We’ve often said in this blog that ‘change is the new normal‘, so we thought this brief list might be of interest:
- A volatile financial and economic crisis.
- The ‘corporatization’ of national politics.
- An increasingly vocal ‘disenfranchised 99%’.
- Increasingly ineffective political leadership – particularly in Europe.
- Growing nationalistic rhetoric.
- Rampant insider trading and overt market manipulation.
- Sudden bank runs driven by a collective loss of confidence in the banking sector.
- Demands for cash bailouts from China after ‘friendly’ economic partners fail to respond effectively.
- The manipulation of border controls leading to mass migration.
Although it might look like a precis of last night’s news, this is the backdrop to James Clavell’s Noble House – published 30 years ago, in 1981 – A fictional novel closely based on life, business and politics in 1963 Hong Kong. The close parallels with current events suggest that, as ever, there is much to be learned from the events of recent history.
However, if we were to add to this list the latest news regarding the US re-militarization of the Pacific, growing pressure on the Syrian government from the Arab League and the ‘systemic crisis in of the Eurozone‘, it appears that not only is ‘change’ perpetual but that the rate of change is accelerating.
Finally, if the underlying global situation can change so dramatically, so continuously, is it any surprise that ‘change leadership’ and ‘change management capability’ are considered to be the essential, differentiating, skills of the modern leader in business?