Consumption-Driven Digital Transformation

The collective pursuit of mastery, self-actualization and redemption has splintered humanity into a billion parts of Babel, but as reliably as the sun shines, and the moon reflects, we are also dependent on a shared, instinctual need to consume, be it knowledge, bling or bacon.

One of the more modest, but fascinating facets of our biology is the autonomic nervous system, a quiet and elegant set of switches that ensure the on-going operations of internal systems, like our lungs inflating to consume oxygen, even while we sleep. We live in a world more defined by conspicuous, not quiet, forms of material consumption, however, thanks to a complex set of social, biological and economic circuits. As a resident of Coto de Caza, CA, and a neighbor to the Real Housewives of Orange County, I have a backstage pass to consumption gone wild, granting me an enhanced perspective on the topic.

In the context of our global economy, across industries and geographies, public and private sectors, a common question is how to avoid, manage against and regulate the impacts of “digital disruption." The real threat is not an algorithm, per se, but an inexplicably higher standard of design that has inspired a set of expectations on how and where products, services and content can and should be consumed. Or maybe it was the new expectations that inspired the new higher standards? Not really sure. Chicken. Egg. That's an unsolvable question.

What is axiomatic is that a new generation of consumer (and citizen), characterized less by age, than impatience, has created a non-generational, population-wide truth, as relevant for marketplaces (readers, citizens, fans, guests, passengers, etc.) as workplaces (founders, managers, employees, suppliers, distributors, regulators, etc.). We are now all digital consumers, in every context, and bring our expectations for how life should look and feel to the office, to the beach, to the stadium, to the train and, yes, to the bathroom. When public or private leaders ignore these personas, failure is assured.

And we have seen this play out time and again. The liquidation of incumbency as a competitive advantage has converted decades of investment in hard infrastructure into the organizational equivalent of lower back pain. Lugging around that extra weight is shortening the average life-span of people, and companies. To manage the weight gain, and the associated pain, some take a more Eastern approach, letting digital unfold organically, while others have begun a more deliberate and transformational journey.

Sustaining a competitive advantage in a digital world inevitably requires the constant pursuit of insight on what people wish to consume and how, and this holds true as much for newspapers (selling snack-size content) as it does for makers of biscuits (selling snack-size snacks). A continuous recalibration of systems and behaviors, rules and guardrails, is the new normal. Going forward, strategy must always be written in pencil, not pen. 

Ultimately, staying ahead of evolving preferences requires equal parts agility and risk, human centered design and continuous innovation. Interestingly, the recent spate of speedy government responses to retrofit policies in support of accelerated adoption of digital innovations, such as autonomous vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) suggests a new era of more responsive policy-making - an encouraging sign.

A savvy student, executive or public servant, reading this essay, might stop the train, however briefly, to ask:

1. what is the future of work, now?
2. What is the future of production, now?
3. What is the future of distribution, now?
4. What is the future of regulation, now?
5. What is the future of consumption, now?

While an answer may be teased out of Harvard Business Review or Wall Street Journal articles, there’s a more reliable source – listen to yourself. Good leaders in a digital world are design-thinkers, and good designers are observant and self-aware. Take notice of your reactions, desires and behaviors and evolving wants, in every context, to create a new knowledge base. Whether the objective is to launch a start-up or refresh a government policy, a great source of wisdom on what lies ahead is an internal lens, combined with the humility to ask better questions. This provides a formidable foundation, especially when combined with a team of self-aware, communicative and creative souls enforcing a culture of safety to support collaboration and experimentation behaviors.

Chew on that for a bit.