Hello, everybody, and welcome to episode 76 of Agile Meridian's Agile Shorts. My name is Mike Jebber, partner here at Agile Meridian. And, joining me today is my esteemed partner colleague and long-time friend, Chris Daily. He's joining us from Indiana Wesleyan University, taking a little time out of his days doing some work over there as he routinely does. He's working with a couple of organizations and is taking a little time out today to talk about 2024, the year of heightened uncertainty.
Welcome, Chris!
Hey, good to be here, Mike.
Absolutely. So I think what we'll do is we'll break this down into kinda three components. First, think about what kind of uncertainty you see as we're coming to the end of 2023 moving into 2024. What uncertainties that we've been dealing with now do you think will continue through next year? Secondly, what new things do you anticipate we might see that are augmented based on things being carried forward? And then, what folks can do about this - what organizations can do to address productivity and deal with all this uncertainty?
Sure. Let me start by saying I can't believe we've done 76 of these things. It's crazy, isn't it? We have well over 100 videos loaded to YouTube, and I'm amazed by that. You and I were talking about doing a Centennial - we will have to do something special!
You know, one of the things we're experiencing is that uncertainty continues. Things were cruising in 2020, and then we had COVID. It raised its ugly head, and we worked through that. In 2022, everybody thought we were out of it - we could eat out and get together again. But it evolved into 2022-2023 with continued inflation, a struggling economy, uncertainty around the wars in Israel and Ukraine, and increased political polarization.
So, in 2023, we still have that uncertainty, even though some are doing well. I think the uncertainty we saw in 2023 will continue into 2024. Inflation hasn't gone down yet. The wars look never-ending. Many businesses' futures are in question - whether to invest, hold cash in case of another black swan event that impacts all businesses, or even if there is a future for them.
In 2024, organizations will need to start dealing with this continued uncertainty, plus new uncertainty about artificial intelligence. We're at the peak of the AI hype cycle. How will it impact jobs and companies? Some will profit, while others will disappear because they're no longer needed. So 2024 will have continued uncertainty from 2023, plus AI will make people uneasy about the future.
You're right - it doesn't seem like the things carrying over have any end in sight. The financial, political, and geopolitical issues will likely go on for a while. And AI brings a whole new level of unknowns and impacts.
I know you work with folks at the academy to help individuals keep skills up to date and land in good spots despite all the changes. For businesses and leaders, what do they need to do in 2024 to deal with heightened uncertainty from before, plus AI?
As technology evolves, the speed organizations need to make changes will continue increasing. "Agile" has a bad connotation in some circles, but we need organizational responsiveness - to quickly incorporate ideas and get products to market.
Eleven Fifty Academy, for example, can create a new course in about a month to respond to developments. Indiana Wesleyan, as an accredited college, takes 18 months to get something approved and scheduled. More organizations must shift to quicker turnarounds like Eleven Fifty versus the traditional academic model.
As AI improves, it will shorten research and initial content generation so humans can focus on customizing, quality checks, and activities. Businesses will need to be able to respond quickly. For most I've seen, it’s a top-down leadership issue holding back responsiveness because they worry about jeopardizing current products and plans.
Think of Kodak - they didn't invest in digital cameras because they worried about cannibalizing film sales and development revenue. Businesses need to think about what’s next, not slow response times. As coaches, we need to talk to leaders about things like portfolio management, leadership team collaboration and transparency, and having the right leaders to take the organization forward.
Companies should adopt a product mindset and our Product Mindset course. Apply the techniques to think about your mission, customers, and effectiveness over just efficiency. There are always decision points on whether to move forward or restart. This mindset and your Disruptor Method that emphasizes adaptation are critical - companies that embrace them will come out well-positioned after 2024. It's a time to grab market share amidst the uncertainty.
I think that's exactly right. As a leader, go after the "mushy middle," where strategy becomes execution around PMOs, portfolio prioritization, etc. It can get quick returns on relieving some bottlenecks and lost translation.
If leaders don't have specifics in 2024 plans for significantly improving adaptability, they need to rethink their strategy. With all the uncertainty, we can't predict exact impacts, so organizations must have the capacity to adapt. Reach out for help, even starting small, like the leadership team, if budget is an issue - strong alignment and communication there will cascade down the org. But make adaptability capabilities central to the 2024 plan, or it needs rework.
We're definitely over time, but I want to thank you again, Chris, for making time today. I know you're busy, so thanks to you and our listeners - we look forward to seeing you in 2024! Bye, everybody!
Bye bye.
