Translated from 日本語 • View original This is the final episode of the Jack Welch memorial series.
”See Change as an Opportunity”
"Look at change as an opportunity"
The world is changing dramatically due to the influence of the new coronavirus, so I would like to think about it as something that is in the midst of it.
Change Accelerates
Recently, when I have the opportunity to speak at lectures and seminars, there is a speech that I like to introduce.
That is what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the 2018 Davos conference.
"There has never been a time when the pace of change has been as fast as it is now."
Further he continues:
"But in the future, there will never be a time when change is as slow as it is now."
We live in a world where the speed of change is overwhelmingly faster than before.
Certainly, compared to 27 years ago, when I became a member of society, the speed at which things are moving is much different.
I was in sales, so at that time communication in writing was fax.
If you send a fax, the reply is usually the same day at the earliest, or the next day or later at the latest.
After that, PCs and emails were introduced, and now there are smartphones, and communication is instantaneous on social networking sites, including chats.
It feels about 10 times faster.
The next generation will have more advanced technology, and I am sure they will look back on the current era and say, "There was a time when it was so slow."
Change accelerates. It will never be slow.
Is it happiness to "evolve" due to technology?
Technology is born to make people's lives better.
However, it can be too early and tiring, and compared to the days when there were no smartphones or emails, I wonder if we are necessarily happy when we look at today's society.
If I talk about it on the premise of business, I think it is like this.
Evolution may not always be happy. However, as long as the surroundings evolve, if they do not evolve with that evolution, they will lose in business.
In short, regardless of whether we like it or not, as long as we do business, we must accept this evolution and change.
Embracing Change
This is a story about 10 years ago when ISAO tried to incorporate SNS into internal communication.
There are people who resist new changes at any time.
"Isn't email enough?"
"New tools are troublesome"
"Don't do a lot of things for your own satisfaction, everyone hates it."
And so on.
However, I believed that using SNS would greatly improve communication, so I started a little forcedly.
As a result, the speed of work has increased, internal communication has been activated many times, and team strength has increased dramatically.
On top of that, it was also an opportunity to create a further evolved communication service called Goalous.
Everyone is reluctant to start doing different things and change.
But this experience also showed that if you take the plunge and change, you will be able to see new things.
Changes due to Corona and
What about today?
Corona is undergoing various changes rapidly and intensely.
- Interviews are online
- I can't meet my friends, so I have a drinking party online.
- It's hard to go shopping, so buy things online as much as possible.
- If you live a normal life, you will lack exercise.
Roughly speaking, it is no longer possible to have real contact with people, and there is a rapid shift to online services that can be done without contact.
The management of the company has also changed.
Until now, since we were in the same office, it was easy to talk to them and check the progress of their work.
I was also able to manage labor.
Since people cannot be contacted the moment they become remote, it is necessary to change the way work is carried out on the premise of online.
On the other hand, when I looked at the positive side, I had no time to travel, so I had more time to spare.
You can use that time to work more if you need to, and you can have more private time.
Personally, I can now hold online drinking parties and talk with old friends who used to only get together once a year.
I wrote that "the next generation will be faster", but it may have already begun.
Opportunities through Change
I am currently having an online interview with all employees, as it is also a perfect opportunity.
When it comes to remote work, although everyone is generally positive, many people seem to be overworked and concerned about their health.
On the other hand, at ISAO, "I can't see other people's work" and "I don't know the progress" are not a problem at all, which are problems in many companies.
That's because I'm using Goalous.
Goalous is an in-house SNS that visualizes goals and activities, but this corona has highlighted that "being able to see activities" is a major issue for many companies, which we took for granted.
This is a great business opportunity for ISAO. I believe that trying to capture this change and turn it into an opportunity is what we mean by "seeing change as an opportunity."
What opportunities are there for your company as a result of this change?
They can be gathered online, so why not brainstorm as soon as you come up with an idea?