Pub. 3 2021 issue 1

22 P rior to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, exponential digital transformation was the biggest disruption many organizations and leaders within those organizations concerned themselves with. Will artificial intelligence (A.I.) take my job? Will machine learning make our entire operation irrelevant? Is there something on the horizon that will change our industry, and how can we be the ones to discover it? Even given the increase in the rate of exponential transformation of business practices thanks to those aforementioned digital disruptors, it astounded me how many of those same organizations feebly considered what would happen if digital technology truly disrupted them or how to get in front of it. They were agile and reactionary, resting on their laurels and taking refuge in the antiquated phrase “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Then as we kicked off 2020 with a booming economy, COVID-19 barreled into the United States like a freight train, disrupting every single industry in its path while impacting the entire world. It didn’t matter if you were “essential” or “nonessential,” COVID-19 changed you or your organization’s day-to-day operating procedure in some way. There may have been no way to predict the level of impact the pandemic was going to have on us all, but it has given us new opportunities and, better yet, it has taught us that resting on our laurels and relying solely on agility can, even in the most extreme circumstances, be the end of the line for many. Agility Alone Is a Risky Bet Given the relatively slow pace of the early stages of exponential change over the decades, it makes sense that agility has been the established tool of many organizations — the practiced ability to react to problems, shifting market conditions and events as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible. However, agility alone has always been a risky bet to place your career on. I’ll venture a guess that now during the coronavirus pandemic, agility and reactionary behavior alone probably even frightens you to some degree. Post-Pandemic Planning Requires Daniel Burrus Anticipation