What’s the SCOOP – Thoughts for the C-Suite
Watch out EMSNOW readers, Jennifer is taking a break, so I am editing EMSNOW for the remainder of this week and all of next. I’ll be trying to live up to Jennifer’s remit and reputation of bringing you interesting content every single day, be that written, video or audio. I boldly set myself a small additional task of bringing you my thoughts each day in the form of a short blog. Bold because it means I have to write something everyday and bold because it assumes you’ll be interested in what I think…
Either way, here are my eight topics, all designed to make EMS better and all based on my own experience, network and the hundred of discussions with executives that clearly know a lot more than me!
- Disruptive DNA
- Partnerships Prevail
- Transformative Transformation
- Connected Cultures
- Sustainable Solutions
- Brand on Brand
- Scale and Scalability
- Citizen EMS
What’s the SCOOP – Thought #1 of 8 – Disruptive DNA
After years of constant disruption I believe the winners in the coming EMS race will be those with disruption in their DNA. Not those that tolerate disruption, not those that have survived disruption, but those that embrace disruption, those that thrive on disruption, and those that actually like to disrupt themselves.
The twenties was born in a trade war, grew up in a pandemic, and is coming of age in the most challenging supply chain environment anyone has seen. What is more, we are most likely about to head into another disruption. This time an almighty economic disruption as we try to tackle inflation, rising interest rates, and potential stagnation, all while trying to redesign supply chains to be more secure, more agile, more robust and less China-centric.
Some companies are looking at these disruptions as temporary. Something to survive, stormy waters to sail through before hitting calmer, more familiar currents. These are the companies I fear for most over the remainder of the 2020s.
Other companies have accepted disruption as a way of life, some were even forged in the fire of disruption, and some are born of disruptive business models. These are the companies with disruption in their DNA. And these are the companies that will thrive in the coming months and years.
Those with disruptive DNA have learned how to design for disruption, and I don’t just mean designing products to meet the challenges of a disrupted work environment, supply chain or economy. I mean those that have redesigned their business model, their workflow, their digital transformation model, their planning systems, and their partnerships with both customers and suppliers.
I believe those in this disruptive ecosystem will move ahead of the peloton substantially in the coming years, and unlike on the Tour de France, they won’t be so easy to catch. This breakaway group will be full of EMS players that think differently and act differently. Companies that are well funded and attract the attention of brands, of investors and, importantly of talent. They will earn the type of loyalty we normally only associate with OEMs and they will become the brands of choice in the EMS industry.
If you’re just tolerating the current disruptions it’s time to accept them, and even to embrace them. Build disruption into your company’s DNA. Be the disruptor, not the disrupted. Build a business that thrives on disruptions and sees each bump in the road as a way to show your customers just how valuable a partner you can be in a crisis. They’ll remember what you did and they’ll value it.