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The Enterprise of the Future

By Dennis J. Murray

Last year, IBM Corporation conducted a study to determine what the successful enterprise of the future would look like. Its research was based on surveys of 1,130 CEOs, general managers, and senior public sector and business leaders from around the world. A few college and university presidents also were asked to participate, and I did so with great interest.

After 30 years as a college president, I fully understand that colleges and universities have different missions and values from our corporate partners and colleagues. Nevertheless, this study can offer insight on how we should be preparing our students for the business world and, in some instances, how our own organizations can improve.

The study concluded that the successful enterprise of the future will have five major characteristics: It will be hungry for change; innovative beyond customer imagination; globally integrated; disruptive by nature; and genuine, not just generous.

Hungry for Change

Constant change is certainly not new to most organizations, but because the pace and complexity of change will be accelerating rapidly, many organizations may not be ready for this challenge. Thus, the successful enterprise of the future will be one that is capable of changing quickly and successfully. Instead of merely responding to trends, it will play a role in shaping and leading them.

The enterprise of the future will approach change in three ways: It will accept change as a state of being and integrate it into its culture; second, it will encourage employees to be comfortable with unpredictability and to recognize that business models may be in flux; and third, it will ensure that its values and goals provide alignment and cohesion during times of rapid change.

Today, many change management programs are ad hoc or improvised. In contrast, the enterprise of the future will manage change through robust programs, structured around and driven to deliver defined business outcomes. Organizations also will have to hire, promote, and reward innovators and change leaders, and they should encourage people to question assumptions and suggest radical (even impractical) alternatives. High performers should earn differentiated rewards, such as a stake in businesses they help create.

Finally, to help foster change, the enterprise of the future will manage a portfolio of projects that will lead to innovation and transformation. During the incubation phase, it should support and develop those ideas that can continue to show merit, while systematically weeding out the weaker ones. . . .

Excerpted from the fall 2009 issue of The Presidency. To subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757, or order online through ACE's bookstore.