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7 steps to creating a transformative and innovative company

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Strategy

Faisal Hoque is the founder and CEO of BTM. He is an internationally known entrepreneur and thought leader, and he was named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Technology. A former senior executive at GE and other multinationals, Hoque has written five management books, established a nonprofit research think tank, The BTM Institute, and has become a leading authority on CONVERGENCE, innovation and sustainable growth. His latest book, “The Power of Convergence,” is available.

Today’s entrepreneurs need to question and rethink each thing they do, all the while asking themselves what’s working, what isn’t working and why. When the answer to those questions is positive — great! Onwards and upwards! However, when that’s not the case, you have to be ready to change course and find alternatives — dare I say, transform — in order to reach your goals.

The term “transformation” originated with biology and genetics. In short, biological transformation refers to the introduction of something exogenic that can change the essential nature of a cell. The transformative process is nearly identical for every organization today: Introduce a new goal, add the variable (exogenic factor) and transform it into creativity and innovation.

Transformation is driven by an acknowledged need to grow and change, followed by thinking differently about the old ways and means. It is one of the steps to creating a transformative and sustainable organization. It can be modeled, documented and implemented as a total game-changing process.

At a high-level, the steps can be defined as:

  1. Human nature is driven by wants and/or needs.
  2. We develop strategies to develop tactics to turn those wants and needs into goals.
  3. With tactics in place, we can formulate a plan or call to action to achieve our goals.
  4. The plan or call to action involves setting personal or business objectives and determining the most appropriate technologies to implement them.
  5. When the business objectives are combined successfully with the appropriate technologies, the result is convergence — the seamless merging of both to attain goals.
  6. Convergence makes it possible to create a viable economic model applying enabling technologies, essential in the process of satisfying the wants or needs.
  7. Transformation occurs when the individual or enterprise has successfully begun a new course to achieve its goals.

Those completing this process are positioned not just to survive, but to progress and thrive. The process is repeatable — in fact it loops — continually transforming actions through the use of powerful enabling technologies into creative, innovative and sustainable goals and outcomes.

It is clear that new enabling technologies demand new ways of thinking about problem-solving. And it is one of the key drivers for today’s entrepreneurship — the exogenic factors.

Change, Innovation, Sustainability and Progress

  • Change is the key factor in achieving personal and/or organizational goals. Without change, there can be no progress.
  • Innovation is the vital ingredient in the individual or institution’s ability to make effective and practical use of change. It is the great “what if” factor in decision-making as well as moving forward and staying abreast of turbulent and constantly changing times.
  • Sustainability is the manifestation of health and growth, but also diversity: Indeed, it is made up, in large part, of change and innovation.

This trinity of objectives for a fulfilling life and meaningful economic, institutional and social progress represent the most sought-after attributes of individuals and organizations. They rest upon the foundation of converged objectives and the inherent transformation from the outdated to new and more productive approaches.