Peter Hinssen

The Phoenix and the Unicorn

Unicorn start-ups are brilliant. But, let’s be honest, very few of us will start one, become one, or work for one. Most of us are connected to large companies that often struggle to keep themselves relevant for the ever-changing customer.

That’s why this keynote is about a creature that’s just as magical but perhaps offers a more realistic inspiration: the Phoenix. These are the companies that – just like this mythical bird – are able to rethink themselves in cycles: time and time again they rise from the ashes of the old, and come out stronger than ever before. They are the Walmarts, the Volvos, the Disneys, the Apples, the Microsofts, the Ping Ans, the Assa Abloys and AT&Ts of this world.

This keynote is about understanding what is happening in a world of constant change. It’s about observing and trying to learn from the Unicorns. But primarily, it tells the story of how companies can ACT on their Day After Tomorrow, and how they can apply innovation as an antidote to a radically changing environment. It doesn’t just zoom in on WHAT you need to do in order to innovate, but also on HOW you can make innovation a reality in your organization.

From the deceivingly simple Hourglass model, to the types of innovation, company culture, organizational disruption, platforms, customer experience, organizational structure and many inspiring innovation cases: if you are working in a traditional business or market, this keynote will help you reinvent yourself like a Phoenix.

The Never Normal

We’re at a crossroads. Certainly since the COVID-19 crisis but even before that, we have been evolving into a world with many new types of disruptions. There’s this potent cocktail of global platforms, information, intelligence, and automation that is accelerating the pace of change. But technology is no longer the biggest driver of disruption. What’s coming at us is ecological, biological, societal and geopolitical in nature and this is just the beginning. These many disruptions are going to evolve into seismic shocks that will completely overturn how we live and work. Think about the rising sea levels we might experience the next decades. Or pandemics like COVID-19. Or the cold (trade) war between the US and China.

What we have to do now is prepare our organizations for these seismic shocks and their ensuing systemic shifts. Prepare them for an unpredictable world. Continuously changing consumer behavior, for instance, triggered a new way of performing business on the edge, permanently adapting. And so we have to become agile in capacity and resources. And this also means that we need a different type of skillset, different types of people and different types of organizations. Financial performance, too, has shifted, to one that is much more fluid and suitable for uncertainty.

This is a world in permanent flux. One where ‘normal’ keeps getting redefined. Are you ready for that? Is your organization? In this keynote, Peter Hinssen uncovers how companies, leaders and employees will need to adapt to survive and thrive in the Never Normal.

A World without Order

As we’re drawn further into the 21st century by the dawn of a new decade, the very concept of ‘world order’ seems more elusive than ever before. Literally, because we’re now down to what Ian Bremmer calls a G-zero world: a post-G-20, post-G-8 and post-G-7 era with a geopolitical landscape that is more unstable than at the peak of the Cold War during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Figuratively because a series of seismic shocks, that are societal, ecological, technological and biological in nature, have taken away any global form of structure or predictability. While we have been busy managing our countries and companies locally, entropy has been devouring our overarching systems.

The pandemic of 2020 only accelerated this propensity towards a more unstable global order. We experienced a growing tension between the US and China, where a trade war escalated into a full blown technological cold-war deadlock. On top of that we have seen the rise of the technological digital giants, who grew even mightier as a result of COVID-19. This evolution clearly illustrated the further transition of power from nation states towards corporations, towards the global technological platforms.

In this keynote, Peter explains why geopolitics is back on the agenda. The post pandemic world will see a completely different future for the further globalization of the world economy. With that background of impending disruptions and seismic shocks, Peter shows how companies, countries and regions will have to dramatically accelerate their Day After Tomorrow vision in the light of this global instability. They will have to re-invent themselves with fresh thinking, novel ideas and skilful creativity if they want to stay relevant in this Never Normal.