The New Business Normal (NBN)

The subject book by Michael W. Wright can be thought of as the executive summary of "The World Is Flat" by Thomas Freidman also here, and here. The Friedman book has become a "standard", but it is quite long, quite repetitive, and short on solutions.

A key paragraph from the Preface lays it out:

The global landscape we have painted seems intractable; we have embraced a the term first introduced into common business use by Roger McNamee, the "New Normal." This landscape is harsh and forbidding, one that will render useless any attempt to palliate through cliche' or dumbing down through generic format. We offer much content along a "how-to" path and cite many examples of successful navigation. But the main mission of the book is to map the scale (size) and scope (diversity) of the landscape. Any organization has to have a clear understanding of its present to divine its future. We we have done is illuminate the time and terrain between today and tomorrow.

The book opens with some key one-liners to remember. Some key ones that stuck with me were:

• The rule of three prevails. This essentially means that in a finite market three or fewer players will own at least 70% of the market share. Think of the top hamburger company in the world. The 2nd? How about the third? No doubt McDonalds was easy, maybe you picked a 2nd, by the 3rd, the basic answer is "who cares"?
• The old comparison is "have or have not", the new comparison is "know or know not". The only "security net" that anyone has in the NBN is knowledge.
• Dual-income households are an econimic necessity. Humorously, the new "trophy wife" is a PH. D. from China with her own business!
• Value has migrated from the product to the experience. Customers what the value of the experience without the responsibility or burden of product ownership.
  
• The basic level of human existence is at a higher level of anxiety for all. Everyone can be both in their own universe and connected all the time (internet, cell phone, iPod)
• Achievement depends on successful integration and marshalling of groups of varied interests.
  
• In the NBN a company will not let anyone get between them and their customer. "Co-destiny" with the customer is potentially the only remaining "business differentiator".
• The cry of today is "What are we good at?". The cry of tomorrow will be "What do we need to be good at?".
  
• Competitive advantage revolves around highly skilled people able to share information quickly and effectively.
• In the NBN, two discernible workforces have broadly taken shape: the under-fifties and the over-fities.
• Knowledge workers will eventually become the largest single group of older Americans in the workforce.
• The NBN for corporations is to innovate and manage the creation, but outsource its execution and administration.
• Asian companies see innovation as a process, not a spark of genius. They see change as an opportunity and are willing to abandon their past to create the future.

I could go on, but I think those are the biggest keys. What it all means to me is:

1. Success has always meant dealing directly with reality, taking risks, being flexible, and making correct moves (changes). The only difference now is that is happening faster and all over the globe.
2. Better communication and transportation means that the playing field is wider. That means greater opportunity and greater risk. Being "the best in the neighborhood or the best in town" is no longer good enough. If the business isn't location dependent (haircuts, dining), then the market is global.
   
3. Loving what you do gets more and more critical since in order to compete, it is critical that the level of professional commitment to the task has to be high.
   

The book is only 126 reasonable print pages long. It is VERY well worth reading on your own.