Change is Opportunity

This is officially 3 years of blogging for me. I have posted 460 times or once every 2-3 days. Assume I take 20 minutes to write a post (see my how to write an article in 20 minutes article), that's over 150 hours of blogging. Although likely it is double that since I often research a bit and am not as efficient at blogging as I know I can be.

Seems like I have been blogging longer than that. When I started to blog, it was cutting edge. Now it seems everyday. Things certainly change quickly.

IBM did a CEO Survey that cited change as one of the most dramatic factors in today's environment.


"CEOs reported a surprising level of optimism about change as an opportunity to build new competitive advantage. Overall, 83% of surveyed CEOs expect substantial change in the future, an increase of 28% in just two years. "

I have always said "change is opportunity". This is the way most CEOs feel. At the same time, we all feel not as prepared as we think we should be. I think that fear is what causes me to study so hard. And the belief that my competition will no study as hard as I do so I will be able to thrive.

Part of doing well during change is experimentation and speed. Both things that bigger companies tend not to be good at. So my challenge at SYNNEX is to get us to be big but act small.

Our deepest learnings tend to be our experiences but in times of change, often those experiences do not serve us well. The buggy whip manufacturer who sent out more sales people and redesigned a better buggy whip (all things that worked in the past for him) soon found himself out of business. That is why I think constant learning is so important.

In times of change, it is critical for us to constantly challenge our assumptions. It tends to be false assumptions that trip us up.

Off to study more.