A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

52 ■ A CLASS WITH DRUCKER
■ Actions of Competitors: if a competitor is successful in an action that
you have not anticipated and allowed for, you can be in serious trouble.
Apple Computer opened the market for personal computers and dominated
the market. IBM was very much a latecomer because it had been
caught unawares by the success of the personal computer market. But “Big
Blue” responded fast and <strong>with</strong> an excellent counter strategy. Whereas
Apple did not allow anyone to create software for their operating system,
IBM not only allowed, but encouraged anyone and everyone to do so. As
a result, the amount of software available including games, business programs
and more for IBM’s operating system soon far exceeded Apple’s.
Through this strategy, IBM was able to take over and dominate this market
for many years <strong>with</strong> even a late start and entering the fray <strong>with</strong> a product
that was technically inferior to its competitor.
■ Unexpected Major Events: the terrorist attack on 9/11 led to reduced
air travel and created a demand for much greater security. A major earthquake
or a war can affect the environment similarly. So can an unexpected
national outbreak of an e-coli bacteria in food items.
Executives Have Trouble Changing
You might think that senior executives can easily anticipate and readily prepare
for change, but this is rarely the case for several reasons. These executives
are in power because they “made it” under the old paradigm. Their
prior actions made them and their organizations successful. They are comfortable
<strong>with</strong> the old way, not some new, usually unproven idea. Many leaders
are afraid to deviate from what they know, afraid to make a mistake.
They invested heavily in the old modus operandi and avoid anything that
says that they must invest again and start over. It takes an exceptional individual
to do this, or even to utter the words that imply that anything will
change. However, the truth is that the new model may hardly be rocket science
once you accept the fact that there will be change, like it or not.
One of the most remarkable cases of an organizational leader who
was able to recognize that future change was inevitable was not a business
executive but a military leader. His name was Henry H. “Hap”
Arnold. He was the commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces during
World War II.
After the U.S. Air Force was given the status of an independent military
service after the war, he became the first and only five-star general that the