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What is it about business agility that's making everyone stop and pay attention these days? It's not something that's particularly new, we can trace the current incarnation of business agility back at least 20 years. And if we incorporate similar approaches and mindsets from the military we can trace it back centuries. And it's not that markets are changing, they've been doing that since the Industrial Revolution. And it's not even that companies are realising that empowered staff are more productive and loyal than their unempowered counterparts; Drucker and Deming were talking about that in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that all of this is happening faster today than ever before. Last month Business Insider reported that, in the US, chapter 11 bankruptcies are up 63%. The highest rate since 2011. Perhaps it’s also something to do with the fact that disruption, despite the term having been abused and overused, is impacting every industry. 10 years ago, none of the banks would have listed Google or Apple or Alibaba as a competitor, and now they all do.
Business Agility; because a mechanistic organisation cannot exist within a chaotic marketplace
by Evan Leybourn