HIGH FIVE

"Leadership teams fail because they keep doing the right thing for too long"

Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco Systems, India & SAARC, on five ways to compete effectively

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Published 8 years ago on Sep 21, 2016 1 minute Read

Focus on the Consumer : Customers should always be at the centre of everything that companies do. Spending a lot of time with customers helps companies understand what their customers’ future needs are going to be, where they see the future heading, what the transitions will be and then translate that into strategy. 

Right market transitions: To be locally and globally relevant, companies must build the ability to get market transitions right by allowing them to respond rapidly to competitive pressure, new business models and digital disruption. 

Correct digital strategy: To ensure a proper digital strategy, companies must ensure that they have the right digital capabilities, including infrastructure and cyber security, to be able to deliver the right information, at the right time, to the right machine or person, to make the right decision. 

Build a Risk-taking culture:Companies should build a strong risk-taking culture to willingly take risks. Innovation flourishes when there is a deep willingness to try new things and to listen to people with different ideas. Be it a small or large company, an entrepreneurial spirit should be cultivated. 

Re-inventing strategies: Companies need to constantly reinvent themselves. Leadership teams often fail because they become comfortable and keep doing the right thing for too long. If companies don’t change, nimbler competitors will overtake them. A company, irrespective of the industry it operates in, must disrupt or get disrupted.