We’ve got it wrong … we’re looking at business the wrong way

Company lifecycles? WRONG way to think… here’s something better….

“Companies don’t pass through life cycles, opportunities do.” (from Donald Sull, The Upside of Turbulence,)

The most critical business leadership capability is the ability to discover and then capitalize on the changing opportunities that market turbulence creates. 

It’s the Opportunity that has the lifecycle… Discovery,  Start Up, Scale, Mature, and Decline.  Then Leaders must assess the lifetime and value of the opportunities on offer.

The leader’s role is to direct and align the company’s flexible approach to marshal the different resources and capabilities to take advantage of each of these different stages of multiple opportunities. This intangible leadership is critical to sustaining a flow of earnings in response to changing business environment which dictates the lifecycle of these opportunities.

The best example i know is in fashion and clothing where opportunities abound and companies skate over these, applying their distinctive capabilities to select the “best” opportunity for them.

And then the various capabilities are applied with varying focus on time

And focusing in various capabilities within

And when fashion firms fail it’s a function not of the firms lifecycle but leaderships inability to match relevant resources and capabilities with the best opportunity for them. When fashion firms try to do things are are (currently) incapable of doing.