How your company can adapt to a complex and ever-changing world

Last column of the year.  Not sure who is happier, my readers or me.  The end is always nothing more than a beginning, so be careful what you wish for, you may get it.  Back on Jan. 5.

I am going to avoid the maudlin review of the technology entrepreneurial landscape and instead explore some biodiversity, namely the invertebrate mollusk, class Cephalopoda.   We know them as octopuses or octopi.

Now to the tentacles of the column.  Jana Werner and Phil Le-Brun, strategists at Amazon Web Services, have written a column for the Harvard Business Review discussing “How your company can adapt to a complex world.”

Their premise is that the typical corporation is like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz.  Clumsy, rigid, rusted solid, waiting for a significant infusion of WD-40.  So it is time to transform into an octopus, whose arms can think and act independently. 

However, as a matter of accuracy, do not get mislead by Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” You might be thinking giant squid, but in the original French text, it is a “poulpe” – an octopus.   

Your startup needs to be able to “radically deform its shape” like the octopus, which allows it to squeeze through small gaps.  Flexibility triumphs.  Use more white boards and fewer power points.  Engage the group, modify quickly, focus on outcomes — it is the customer, it will always be the customer.  The immutable law of value creation — or said more simply —“hey, pal, your weekly paycheck is directly correlated to how happy our customer is and his desire to continue to pay his monthly subscription.”

But we are all customers in our own ways in this world.  Let’s review the bidding, without the assistance of any contemporary digital innovations or software updates.

Let’s go back to 100 BCE, when a guy named Hillel is born.  He became a Talmudic sage.  He goes on Jeopardy, and he takes Torah for $300.  His question: “Whatever is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow man.”  Hillel wants to show off a little, so he gives the answer standing on one foot.  “That is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary.”

The other contestant, a fellow named Jesus Christ, takes the same question for $400. “What is the most important commandment in the law?”  Jesus replies, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now I know the one foot thing is a bit over the top, but if you get consensus from two of the greatest thinkers in all of history, it is easy to explain to your entire company that the only thing that matters is “the other guy,” the customer (whether he is your neighbor or not).  

A few thousand books and articles and posts and podcasts are anxious to give you their opinion on the “how” to do that.   Proactive communication, seamless omnichannel support, and consistent and quick resolutions.  Build trust and loyalty.

Amazon practices “double-loop learning,” a process that analyzes not just the result, but the underlying assumptions and mental models.  What are the unexpected side effects?  Did we miscalculate the initial risks prior to implementation?

Sure.  But make it easy, Hillel and Christ.  End of story.

Werner and Le-Brun tell us that the distinguishing feature of an octopus is its huge, inquisitive eyes, “often looking into the distance.”  That does seem like a keystone way to navigate your startup.  In sailing, it is called “get your head out of the boat.”  Look up the race course, anticipate what is coming. 

My own frustration is that it is easy to give advice and hard to act on it.  I know the right thing to do, so just do it.  Don’t wait too long (the classic failure that dooms companies) to act, especially when you know what it is required.  Learn to listen.  

I am a believer in the power to change, in second chances.  And second stories.  I embrace the game and its unknowability.  I love getting to roll the dice.   Even though we all know that in the end, the house always wins.   

Finally, I wish all of you peace and wisdom and affection for the new year.   

Rule No. 810:  “On the Nautilus men’s hearts never fail them.” — Captain Nemo.

Senturia is a serial entrepreneur who invests in startups. Please email ideas to neil@askturing.ai