threaten the legitimacy of public institutions.
Not the right way : leaders may have the inclination or the temptation to deny weak signals and to manage the business as usual with very little change. Then, often when too late, they try to plug disruptive innovations in their existing model. Faced with new competitors offering breakups, this strategy is doomed to fail.
James T.'s way is the right one: to take a step back and to rewrite the scenario. In business words, it is useless to put bandaids on a business that cannot survive. The right way is to reinvent it, and it means to create a new business. The job of the “re-inventor” is to define and to implement the foundations of the new company (relationships with customers, market positioning and business model) in continuity with the “old” one (mission, value, assets).
To succeed, the leader should be bold and to have acute entrepreneurial skills.
2. WORK WITH A BRAND NEW DREAM TEAM
James T. Kirk has the mental strength to dare challenging, alone, what is written and to lead his project. For anyone else, it is not smart to try and lead a transformation alone.
It is a hard task to reinvent the future and to rebuild your business at the right pace. It is even harder when you have to organize the shift from old to new business, while optimizing the old one because it is still profitable for a while.
You have a lot to do. You must change your perspective and consider everything differently: customer needs, products and services, technologies, production, skills, business model …. And you have to take a lot of tough decisions related to markets, assets, human resources, organization …
To succeed, the leader should work with a brand new Dream Team:
- people from outside the company and smart with new business models, techno disruptions and customer needs, along with a small number of choosen people from the old business,
- people able to help him/her take a step back, focus on key challenges and train to succeed.
He was scripted for the first time in the film 1982 The Wrath of Khan and more recently in the new opus Star Trek Into Darkness.
The Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise for young Starfleet officers. It aims at testing them when faced with a no-win scenario.
Young James T. Kirk, not yet commander of the Enterprise, is the only cadet to pass the test ... by reprogramming it to prevent death. Very clearly, he refuses the script written in advance. He decides to play his own scenario, the one that allows him to survive.
What lessons can any leader draw from this for the conduct of their business, especially in a context of disruptive environment?
1. REFUSE THE “NO-WIN SCENARIO”
In many industries, “no-win scenarios” tend to become more and more frequent for traditional players due to waves of technological innovations and revolutions in business models. Disruptions are at work. Traditional business models are being overtaken by new ways to satisfy the customer and by new value chain organizations. Just in a few years, disruptions can bring down well-established companies or threaten the legitimacy of public institutions.
Not the right way : leaders may have the inclination or the temptation to deny weak signals and to manage the business as usual with very little change. Then, often when too late, they try to plug disruptive innovations in their existing model. Faced with new competitors offering breakups, this strategy is doomed to fail.
James T.'s way is the right one: to take a step back and to rewrite the scenario. In business words, it is useless to put bandaids on a business that cannot survive. The right way is to reinvent it, and it means to create a new business. The job of the “re-inventor” is to define and to implement the foundations of the new company (relationships with customers, market positioning and business model) in continuity with the “old” one (mission, value, assets).
To succeed, the leader should be bold and to have acute entrepreneurial skills.
2. WORK WITH A BRAND NEW DREAM TEAM
James T. Kirk has the mental strength to dare challenging, alone, what is written and to lead his project. For anyone else, it is not smart to try and lead a transformation alone.
It is a hard task to reinvent the future and to rebuild your business at the right pace. It is even harder when you have to organize the shift from old to new business, while optimizing the old one because it is still profitable for a while.
You have a lot to do. You must change your perspective and consider everything differently: customer needs, products and services, technologies, production, skills, business model …. And you have to take a lot of tough decisions related to markets, assets, human resources, organization …
To succeed, the leader should work with a brand new Dream Team:
- people from outside the company and smart with new business models, techno disruptions and customer needs, along with a small number of choosen people from the old business,
- people able to help him/her take a step back, focus on key challenges and train to succeed.
Relayez-nous
Le stoïcien manage le temps en s'appuyant sur son cadre de référence.
Nous présentons ici les principes qui guident le stoïcien ainsi que les modalités opérationnelles de management du temps qui en découlent. Nous rappelons les voies d'initiation au stoïcisme. Sénèque disait : « quand il s'agit de perdre son temps, on est prodigue dans le seul domaine où l'avarice serait honorable .»
Travailler son leadership est un vrai besoin du dirigeant.
Trois axes sont à privilégier : la maîtrise de l'égo, le développement de la vision et la capacité à former des talents et à fonctionner en dynamique d'équipe.
Des voeux pour construire une résilience durable.
L'apport du stoÏcisme au job de dirigeant:
- Gestion des priorités
- Maîtrise des émotions
- Premeditatio malorum
- Ce qui dépend de nous
The Kobayashi Maru is a famous Star Trek episode. He was scripted for the first time in the film 1982 The Wrath of Khan and more recently in the new opus Star Trek Into Darkness. The Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise for young Starfleet officers. It aims at testing them when faced with a no-win scenario. Young James T. Kirk, not yet commander of the Enterprise, is the only cadet to pass the test ... by reprogramming it to prevent death. Very clearly, he refuses the script written in advance. He decides to play his own scenario, the one that allows him to survive. What lessons can any leader draw from this for the conduct of their business, especially in a context of disruptive environment? 1. REFUSE THE “NO-WIN SCENARIO” In many industries, “no-win scenarios” tend to become more and more frequent for traditional players due to waves of technological innovations and revolutions in business models. Disruptions are at work. Traditional business models are being overtaken by new ways to satisfy the customer and by new value chain organizations. Just in a few years, disruptions can bring down well-established companies or threaten the legitimacy of public institutions. Not the right way : leaders may have the inclination or the temptation to deny weak signals and to manage the business as usual with very little change. Then, often when too late, they try to plug disruptive innovations in their existing model. Faced with new competitors offering breakups, this strategy is doomed to fail. James T.'s way is the right one: to take a step back and to rewrite the scenario. In business words, it is useless to put bandaids on a business that cannot survive. The right way is to reinvent it, and it means to create a new business. The job of the “re-inventor” is to define and to implement the foundations of the new company (relationships with customers, market positioning and business model) in continuity with the “old” one (mission, value, assets). To succeed, the leader should be bold and to have acute entrepreneurial skills. 2. WORK WITH A BRAND NEW DREAM TEAM James T. Kirk has the mental strength to dare challenging, alone, what is written and to lead his project. For anyone else, it is not smart to try and lead a transformation alone. It is a hard task to reinvent the future and to rebuild your business at the right pace. It is even harder when you have to organize the shift from old to new business, while optimizing the old one because it is still profitable for a while. You have a lot to do. You must change your perspective and consider everything differently: customer needs, products and services, technologies, production, skills, business model …. And you have to take a lot of tough decisions related to markets, assets, human resources, organization … To succeed, the leader should work with a brand new Dream Team: - people from outside the company and smart with new business models, techno disruptions and customer needs, along with a small number of choosen people from the old business, - people able to help him/her take a step back, focus on key challenges and train to succeed.
