I’m (sorta) Bullish on Nokia
There’s a great memo written by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and reposted on Engadget yesterday in which he unequivocally communicates the dire state of his company and attempts to rally his employees to action.
Called the ‘burning platform’ memo, it clearly outlines his thinking on what is going wrong with Nokia.
This leaked memo is the stuff of Change Agent 101 (JB Kassarjian’s Leading and Managing Change class at Babson would have a field day with this).
What is notable to me is the candor he uses, his status as outsider and his exhortation to jump from the ‘burning platform’ that Nokia has created for itself into the dark unknown. All three things are important in this situation and give me hope for the company. Death by immolation is certain - what happens after the jump is unpredictable.
Elop says that there are a few reasons Nokia is at this place.
I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven’t been delivering innovation fast enough. We’re not collaborating internally.
I am a huge believer in never wasting a crisis and using that as an opportunity to reengage and revamp - that’s the painful place in which lies opportunity. I think that the opportunity for Nokia is pretty big and scary , as are the chances for failure.
What I find most fascinating is this analysis of what-went-wrong is that Elop is talking about Nokia’s speed to market, inability to colaborate and lack of leadership [and clarity], as well as the fact that he’s done due diligence with several players in the ecosystem (shareholders, operators, developers, suppliers) who have provided him with insight about how Nokia has arrived at this position.
Based on what little he has said, it appears to me that Nokia is going to have a very tough time and the changes that will be implemented will need to be drastic and will cut to the DNA of the company. And from my vantage point, I would advocate that this is the perfect time to turn Nokia into a ‘Social Business’ through ‘Social Business Design’, a concept put forth by Jeff Dachis in his creation of The Dachis Group and practiced daily through their work.
Dave Gray, Founder and Chairman of Xplane (a Dachis Group company) has a brilliant post from yesterday on how to make this happen. He says,
Social Business Design is a new discipline, but some basic rules are already emerging. These emerging rules have less in common with traditional business design, and more in common with urban design and city planning. It’s not about design for control so much as design for emergence. You can’t control a complex system, but you can manage its growth, and there are a lot of things you can do that will position it for success.
Here are a few of those emerging practices that signal excellence in design by connection:
Understand the culture: A company is like a city in many ways. First and foremost, a city is about the people who live and work there; it’s an expression of their collective culture. Before you can start your path to the connected company, you need to understand the culture (or cultures) that are already there, so you can look for ways to enhance and strengthen that shared identity.
Start small. Urban designers might look at maps or aerial views as they make their plans, but the life of a city happens at street level. As you initiate social programs, think of them as if you are designing a city street. A successful street is filled with people. The last thing you want is a whole bunch of large, urban areas with no people in them. In a city, big, open, empty spaces feel unsafe and unloved. So start small. The smaller the space is initially, the faster it will fill up with people. A good way to start is with an organization-wide project or initiative that requires participation from a number of people across the company. This gives you a cross-section of ideas and perspectives to look at as you plan the next stage.
Spaces need owners. Again, think of the city street: every business or building has an owner. The sidewalks have owners – typically every business at street level “polices” their stretch of sidewalk. And even the street has owners – the street sweeper, the cop on the beat. In the same way, make sure that every online space you create has someone positioned to take care of it, to keep it safe and clean.
Every person needs a place. In the same way that public spaces need caretakers, every person needs a place to live; somewhere they can put their stuff. As you build your social business, make sure that every single person has a place where they can put, and see, their stuff: their projects, the links they want to get back to, the documents they have created, their role, qualifications, expertise and so on.
Jumping-off points. A good city street offers opportunities that are unanticipated but serendipitous. The promising side-street. The sound of music coming through an open door. As you design for connection, think about how you might create those unexpected, but delightful, surprises. Every time someone visits an online space, there’s a chance to offer them something new.
Watch, listen, adjust and adapt. Design by connection is not a top-down activity so much as bottom-up. Complex systems just don’t work that way. In a complex system, you need to pay attention to small things and make little adjustments along the way. Think about how city streets evolve: one small step at a time. One retailer moves to a larger space; another goes out of business. One old building is torn down and replaced; another is rehabbed and turned into lofts. Pay attention to the culture, and watch how people react to the tools you provide. Are they using something in a different way than you expected? Find out why and see if you can enhance that. And what are they ignoring? If they’re not using something you expected them to use, go talk to them and see if you can figure out the reason.
I would urge you to read Dave’s entire post. It is a brilliant piece of writing that lays out a critical argument for why we need to consider new ways to design our companies and subsequently provide them with longevity.
Nokia’s CEO realizes that there needs to be a massive change to his company for it to survive. I’m bullish on him and sorta bullish on Nokia if he can take Dave’s advice and turn Nokia into a Social Business.
