Making change happen, one book at a time.

Every year Fluxx writes a business book about change and how to make it happen. This year we started writing our 5th book in response to the frustrations we hear our clients talk about everyday; how to make things happen at pace in big organisations. Then COVID hit, we all went into lockdown and lots of businesses moved quicker than they ever have before. Faced with a Global Pandemic, millions of businesses worked quickly to transform overnight.

So we paused the book, stepped away, embraced the disruption and continued to help our clients on projects and to explore new ways of working. Then we listened to our clients, contacts, and Fluxx friends to understand the big questions and challenges businesses and leaders are now facing. We binned some stuff, reimagined other content and re-interviewed our inspiring business leaders and after an intense 3 weeks, we reimagined our new book. The title is still safely under wraps until launch in a few weeks time. What we can say is that it’s a timely publication all about how to respond to change and disruption, and innovate in a year where we’ve seen entire industries forced to respond quickly to a radical new world.

Curious to find out more about the book, Fluxxer Jassi grabbed Tom Whitwell, Fluxx Managing Consultant and our very own Chief Editor, for 5 virtual minutes to have a coffee and a natter.

Tom, you’re about to reveal your 5th book for Fluxx. What do you enjoy most about the process of writing a book?

When you’re busy working with a client on a particular project you tend to focus on the details, outcome and how to get there week by week. Writing the book gives me the chance to step back and look at the work we do at a higher level. You can see the broader picture, connect the dots across all Fluxx projects and look for the bigger questions, challenges and also the opportunities.

What’s the book about?

This year the book is about answering a simple question; now what? We’ve been through a tonne of extraordinary events, businesses have been through a huge amount of change and found they can react much more quickly than they could previously. They’ve changed the way they work, how they operate and in some cases even changed their products. Now we know that’s possible, businesses are asking; what’s next? They are asking how to embed this new found agile way of change into everything they do. It’s something that we’ve seen before when working with water companies as an example. When there’s a crisis, they respond in an incredibly quick and agile way, yet you ask them to change something in Head Office and it takes years and is really slow. It’s about that idea of taking new ways of working, embedding them, and making them business as usual.

Why should I read it?

It’s very easy to read and hopefully it’s inspiring. There’s a lot of stories about people we’ve worked with and they’ve done some really interesting and unusual things in their careers. They’re really diverse people, roles and industries — from someone who runs how roads work in Croydon to the next page where you’ll find an interview with someone who runs The Economist Intelligence Unit. That’s where the magic is. You get to hear from business leaders with different jobs and challenges and you get to see how they respond to change and the new ways of working. You meet some interesting people and learn from them.

What’s the best bit?

It’s hard to choose. The other thing I enjoyed about the process of writing this book is looking at the much broader, global historical view. There’s a piece in the book about how companies have thrived in recessions — and that’s probably one of the best bits, glancing back helps you to look forward. I remember at the beginning of lockdown when it was very strange and disorientating and very clear there was going to be a major economic shock coming, and I remember trying to make sense of it by looking at what happened in the past. Like looking at how businesses selling alcohol in America survived during prohibition. You had businesses operating for years then suddenly the Government said they can no longer operate — and this lasted for about 12 years. It’s still relevant to look at how they got through it and came out the other end. The businesses who made it through still dominate the market 100 years later (like Budweiser). When the market changed in a very dramatic way, they were able to respond to that. It helps to look back at history, and the context, and see what we can learn from it.

With digital adoption moving faster than ever, I’m interested to know more about why you opted for a printed book?

The idea is to have something physical for people to pick up, refer to and dip in and out of easily. It’s a very different experience to something that’s purely digital. We’re working and operating in a very different environment to what we’re used to and we like the idea that our audience has that physical connection at a time where it’s lacking. Our book is a moment to escape, breathe, get away from digital fatigue and help people think about what’s next.

Each year you bring out a much-loved and read list of 52 things you’ve learnt that year. Can you give us a 2020 preview; what’s the most interesting or surprising thing you’ve learnt this year?

I’m not sure I can decide the most interesting yet, but the thing that amazed me is a fact about hay fever and pollen. There’s a section in the book, but here’s a preview; when City planners all over the world are planting trees, they only plant male trees because female trees produce fruit that falls on the streets, making a mess. Male trees only produce pollen which isn’t used or absorbed anywhere, and that’s why pollen is so high in Cities, because of sexist tree planting. Sexist trees make your eyes itch!

What’s been the most interesting project you worked on in your time at Fluxx?

The thing I really enjoy about Fluxx is the diversity. At one point I was working at Condé Nast on Vogue Business, at the same time as working with the Energy Systems Catapult, supporting small businesses to develop the future of green energy. What I absolutely love is that contrast and being able to do those two things at the same time. That happens all the time. The projects are all important and influential but in very different fields. With that contrast I learn so much about the world, about business and about how to make things happen.

Thanks for the virtual coffee Tom, I’ve really enjoyed learning more about the book and I’m super pleased to get a preview into the 52 things you’ve learnt this year.

If you’d like to get your hands on a copy, visit www.fluxx.ltd/book2020, or check out fluxx.ltd/books to download books 1–4. For more info on the work we do check out www.fluxx.ltd/links

Thanks also to Gemma Slater.