* By Alcebíades Araújo
From time to time, a Black Swan appears and deeply affects the world. If you still don't know this idea, without a doubt this is a good time to read the work of the writer Nicholas Nassim Taleb, author of books like “The Black Swan Logic” and “Antifrágil”. According to him, Black Swans are rare events that cause great impacts and that are especially difficult to predict, as well as the pandemic that we are experiencing.
For companies, events like the ones we are going through are especially striking, as they expose situations never imagined by any forecast, even if pessimistic. Market estimates indicate that more than a third of Brazil's small and medium-sized companies may close their doors due to the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.
But if we cannot predict a Black Swan, how should we act to guarantee the best conditions in the event of a crisis? First of all, it is necessary to understand that nobody is immune to these challenges. The past few decades have been rich in showing that even seemingly solid segments can easily dissolve according to changing winds - for example, the Internet Bubble, the 2008 crisis and so on.
In this context, more important than keeping an eye on a possible rare event is to identify and remove the company's weaknesses. This brings us to the Taleb's other idea. It is about the need to form “antifragile” systems, that is, endowed with attributes that enable the company to resist the bad weather.
For the writer, there are fragile structures, unable to withstand turbulence; sturdy structures, strong enough to stand upright in everyday difficulties; and anti-fragile structures, which not only resist storms, but also improve in the face of them.
This requires companies to be more robust, working around reality. In other words, it is necessary to adopt an organizational culture that recognizes reality as an ally and that encourages continuous improvement, looking for indicators that can go beyond the binomial profit and revenue. It is necessary, for example, to identify values, principles and conditions that point to the real consolidation of the brand in the market.
It is no coincidence that some companies are experiencing the coronavirus pandemic better. These organizations were able to realize in advance the advantages provided by digital technologies such as telework, and data sharing “in the cloud”, e-commerce and delivery. What do these brands show us? To evolve is a matter of culture, a recurring quest to achieve antifragile status.
To have a culture that encourages evolution, leaders need to work closely with people. The objective is to find a path that will make it possible to streamline and accelerate innovation and reactions, strengthening the resilience and solidity of the organization as a whole.
Acting in this way is a challenge for any company. But it is an even more complex demand for companies that were not born digital. The volatility and unpredictability of the current world requires an agility that many times the most traditional companies find it difficult to assimilate.
Global surveys indicate that more than 60% of Digital Transformation initiatives are failing, without even reaching more advanced stages of implementations. Such initiatives fail due to the difficulty of organizations to understand why and how actions should be carried out without breaking the heart of operations and without compromising the essence of the business.
Precisely for this reason, we defend that the difference between successful brands and those that fail in the face of difficulties is precisely the ability to evolve and solve what needs to be improved. And why do we talk about evolving and not just transforming? Evolving enables transformation in a natural and continuous way. On the other hand, the transformation alone can generate unsustainable ruptures and breaks for the maintenance of internal balance.
Technology and processes must facilitate this culture. In summary, IT and business analysis must go together to understand the various problems of an operation. Every brand or production line has something to improve.
If operations need to continually improve to reach the antifragility stage, nothing better than investing in the evolution-oriented organizational culture. Evolving is the ability to understand problems and possible improvements, and make changes repeatedly to ensure maximum value to people, brands and businesses. We need to evolve to transform. This is the way to the future.
* Alcebíades Araújo, Head of Culture at Squadra Group
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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