Page 40 - Chapter One

8 The Management Shift

In order to reverse these worrying trends, fundamental changes are
needed in various areas, including restructuring firms’ economics to gener-
ate maximum possible value from existing resources; development of new
management practices to more effectively utilize growing knowledge
flows; significant innovation in institutional arrangements to drive scalable
participation in knowledge flows driven by rapid developments in digital
infrastructure and utilize open innovation and process network initiatives.
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An IBM global CEO survey conducted in 2012, comprising more than
1,700 CEOs from 64 countries, revealed that leaders are recognizing that
the new connected era is changing how people engage. The increasing
convergence of the digital, social and mobile media connecting customers,
employees and partners in new ways creates new opportunities for the
organizations as well as the need to mobilize a collective brain power to

innovate. High- performing organizations are creating more open and
collaborative cultures, encouraging employees to connect, learn from each
other and thrive in a rapidly changing world. Three essential imperatives
emerged from this survey:

1. The need to empower employees through values, purpose and creating
a collaborative environment
2. The need to engage customers as individuals, improve understanding
of their needs and reduce time to respond to their needs
3. The need to amplify innovation with partnerships, where high-
performing companies are working on challenging and disruptive types
of innovation – that is, not just creating new products but also moving
into other industries or creating new industries.

A similar survey conducted in 2010, which canvassed over 1,500
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CEOs, revealed that the key challenges faced by CEOs include: the
ability to manage complexity; the ability to encourage experimenta-

tion and innovation; the ability to co- create products and services with
customers, based on deep customer insights; and the ability to increase
organizational dexterity, that is to change the way organizations work,
connect, access resources and enter markets around the world. Yet a

surprising number of CEOs reported that they felt ill- prepared for today’s