Christmas Food for Thought 2019

Publicerat 18 December 2019

In case you fancy some food for thought, we recommend this noteworthy story from the Economist Babbage Podcast, “The Promise and Peril of AI”, which puts Artificial Intelligence into perspective and highlights the challenges we need to overcome in order to make it flourish. Leading experts in the field talk about the benefits and risks of AI as well as discuss why it is critical for mankind. You can listen to the podcast here.

We also recommend “Measure what matters: OKRs: The simple idea that drives 10x growth”, by John Doerr, which you can find as audio book here.

It addresses the topic of how to apply measures that are not limiting your business, a challenge many of you who collaborate with us face. In his book, Doerr outlines a framework of objectives and key results that support growth.

The thoughts are based on how Intel, Google, Amazon and Uber work with goal setting. Although the company you represent might operate in a somewhat different business environment, we believe there are interesting learnings to be made.

Finally, we recommend “What Is Disruptive Innovation?”, by Clayton M. Christensen et. al, which you can find here. Twenty years after having introduced Disruptive Innovation, the authors in this article revisit this by now fundamental theory.

It is emphasized that disruptive innovations originate in low-end or new-market footholds and that disrupters often build business models that are very different from those of incumbents. But also that the mantra “Disrupt or be disrupted” can misguide us, that incumbent companies should not overreact to disruption by dismantling a still-profitable business. Instead, they should strengthen relationships with core customers while also creating a new division focused on the growth opportunities that arise from the disruption.