Lessons organizations can learn from Starlings #3.

Starlings migrate to find better living conditions that would result in more and better food and a more appropriate environment for breeding. Once more, survival is at the center of this species' behavior.

Organizations can learn from starlings to look for appropriate environments for their present and future growth and survival. These are some examples of why an organization may decide to migrate: our clients' continuous aging; our current market niches become less attractive due to commoditization or overpopulated with competitors who outperform us; the necessary margins are not there anymore; the market size shrunk or was not as big as we thought it would be; government regulations changed drastically against us; among many more. 

So, the question becomes: where should we go? What should we do? To what market should we turn? How do we search for better opportunities that meet our present needs while preparing us for the future? 

One of the best tools to answer those questions is a reinvention process. Reinvention is a concept and methodology that I learned from Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva, who has a long history of reinventing herself to survive. Just as starlings do not change who they are when they migrate, the reinvention process is an effort to identify the essence of who you are and re-design it for better performance and results. The goal of reinventing oneself or an organization is to discover new opportunities and better prepare yourself for the future. 

Unlike starlings, companies do not know with certainty where to migrate. That is why reinvention is a continuous effort and not a one-time project. 

 It works best when we focus on the many areas where value creation occurs:  

1- Vision, Mission, and Purpose (the reasons why we create value); 

2-Brand, Products & Services, and Platforms (what value we create); 

3-Clients and Customer Experiences (who is the recipient of that value); 

4-Supply Chain, Markets, and Distribution Channels (where is the value delivered);

5- Business Model, Revenue Streams, and Organizational Culture (how is this value created).  

Reinvention is both an art and a science. It borrows all of the valuable tools and lessons offered by many different schools of thought (Design Thinking, Lean, Blue Ocean Strategy, Agile, Systems Thinking, Foresight, among many more) to find the proverbial promised land. It is a process in which insightful analysis and experimentation are quick but thorough. Team collaboration and solo performance meet for better results, and our future builds on the groundwork of our past essence. 

Nintendo Wii provides a great modern example of a reinvention process executed with excellence. 

In the early 2000s, Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's Play Station dominated the console video game industry. Both companies approached their markets with similar value propositions based on the state-of-the-art technology (the best, fastest and latest microprocessors for graphics and audio), ever-growing complex games (both in their storytelling and the controllers to play them), and targeted the same niche segment (hardcore gamers). They both had a platform-based business model, where revenue came mainly from the games sold for exclusive usage in their consoles. Console production was costly and sold at no margin most of the time.  

Even though Nintendo was king of the video game industry in the 1990s, it was now outperformed in this market and needed to reinvent itself to avoid demise by starvation. Just like starlings, Nintendo set itself to migrate for better opportunities. 

Nintendo reinvented itself by:

1-Focusing on a different niche: not only hardcore gamers but casual gamers who just wanted to have some fun with family and friends during their downtime. This market segment was more attractive in terms of size and transcendence.

2-Lowering production Costs: this niche did not value state-of-the-art graphics, audio, and complex stories as hardcore gamers did. They were satisfied with lower quality graphics and easy-to-play games, making way for lesser quality-but good enough microprocessors, which meant lower production costs.  

3-Reinventing their Business Model: lower production costs meant that the consoles could be sold at a profit, adding a new source of revenue in addition to the usual games. 

4-Innovating the controllers: Xbox's and PlayStations' game controllers can have up to fourteen buttons and two joysticks, making it hard for many people to use. Nintendo Wii introduced a controller based on motion sensor technology that was very organic and easy to use and enjoy. With this innovation, they managed to democratize video gaming and reach new market segments. 

5-Repositioning their brand as a fun, innovative, accessible, and family video game brand. 

Starlings have a clear notion of when to migrate, but most organizations have difficulty answering that question. Organizations need to learn to read the signs of the times to embark on a reinvention process in due time. 

The worst enemies of any reinvention process are fear of the unknown and inaction. We are creatures of habit, and fear (doubt and uncertainty) "hurts" in our brain in much the same way as physical pain does (at least the same areas of our brain light up when we face something we don't know as to when we hit ourselves with something). Our natural response to change is resistance (which we will discuss later), which comes in the form of opposition (fighting new ideas, new leadership, etc.) or freezing (inaction). Both responses are very natural to human behavior both individually and collectively and can be addressed with effective and caring methodologies.

Perhaps the best cure to fear of the unknown and inaction is the clarity of thought and the notion of what is at stake if we fail to migrate to greener pastures: death by starvation (think Kodak, Nokia, Blackberry, Blockbuster, and many more!).  

Migrating organizations make a serious effort to develop a growth mindset and an entrepreneurial spirit combined with the right tools and corporate climate for tackling obstacles. They have faith and believe that even though we live in complex and ever-changing times, there are many opportunities to be discovered and grasped. 

Adaptingly yours, 

Gabriel Madrazo.