The Need For Self-Disruption And Adaptation in Business And Career Pursuits
Self-Disruption and Adaptation, to put things in context, refers to the inward as well as outward process of modifying and/or improving a company’s or professional’s core business model, operations, skills and competences in line with global economic realities and technological advancements, with a view to maintaining economic value and securing self-preservation. This essay does not seek to suggest ways in which businesses or skilled individuals could successfully transform themselves or their companies in the face of disruptions, but instead attempts to explain why it has become necessary for businesses, entrepreneurs and skilled professionals to be proactive and adapt to these changes.
In all of history, there have always been periods of evolutionary change: a mass extinction among corporations and a mass speciation of new kinds of companies. Once upon a time in Nigeria, the primary consumption of news and information was through mass media. Investors in radio, print and television houses were smiling to the bank. But since the advent of web 2.0 in the early 2000s and the proliferation of smartphones, as well as access to internet and the convergence of media and technology, the primary consumption of information and news in Nigeria has been through new media outlets and social media platforms powered by the internet. This has produced series of young entrepreneurs in the media sphere commonly referred to as “influencers”, because of the large following they have been able to gather across new media and social media sites. For these media entrepreneurs, a degree in journalism or communications is not a requirement.
The Managing Director and Editor-in-chief of The Nation newspaper, Mr. Victor Ifijeh, while delivering a lecture themed “Survival of Print Media in the Digital Age” at the Institute of Journalism, said:
“These are trying times for print journalists the world over. Our beloved industry is facing unprecedented challenges. Publications are gasping for breath. The future looks uncertain. We are told that the end of what we labour daily to produce is near. Predictions are hinged on technological advancement — the impact of the internet.”
Digital transformation cuts across several media outlets, not just print media. Many of these media houses have had to pivot and change their core business models in other to survive the onslaught from new media and the internet.
One of the most significant factors that separates winners from losers in a rapidly evolving business environment — laden with intense economic activities — is the willingness to embrace disruptive changes and see it as an opportunity of historic proportions rather than a threat, according to Neil Irwin (New York Times best-selling author and economist) in his book “How to Win in a ‘Winners-Take-All-World”. Winners always think of how to drive change or innovations; they study the shifting economics of their respective industries.
This has become a necessity in today’s world. An entrepreneur or professional that refuses to adapt to industry changes will eventually succumb to the cruel reality of business or career extinction and irrelevance. Every profession or business concern, regardless of its appeal, is a target of disruptive technologies.
These changes are not exclusive to businesses alone. Even in academia and government as well as the nonprofit sector, digital transformations and other forms of disruptions are already taking place. Thomas M. Siebel (globally renowned key player in Information Technology) in his book “Digital Transformation”, succinctly explains this trend. According to him, what we see is reminiscent of punctuated equilibrium: periods of stability followed by rapid change and disruption, resulting in the crowning of new winners and losers. Siebel adds that something different and more profoundly disruptive is happening today: the first and second waves of innovation — digitization and the internet — will be overtaken by the tsunami of digital transformation.
In the next two decades, nearly 50% of America’s white-collar jobs are at risk either to automation or artificial intelligence, according to a recent Oxford University analysis. The exponential pace of change driving a new generation of technologies has seen several companies cut down on their staff, because it is way cheaper and more efficient to deploy those technologies. The disruptions in cloud computing, big data, internet of things, and artificial intelligence has seen new sets of winners and losers emerge. Big retail companies like Sears and Tiffanys have had to close several its retail outlets because of the disruptions in the retail sector.
This disruption also applies to the hospitality, manufacturing, consumer products, media, logistics and sports industries among others, affecting how we communicate, live, source for information, and work. The legal profession will not be left out either: imagine the possibility of self-learning artificial intelligence, training itself on complex legal issues and procedures, scanning through tons of complex legal briefs, applying rules of law to facts in issue, and delivering judgments without an attorney setting foot in a law court. This is a reality in which we are certain to find ourselves in the near future.
Billionaire investor and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, at the 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in China, said that computers are getting smarter than humans in more spheres of endeavour and added that it was a trend that was set to continue. He went on to say that “we will be surpassed in every single way, I guarantee it.”
It is also interesting to note that these disruptions are happening faster than most industry stakeholders predicted. The digital entertainment industry has seen giant strides orchestrated by the convergence of mobile personal computing and the internet. This has led to the proliferation of personally-created amateur and professional videos. Netflix, Amazon Prime videos, Hulu and other streaming platforms are products of this disruption. It hasn’t even been 20 years yet and according to Statista, the telecommunications industry is dominated by over 2.5 billion users since the arrival of high- speed wireless, increased processing power, and touch screens.
One of my fondest memories as a basketball fan is watching Shaquille O’Neal play for the Los Angeles Lakers in the early 2000s. “Shaq” — as he is fondly called — was so dominant in his playing position that he became a constant nightmare to opponents. He was strong and a very good passer of the ball for a 7-foot-tall, 300-pound player. Elite NBA defenders had a hard time defending against him. He was that dominant. Fast forward a decade and a half later, and players as big as Shaq rarely make it in any team’s roster. Shaq was a terrible shooter and was slow in transition.
Data science and advanced analytics were eventually deployed to the sport by NBA teams. It is now more efficient for teams to have good perimeter shooters who are quick in transition and who also handle the ball well. In the 80s, 90s and early 2000s the league was a “centers’ league”, now it is a “shooters’ league”. New winners and losers have emerged. For big centers to survive in this “new league”, they must train themselves to be good shooters, quick in transition — both offense and defense — and have enough ball handling skills. NBA centers have now had to adapt or be irrelevant.
Medium-skilled professionals like travel agents, personal assistants, clerks and factory workers have been replaced by advancements in computerization and automation technologies. New jobs have arisen in their place, but those jobs are often one of two types: either they are high-skilled jobs, such as engineering, programming, management and design, or they are low skilled jobs such as retail, janitorial services, or consumer services. Economist, Tyler Cowen, in his book “Average is Over”, says that because of increased computerization, automation, outsourcing, and regionalization, we are increasingly living in a world in which the top performers do a lot better than the rest.
Ultimately, it behoves on a company, entrepreneur or professional to study the trends and make educated bets on the future of their respective industries. People have had to leave their professions entirely, and businesses have had to change their core business models entirely from the base. It is much better to keep up with changes than to be caught unprepared for them. Change is highly discomforting, and transitioning is not without its challenges, but the lifespan of a career or a business in today’s world largely depends on the ability to self-disrupt or adapt to rapidly paced changes.
