FountainBlue's August 2024 Newsletter
FountainBlue's August 2024 Newsletter
FountainBlue’s August 1 Front Line Managers program on the topic of ‘Negotiating Best Practices’ will be a prototype for our in-person *and* online programs which will start in 2025.
Our panelists and our hosts at Lam Research will be on-site at a Silicon Valley location, but the usual Zoom link is available for others.
Riding Innovation Inflection Points
The most successful entrepreneurs and leaders have strategically identified and capitalized on major shifts or turning points in technology, markets, or customer behavior and leveraged them for positive transformation.
Lyft - from Taxi Services to Ride-Sharing
Lyft leveraged smartphone technology and the sharing economy to disrupt traditional taxi services.
Twitch - from Individual to Social Gaming and eSports
Twitch capitalized on the growing popularity of video game streaming and the rise of esports, identifying a new market at the intersection of gaming and social media.
Netflix - from DVD to Streaming Videos
Successfully predicted the shift from DVD rentals to streaming video, transforming their business model ahead of the curve.
Tesla - from Gas to Electric Cars
Predicted the shift towards electric vehicles and sustainable energy, becoming a leader in the EV market.
Airbnb - from Hotel to Shared Rentals
Identified the potential of the sharing economy in the hospitality sector, disrupting traditional hotel businesses.
Spotify - from Owned Records to Streamed and Shared Music
Predicted the transition from owned music to streaming services, becoming a leader in music streaming.
Equally impressive are the Fortune 500+ companies who have continued to pivot with the market and technology demands.
Nokia - Networking Solutions for the Enterprise
Nokia has shifted from being a dominant player in the smartphone market to offering enterprise networking solutions including network equipment and infrastructure, cloud and network software and services and licensing for 5G and future technologies for the Telecommunications, Enterprise networking, Industrial digitalization, and Defense markets.
International Business Machines (IBM)
IBM pivoted from being a dominant player in the mainframe market to focusing on providing high-value enterprise solutions in software and services areas like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain.
Some of the biggest tech companies in the US - Meta, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon - have navigated some critical inflection points in the 2000s and 2010s and are continuing to expand into future opportunities.
Microsoft - from Personal Computers to Enterprise Cloud Solutions
Shifted from personal computers to enterprise cloud, AI integration and security solutions.
Amazon - from Physical Storefront to Online Retail
Anticipated the growth of e-commerce and cloud computing, expanding from an online bookstore to a global retail and technology giant.
Google/Alphabet - from Libraries to Online Search
Recognized the importance of search engines and online advertising early on, building a dominant position in these markets.
Apple - from Mobile Phone to Mobile Computing
Foresaw the potential of smartphones with the iPhone, revolutionizing mobile computing and communications.
Facebook (now Meta) - from Email Communication to Social Networking
Anticipated the rise of social media and has continually adapted to new trends in social networking.
Riding Innovation Inflection Points
It takes a combination of anticipating market and technology trends and adapting internal technological capabilities, operational processes and workforce qualifications to navigate challenges and seize opportunities, especially when everything changes so quickly and so dramatically.
It’s also clear that the companies mentioned above all invested heavily in technology, innovation, *and* in ecosystem development to capitalize on inflection points. So I challenge entrepreneurs and small business leaders to consider several questions:
How are you tracking and addressing current and anticipated inflection points?
How are companies mentioned in this post and other companies in your ecosystem addressing current and anticipated future needs?
How can you lean into partnerships and ecosystems to better collaborate, anticipate and address what’s next for your business?
It may help to consider three things:
Strategic Focus on Market Evolution
Monitor the macrotrends while also managing the implications on these trends on your business goals.
Keep abreast of industry pundits and benchmark data so you can complement your own assessment of market fluctuations and its impact on current and past customer requirements.
Balance the need for proactive initiative with the requirement for managing risk, erring on the side of measured action and rapid iterations.
Responsive Adaptability and Planning
Prepare the company to be agile and flexible, while also creating clear guardrails to ensure compliance on critical people, process and operational requirements.
Address internal organizational, people and operational hurdles *before* a market shift, to increase the likelihood that the company can manage and lead through that shift.
Balance the need to be responsive and proactive with the need to serve the customer, optimize internal operations, and remain profitable and compliant.
Seamless and Timely Execution on Coordinated Initiatives
Reward people and teams who are agile, collaborative, proactive and empowered in order to seamlessly execute cross-functionally to seize a market opportunity.
Create a collaborative, change-embracing, metrics-based, fail-forward culture which would improve bottom line results, even through market fluctuations.
Balance the need to execute seamlessly with the need to deliver triple bottom line results - for the people, for the organization, for the environment.
Adopting a strategic focus, responding agilely to recognized trends, and practicing seamless execution will serve your company well even when the future is unclear.
Notes from last month’s When She Speaks Online Program
FountainBlue's July 11 When She Speaks program was on the topic of 'Ways to Lead'. Please join me in thanking our esteemed panelists.
Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
Panelist Carolina Amador, Associate Director, Corporate Intelligence, BioMarin
Panelist Amber Barber, Senior Director, Program Management, Jade Global
Panelist Sanchita Gupta, Senior Director, Human Resources Business Partner, Samsung Research America
Panelist Regina Hancher, Director, Customer Success, Gigamon
We began by comparing and contrasting Goleman's six leadership styles description, as released in 2000 as well as leadership styles profiled by Braden Becker in his 2023 article for HubSpot.
Our panelists agreed that there's a time and a place even for the most 'provincial' and 'outdated' leadership styles.
Although the Laissez Faire leadership style might not work when standards are strict and lives are at stake, it might work well in start-up situations when you have independent, mature workers with a lot of initiative, experience and good judgment.
Although the Autocratic leadership style might not be very inspiring and motivating for many employees, it is the preferred and favored leadership style in times of crisis when urgent and immediate action is required. It may also be the style of choice when a decision has been made, and the team must follow-through on that decision as dissension would compromise the ability to execute collaboratively and efficiently.
Although the Democratic leadership style works well in many situations, there are times when a vote with equal representation by all is the best way to lead. Sometimes equal representation for all is not effective as sometimes some people may be better informed, some people may have more at stake, some people are more motivated, etc.,
Although the Transactional leadership style rewards specific actions and supports meritocracy, it may not be effective when teams need to be inspired by more emotional, less tangible rewards. Plus transactional rewards unequally implemented can lead to disillusionment, disengagement and distrust.
Although the Bureaucratic leadership style can make processes more cumbersome and slow, setting clear policies and protocols in place can make difficult choices more clear and fair and less emotional.
Our panelists shared a wide range of stories and anecdotes about how they used a combination of coaching, strategic, transformational, visionary, pacesetting, and Path Goal leadership styles to address specific challenges, strategize on a plan, mobilize resources, rally stakeholders, and deliver specific measurable outcomes.
Coaching Leadership - Leader nurtures individuals
Strategic Leadership - Decisions based on strategy and goals
Transformational Leadership - Pushing to think and work in new ways
Visionary Leadership - Energetic focus on the future
Pacesetting Leadership - Leaders set ambitious goals
Path Goal Leadership - Situational Leadership with consideration for motivations and needs of those who are led
Change is never easy, but change IS the choice for companies and leaders looking to grow and succeed. Below is a compilation of their advice on how to best lead through change:
Be Strategic.
Accept the inevitable and focus on what you CAN manage and change.
Be clear on the WHY and on the end goal, the North Star. Reverse engineer from that visionary and transformational end goal.
Prioritize the focus on the proactive, high-impact changes you can lead.
Understand WHO needs WHEN, WHERE, and HOW and create a business case to provide support and resources to manage and lead through the change.
Be Collaborative.
Change doesn't happen overnight. But change CAN happen if you work together to understand the needs, support each other, remove obstacles, secure resources, solicit support from senior leaders and across the organization.
Focus on solving a problem, facilitating collaboration and communication.
Clearly communicate how a wide range of stakeholders contribute to the change and how each benefit from the change, when they lean in together.
Distribute the leadership – facilitate confidence as an action, err on the side of action
Be Responsive, Communicative and Other-Centric.
Help change to happen in ways which are acceptable to the wide range of stakeholders impacted. Be responsive, supportive, participatory, or achievement focused based on the needs of these stakeholders.
When possible, understand, support and work with common reactions around change: Restore (I still want to do it that way), Replace (Can I get a different version of what I used to have), Redesign (Can you create something like I used to have), Relinquish (I don't want to engage in that new, new).
Adopt a Servant leadership style – one that is leader-centric, but acting as a servant, removing obstacles, facilitating both empowerment and results.
No matter what the future brings, focus on delivering a psychologically safe environment filled with respect and servitude.
Grow Your Network.
Work the network to support the change initiative. Know what you know, know who you know, Know who knows what you know.
It's not clear what kind of change will happen, but it *is* clear that change WILL happen, and adopting a wide range of leadership styles will help you, your team, your program and your organization navigate the changes ahead.
Each leadership style serves a purpose, depending on the followers and depending on the situation, but every leader and manager must be versed in a wide range of leadership styles to meet the wide-ranging demands of the people they serve and the projects they oversee.
Notes from last month’s VIP Roundtable Online Program
FountainBlue's July 19 VIP roundtable was on the topic of 'Balancing Privacy, Security and Access'. We were fortunate to have some seasoned executives representing a wide range of industries and perspectives to lead our interactive discussion. Below is a summary of their thoughts and suggestions.
Security is everyone's responsibility.
Make the time to proactively keep your data safe, to learn about threats to your system, network and data.
Comply with corporate, federal, international protocols.
Participate in industry leadership groups to collaborate on security standards which would benefit all.
Practice effective data governance, so that people know what the data is, how it is collected and updated, who has access to it, how it is secured, etc.,
Technology including AI and GenAI is crucial, but humans will continue to oversee and manage security and privacy.
It makes sense to leverage AI to create dashboards of information so that humans can make informed decisions. But it will take a human to make sure that the data reflects accurate, unbiased, relevant information, so that the right decision for the company is made.
GenAI is creating options on what to do, given historical information and current challenges and opportunities, but it takes a human to make a decision among these options, and to deal with the consequences of the choices. It also takes a human to ensure that the right, relevant and accurate data is provided so that appropriate options are created by GenAI.
Below are some general guidelines to help your company maintain a higher security standard.
Practice a 3-2-1 strategy which requires 3 copies of data, with 2 media types (like cloud and disk), with one 'air gap' security measure used to physically isolate a secure computer network from unsecured ones, such as the Internet or unsecured local area networks.
Leverage proactive anomaly detection, security incidents and event management tools to help stay in front of data breaches.
Know what kind of data you have, how it's accessed and updated, who gets access, etc., and manage who updates those protocols and how that is handled.
Use scenario planning to help understand the security, privacy and access risks to the company's equipment, data, facilities, and people.
Below is a list of challenges, which could also be opportunities for those who can provide elegant, integrate offerings:
Native AI platforms may be better equipped to provide more versatile and flexible security management tools and services for client companies as their solution is not built on top of non-native AI applications.
There are huge opportunities as more companies are relying on Open Source security modules for their solutions, but also more challenges as we rely on an active and engaged community of volunteers to ensure individual open source modules remain secure themselves.
Integrating our information into a single source online is more efficient for the user to manage, but also more efficient for hackers to compromise. There are, therefore, opportunities for companies to securely gather information online into a single source *and also* to manage that data so that it remains secure and private.
Technology solutions rely on data, but sometimes, the validity of the data is biased, inaccurate, irrelevant, etc., How do we make sure that the data is the right data to help achieve intended results? What could we do collectively to raise the bar, so that we are working with the right data? There is a huge opportunity ahead, with huge implications.
It's overwhelming to consider the challenges of keeping a company and its data, equipment and people safe, but it's also inspiring to hear the tales of today's executives as they lead and collaborate to keep us innovating and working efficiently while keeping ourselves and our data safe.