Thirty years ago last summer, I took a summer internship at a magazine, and I’ve
worked in this industry ever since. To say the business has changed since then is an
understatement: As print advertising declined and free access to online articles
grew, magazines needed to change or die — and many iconic titles have gone away.
Harvard Business Review has adapted and thrived — 2022 marks its centennial — but
nonetheless, spending one’s career in an industry facing disruption creates some
anxious moments. |
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Survive and Thrive as an Incumbent |
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From Daniel McGinn Executive
Editor, Harvard Business Review |
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Thirty years ago last summer, I took a summer
internship at a magazine, and I’ve worked in this
industry ever since. To say the business has changed
since then is an understatement: As print
advertising declined and free access to online
articles grew, magazines needed to change or die —
and many iconic titles have gone away. Harvard
Business Review has adapted and thrived — 2022 marks
its centennial — but nonetheless, spending one’s
career in an industry facing disruption creates some
anxious moments.
Should every company
experience this kind of anxiety? In our Spotlight
package, Adapting to nondigital Disruption, several
authors suggest some of this fear is overblown. In
How
Incumbents Survive and
Thrive, London
Business School professor Julian Birkinshaw shares
data that show how much nondigital disruption is
oversold — Kodak and Blockbuster are outliers. And
in The
Strategic Advantage of
Incumbency, Thomas W.
Malnight and Ivy Buche recount how a group of older
“legacy” companies have found ways to turn their
size and heritage into advantages, not liabilities.
Another article in this issue focuses on a
different kind of heritage: Your family background.
In Family
Ghosts in the Executive
Suite, Deborah Ancona
and Dennis N.T. Perkins examine how the family
dynamics people experience during childhood play a
role in how they navigate work and careers. They say
leaders benefit by recognizing these family ghosts
and how they affect work relationships — and then
working to counteract the negative behaviors that
may stem from one’s upbringing.
With the
New Year approaching, many people are thinking about
other positive changes they might make to improve
themselves. In The
“New You” Business,
Lance A. Bettencourt and coauthors describe the
strategy driving transformation businesses —
companies working in spaces such as education,
spirituality, health, and fitness that promise a
process that fundamentally changes you.
After the challenges of the past year (or two), we
wish you only positive changes in 2022 — and thanks
for reading.
Daniel McGinn
Executive Editor |
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In the Issue: |
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While many believe that
technological disruption has been
rampant for decades, the internet
has actually caused much less
creative destruction than people
think. What else is commonly
misunderstood? The best response to
disrupters. This piece delves into
three viable strategies: doubling
down on your existing strengths (as
Disney did); retrenching to ensure
your survival (as banks are doing);
and moving into new opportunities
(as Fuji did). Each strategy has
benefits and risks, and your
circumstances determine which one
you should pursue. |
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For most of the 20th century, size,
longevity, and a large market share
were seen as assets in business.
Then they began to be viewed as
vulnerabilities, putting many
companies in a defensive stance.
Successful incumbents, however,
convert these traits into market
power, lasting relationships, and
deep insights to create new
opportunities and ward off upstarts.
Three capabilities in particular
give established firms an edge: the
ability to manage complexity, the
ability to focus on the long term,
and the ability to leverage
customers’ trust in new arenas. This
article describes how companies like
Hindustan Unilever Limited, Deere
and Company, and A.P. Møller–Maersk
have prevailed in these areas. |
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Professional growth can get stymied
for all sorts of reasons. But one of
the most important is rarely
discussed: You’re contending with
ghosts from your past. Early in
life, family dynamics give rise to
many fundamental behaviors and
attitudes toward authority, mastery,
and identity. When similar dynamics
emerge at work, people often revert
to childhood patterns. To enable
change in the personal realm,
psychologists often encourage
clients to consider the nature of
their original family system. This
approach can — and should — be
applied at work too. This article
delves into six elements of family
dynamics that commonly play out in
the workplace. |
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All too often fitness centers,
medical providers, colleges, and
organizations in many other
industries seek to distinguish
themselves only on the quality,
convenience, and experience of what
they sell. But those things matter
only as means to the ends that
people seek. Enterprises should
recognize the economic opportunity
offered by a "transformation"
business, in which consumers come to
them with a desire to improve some
fundamental aspect of their lives.
Even though we’re all filled with
hopes, aims, and ambitions,
significant change is incredibly
hard to accomplish on our own. This
article offers an approach to
designing a transformation business.
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Build, broaden and refresh your
leadership and management skills
with this hands-on, interactive
online learning resource that
addresses your most critical
management challenges. It includes
41 continuously updated topics, each
with practical advice and
immediately applicable tools that
will let you gain invaluable skills
for yourself, your team, and your
organization — at the pace you want,
when you want it. |
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