What's The Future Of Business By Brian Solis

Incredibly relevant. Highly visual. Timely. Enlightening. Instructive. Scary.

These are all words I use to describe Brian Solis' new book, What's The Future (WTF) Of Business -- Changing The Way Businesses Create Experiences.

You can likely already imagine that I consider this a must-read book for any business owner and any leader -- even leaders who manage businesses that don't directly connect with consumers.

WTF is incredibly relevant and timely because Solis explores the non-stop transformation happening in business today, driven by new social and mobile technologies.

The book is highly visual because it's the quality of a coffee-table style book, packed with compelling graphics, bright colors and a design that makes for easy reading -- all delivered on top-notch paper.

And, it's enlightening and instructive, because the book delivers real-world examples that can guide you as you shape your business.

Plus, WTF is scary. Scary because you'll likely feel overwhelmed by how quickly business is changing today. Overwhelmed by what the future of business will likely bring. And, scary, because you'll likely feel behind in your business' ability to create the ultimate in experiences for your customers.

Solis will challenge you to rethink your business models, approach, and customer and employee relationships in order to create amazing, real-world experiences.

Solis recently answered three questions I had after reading the book. Here are his answers:

Question: When you consider all the Business-To-Consumer (B2C) companies in the U.S., what percentage of them are practicing what you are preaching -- creating experiences as you describe in your book?

Solis: Most businesses are merely reacting to the rapid evolution of technology rather than trying to create engaged customer experiences throughout the life-cycle.

In a world where screens and real-life moments define the impressions and resulting actions of customers, businesses need to rethink their approach. Smartphones, laptops, tablets, smart watches, Google Glass et al., it's not slowing down. Technology and innovation is only accelerating.

This isn't a time to react. It's a time to lead!

While a majority of organizations are starting to embrace social, mobile, real-time to various extents, if you really stop to think about it, they are simply running to where they think customers are rather than taking the time to understand why they're in each channel, what they expect and how they (and you) define value. More importantly, there needs to be an integrated experience in these channels that align with the new customer journey that's taking shape and evolving every day.

The traditional funnel that exists today, or what I refer to in the new book as the Cluster Funnel, reflects how businesses are organized today. From awareness to interest to decision and action to advocacy and loyalty organizational structures hone in to optimize each step but are rarely unified in their approach or overall higher purpose. The truth is that decision-making is hardly simple and it's rarely linear.

In a connected society where the customer journey is not as simple or linear as a funnel but instead incredibly dynamic and continuous, an integrated means is required to lead and steer impressions, engagement, and ultimately experiences. Why? Because those experiences will be shared in the real world and online and they're going to influence those consumers who follow or find them in each journey.

If you're not defining the experiences you want them to have or share and then integrating that experience across the organization, you will forever react and be at the mercy of what experiences they actually have and in turn share with others . . . over and over.

Everything begins with defining the experiences you want people to have and share in each moment of truth and then studying what the experience actually is based on what people are sharing online.

Identify the gap.
Define the strategy.
Develop meaningful metrics.
Organize teams to then enliven and reinforce desired experiences through a united front.

The future of business lies in shared experience. This is why someone at the executive level must now be responsible for introducing experience design into everything a business does inside and outside the organization. It's part UX part CX and part anthropology and ethnography.

Question: For readers who lead Business-To-Business (B2B) companies, my sense is that some will think this book is not for them because they don't deal with the consumer or aren't in retail. What do you say to these leaders about why they, too, need to read this book?

Solis: This question surfaces a common myth in these important discussions. As a result, businesses are shrugging off important insights and missing critical opportunities to adapt and evolve. But as I say, the formula for Digital Darwinism, when technology and society evolve faster than your ability to adapt is . . .

Arrogance + Ignorance = Irrelevance

We live in a time when the line between B2B and B2C is eroding. And honestly, it's about time. What is B2B or B2C truly about any way? It's about people connecting with people (P2P).

All customers go on a journey. What changes are the touch points and also the points of influence. Business customers are still embarking on a dynamic journey. They are still seeking input and direction. They are still connecting with like-minded peers in authorities. The difference is that the cluster funnel is collapsing giving way to digital, mobile, and social moments of truth are missed by businesses because they believe technology is only used by people seeking consumer products. Come on! You know that's not true.

Some of the most engaged companies leading the way are focused on B2B.

In fact, working with innovative B2B companies is where I started much of my research and experimentation years ago. And, the best B2B companies are thinking about their customer's customer to help them create more engaging strategies that mimic the innovative and dynamic approaches they're taking to create and unite experiences. Think of this as a B2B2C approach.

Question: I believe some readers will be scared by what you describe as the inevitable. Scared enough that they might not know what do to next or as a first step. What is your advice for these readers?

Solis: Until digital, social, mobile unite under a common front driven by creating and delivering meaningful and shareable experiences, the customer will create and share what they see, feel, and think on their own. And until organizations tie experience and CRM and empower and align teams to the dynamic customer journey, businesses will continually miss important opportunities to engage and direct customers in every moment of truth.

Yes it's scary. Change isn't easy. But then again, if it were easy, then anyone could do this and you wouldn't be so special.

In the book, I borrow from Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey to visualize how customers will travel along their journey, where they go, what they're seeking and how to move forward. But by the end of the book, I reintroduce the Hero's Journey to reveal to readers that they are in fact the hero and this is their journey. It's riddled with challenges also tremendous opportunities. In the book I share the challenges readers will face and also how to break through them. It's rich with visuals on what's changing, what change looks like, and also what to do next and over time.

We're all in this together.

Brian Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research firm focused on disruptive technology. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging technology on business, marketing, and culture. Solis is also globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media.

His previous book, The End of Business as Usual, explores the emergence of Generation-C, a new generation of customers and employees and how businesses must adapt to reach them.

Thanks to the book publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

Coach Campbell's Leadership Principles And Winning Approach

Trillion Dollar Coach is about Bill Campbell , someone you likely never heard of, who coached several of the biggest names in Silicon Valley during a 16-year tenure, and who’s behind-the-scene wisdom helped created over a trillion dollars in market value. Authored by Eric Schmidt , Jonathan Rosenberg , and Alan Eagle , they share that from Steve Jobs and Dick Costolo to Larry Page and Sundar Pichai, these big names in Silicon Valley give credit to Campbell for much of their success. Campbell, who died in 2016, started his career as a football coach at Boston College and Columbia then switched to business in 1979. As leaders at Google for more than a decade, Schmidt, Rosenberg, and Eagle had the benefit of experiencing Campbell’s executive coaching firsthand. In addition, for the book, the authors interviewed over 80 people with whom Campbell also worked. Through stories from those interviews, Trillion Dollar Coach features specific strategies and action ste...

The Phoenix Encounter Method For Leaders

“All businesses sooner or later face the need to reconstruct their future,” explain the authors of the new book, The Phoenix Encounter Method . “They will need to destroy part or all of the incumbent business model in order to build their breakthrough, future-ready organization.” Therefore, this book shares a new method of leadership thinking – the Phoenix Encounter – relevant to all organizations in today’s ever-changing environment. Readers will learn how to proactively bridge the gap between perceiving a threat and doing something about it. Written by three INSEAD professors ( Ian C. Woodward , V. “Paddy” Padmanabhan , Sameer Hasija ) and Rum Charan , you’ll learn the steps needed to create a wider range of options to: Defend your organization Fortify its core business Build specific renewal initiatives The steps are grounded in transformation that includes these three elements : The Phoenix Attitude : a set of mindsets, habits, and behaviors that allows a leader to ...

Find The Truth In The Middle

If you're a parent of two children you already know that when the two are fighting and child #1 tells you what happened, you then ask child #2 what happened, and most often the truth is somewhere in the middle of what the two children have told you. Surprisingly, many managers, even when they are parents, don't use this parenting "discovery" skill in the workplace. Instead, they often listen to only one side of a situation. Whether it is because of lack of interest or lack of time, they don't proactively seek out the other side of the story. The unfortunate result is those managers form incorrect perceptions that can often lead to poor decisions and/or directives. So, the next time two employees are at odds, or when one department complains about another department within your organization, take the time to listen to all sides of the situation to discover the truth that's in the middle .

How To Conduct A Successful Post-Merger Integration

Most business leaders think that mergers fail because of bad strategy or overpaying. But according to former senior partner at McKinsey and Harvard Business School’s David Fubini , that’s not where deals break down. They fail in what comes during and after integration. More specifically, “Integration is what makes or breaks the success of a deal. Not design, not financing, not due diligence, not negotiations of structure,” says Fubini. “Because no matter how expertly you manage these elements, if you can’t bring all the pieces together, all your efforts might as well have been an academic exercise." Fortunately, in his new book, Post-Merger Integration: Building The Mindset, Skills, And Discipline Needed For Deal Success , Fubini (along with Patrick Sanguineti ) offers a behind-the-scenes look at how deals actually succeed and where they go wrong. And he shows leaders how to develop an Integration Mindset that will enable you to navigate the complex, nuanced reality...

The Leadership Playbook Of Bill Campbell

Business And Life Lessons My Father Taught Me

I post this every year on or near Father's Day because the business and life lessons my father taught me stay with me forever. What he taught me has served me well--even lessons I learned when I didn't at the time necessarily realize I was learning from him. So, I thank my dad for teaching me the following business and life lessons : Listen - Growing up, I thought my Dad was perhaps shy or quiet. Really, he was just a great listener. I believe that's what made him so wise. He would listen to anyone. Young or old. New acquaintance or friend. Provide - My Dad provided for me. Music lessons. Vacations. Summer camp. Boy Scouts. He gave. He put others' needs first. Today, I find in volunteering likely the same satisfaction he felt when he provided for his family. Educate - My Dad's passion was education. He loved to learn. He loved even more to teach. He lived to help other people learn. In the workplace, providing learning opportunities is one of the most powerful ...

A Playbook For Authentic Human Leadership

Julie Averill , the CIO behind lululemon’s rapid growth from $2 billion to $10 billion shares in her new book, Chief Impact Officer , a roadmap for executives and technology leaders navigating today's AI revolution and reveals why authentic human leadership is your competitive advantage. Prior to lululemon, she led omni-channel and digital transformations at Nordstrom and REI, navigating system failures, crises, and the complicated work of integrating technology with business strategy at scale. “Technology doesn’t transform companies. People do,” says Averill. “AI will amplify whatever leadership exists, strong or weak. The goal isn’t to build better workers. It’s to develop better humans who happen to do extraordinary work because you helped them become more capable, more confident, more fully themselves. That’s what this book is about.” In the highly personal Chief Impact Officer , Averill pulls back the curtain on what happens when you try to transform a compan...

The Ordinary Skills Of Exceptional Leaders

New York Times -bestselling author, chartered psychologist and Professor of Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School, John Amaechi , has released I t’s Not Magic: The Ordinary Skills Of Exceptional Leaders . It’s an important read for particularly managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders, and anyone else expected to motivate and inspire others to achieve great things. The book walks you through the seemingly obvious but difficult-to-nail mindsets and intentions you’ll need to adopt to influence and motivate others. You’ll learn strategies and techniques you can apply immediately, including: Easy-to-follow explanations of the straightforward behaviors you can model to improve your ability to lead others. Habits you can adopt immediately to motivate others in any setting, from the boardroom to the classroom or the battlefield. Data-driven insights into the tiny, little things that great leaders do every day and how to incorporate th...

Inspiring Leadership Quotes

These quotes truly inspire me and hopefully they will inspire you as well : “The three common characteristics of best companies -- they care, they have fun, they have high performance expectations.” -- Brad Hams “The one thing that's common to all successful people: They make a habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don't like to do.” -- Michael Phelps “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman “The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.” -- Peter Drucker “Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” -- Dwight D. Eisenhower “Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself. It's about advancing your team.” -- John C. Maxwell "People buy into the leader, then the vision.” -- John C. Maxwell “Great leaders have courage, tenacity and patience.” -- B...

The 10 Essential Elements Of Dignity

In their book, Millennials Who Manage , authors Chip Espinoza and Joel Schwarzbart , quote Donna Hicks 's explanation about how dignity is different from respect . Dignity is different from respect in that it is not based on how people perform, what they can do for us, or their likability. Dignity is a feeling of inherent value and worth. Therefore, Espinoza and Schwarzbart recommend that leaders treat those they are leading with dignity and follow Hick's 10 Essential Elements of Dignity : Acceptance of Identity - Approach people as being neither inferior nor superior to you. Assume that others have integrity. Inclusion - Make others feel that they belong, whatever the relationship. Safety - Put people at ease at two levels: physically, so they feel safe from bodily harm, and psychologically, so they feel safe from being humiliated. Acknowledgment - Give people your full attention by listening, hearing, validating, and responding to their concerns, feelin...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog