Engaged in a recent discussion about the nature of leadership, I fell back on the old chestnut that managers manage things, but leaders decide what to manage, which got me through until a “smartie” asked “what about entrepreneurs”?
Took a while, and a bit of filling, but it came to me that entrepreneurs recognise, leverage and manage opportunity.
Apart from being an acceptable answer on the day, when I thought about it later, I still liked it.
The emerging reality of the emerging “carbon economy” irrespective of the regulatory regime that emerges is not only an operational and regulatory management issue, but a strategic one because of its potential to create and destroy asset value.
Over time, emissions intensive assets will be replaced by those that create the same outcome without the emissions, and new businesses will emerge that provide the technical tools.
This is not an ideological view, it is based on 250 years of commercial history. The same way the internal combustion engine replaced the hay driven horse transport, the telephone finished off the telegraph, the silicon chip finished off vacuum tubes, and the net is in the process of finishing off the CD, renewable/low emissions energy source will finish off coal fired power stations.
As Australia’s politicians, today, start again the wrangling, point scoring, verbal gymnastics, hubris, personal views paraded as facts, dissembling, and plain untruths in the debate about the regulatory framework to be built in this country to supposedly “manage” climate change, they would do well to leaven the mix with some commercial and strategic reality.
Good art is never boring, it always “says” something new, irrespective of weather it is a drawing, a poem, a piece of music, a hairstyle, or anything else, it is never safe, predictable, and attractive to everyone.
Defenders of the status quo always try and put numbers on risk, but how do you put numbers on things that are new and different, and encouraging of change?
Art creates a platform, a means for people to engage, people who have nothing in common other than an appreciation of the piece of art in front of them will find a way to engage with each other, facilitated by the piece.
What an opportunity for product designers to appeal to markets that are vastly different in demographics, but in some behavioral way, very similar!
Take a risk, and engage with designers who see things differently to ypu, and most of the market, but first you need to get the defenders of the status quo to accept that what makes them uncomfortable is good.
Customers remember the best and the worst.
When you absolutely “nail” it, they remember, and when you absolutely “stuff” it, they also remember, but guess which one they remember when you do both.
The parable of the bungled baggage, and variations of it is a story often used to illustrate the point, a small or seemingly unrelated factor can undo all the good work that goes into a customer interaction, so watch for the small things, and focus manically on what Jan Carlzon calls on the “Moments of Truth” those times when there is a direct contact between your front line of customer service, and your customer, after all, without customers, there is not much else.
Like it or not, “Green” is now mainstream, and the market, not the motley bunch of politicians, bureaucrats, activists, and assorted hangers-on who showed up to the failed Copenhagen party, will determine what happens.
Make no mistake, this is a seismic change in nature of economic activity that is evolving far more rapidly than those who seek to extract “rent” from it can change the rules to effectively charge the rent.
Al Gore fronted “An Inconvenient Truth” the documentary which won two Oscars in 2007 (best documentary, best original song) simultaneously with credible economic and political muscle being put behind the notion of global warming, and the stick was pushed into the ants-nest. Concurrently, Prius was a runaway sales success, Slow food & food miles suddenly emerged, Carbon foot-print became a board issue, and Wal-Mart decreed all products on its shelves would have a carbon score displayed, and the ants were running everywhere.
Smart investment is being funneled into development of sustainable/renewable energy technologies from solar, wind, “clean” coal, and those that use energy are seeking ways to minimise use without compromising productivity.
Under these circumstances, the best thing for the rent-seekers to do is stand back, and try to garner some of the credit when it emerges, as they can have little impact on the technical revolution that is happening around them.
Manufacturing is fundamentally important to a thriving, vibrant economy, and the notion that the economy can evolve and grow based on services alone is nonsense. If we ever needed evidence, just look at the impact of the GFC on the “service” economies compared to those, largely in the developing world, who still rely on manufacturing, or the Australian economy that benefits from the provision of inputs to manufacturing, although we do precious little ourselves.
The reduction in the technical education of our kids is appalling, by default we have accepted that manufacturing is yesterdays way of developing the economy, that there is some logical evolution along a continuum from basic manufacturing of small, cheap imitations through to increasingly complicated manufacturing, and then to services, and this is an inevitable process all economies go through as they evolve and develop.
If you asked China or India what they wanted from you, would they ask for assistance to develop a new financial product, or would they ask for a lend of your engineering expertise?