Friday's Growth
Inspiration

As we head into a new year, there is much we could challenge – traditional ways of working, which no longer work for us, uninspiring workplaces, perspectives which no longer serve our reality and practices where much value remains locked, waiting for us to find a better way.

Here is one area rife with all four – Partnerships. We can find those across the ecosystem, and indeed some can be quite challenging. Think of a Corporate Innovation Head working with startups, or perhaps a Chief Digital Officer, working with customers to digitize distribution channels. In a traditional setting, strategy execution follows a largely linear route and so we develop the habit of practicing much of it ourselves, or with those in our circle of trust, often within the organisation. External partners are often kept at a distance, to be brought in only as and when needed. We see the complexity which partnerships can bring, the personal dynamics which can be draining on our emotions, let alone the discussions which must ensue. As anything that is seen as uncomfortable, outside our control – partnerships are viewed as a risk and often pushed forward, to an inevitable future date.

But what if partners are not there to merely surround our place of primacy in the ecosystem, are not simply execution partners to be de-risked and watched carefully? What if their value could be best realised at the outset, right upfront? As we begin to challenge our mindset, we begin to question our place in the ecosystem, the learnings that partners can bring, not just during commercial negotiations, but to our business throughout. What if we cannot see, understand and fully grasp the market opportunity itself, its full value, without them being invited upfront?

In a conversation with the CIO and Head of Innovation for a Fortune 500 company this week, he summed it rather well – “Partnerships should be at the very front of solving the problem.” – and if indeed their contribution to solving the problems we seek the most, is substantial, the size of the opportunity multiplies, as they are brought upfront. Said differently, the NPV of growth opportunities is not a fixed number and partnerships, brought to the outset can change that number by an order of magnitude.
 
What are the most critical challenges you will be solving in 2022? What would your ecosystem look like? Different to today’s? Where could partnerships, placed upfront, help move the dial?

Something to think about as we enter a new year, with a semblance of returning to some form of normality, big challenges to solve and new insights in hand.

Have a good weekend everyone!