According to research by McKinsey, leaders in the digital space move four times faster – and with double the power – than those who have not adopted the digital mindset. This is as a result of, among others, the availability of near-real-time data from sources such as social media as well as the Internet of Things.
In 2019, the global gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to $142 trillion. In line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), this is projected to fall by 4.9% in 2020 owing to – mainly – the effects of Covid-19.
This means that although the rate at which business is continuing to accelerate, the available market is starting to dwindle. And if we are going to be able to get a substantial part of this pie for ourselves, we’re going to need to know how to win at business in the changing environment that we’re finding ourselves in.
Could it be time to pivot your business?
In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a lot of jobs are falling by the wayside – especially those which involve repetitive tasks and require a high degree of accuracy, which is something that can be easily replicable, with a higher degree of accuracy, by a computer. Data capturing is one of these jobs which come to mind.
In particular, with the coronavirus, businesses which rely on large numbers of people gathering in a specific place – such as restaurants, gyms and hotels – are suffering as a result of social distancing requirements. While many of these businesses have been forced to close down or to retrench large numbers of staff, there is an opportunity for these types of companies to pivot their business model to reignite the bottom line.
For example, several hotels and guesthouses – who have been unable to open for the majority of their trade (in other words, leisure travellers) are seeing how they can produce products to sell in various stores. The most successful organisations that they’re starting are frozen meal businesses where they use the expertise of their world-renowned chefs to produce meals that people can take home and eat. We also see restaurants, who have not felt it would be profitable to reopen under restricted conditions, following the same route.
Reskill your staff
As people’s jobs are becoming redundant left, right and centre, they will need to take stock of the skills that they do have and see how they can repurpose themselves to continue to be able to add value to the economy.
New job titles are springing up all the time – the job title of social media manager didn’t exist 20 years ago – but the nature of these new types of jobs are that with a little bit of training people who have the required skills will be able to go far in these career paths.
Make sure that your employees can respond to the different needs that your business requires of them. Upskill them in soft skills – in other words, skills such as emotional intelligence and the like – which will help them to deal with the changing realities that business and life throws at them. (At Future Self Academy, we have several courses which will help your employees to improve in themselves as well as in their relationships with others around them. For more information, please visit our course catalogue.)
Network, network, network!
In changing business times, you need to keep tabs on the people in your network so that if they have an opportunity which fits in with your skillset, you’ll be at the top of their minds when they’re searching for someone to help.
In the Own Your Network author-led course, media personality Nadia Bilchik teaches students how they can tap into their networks and build a successful career. And it’s not just talk – she’s applied the principles in the book to her own life. Nadia was a successful personality and, when she and her family moved to the United States, she had to start from scratch to build up her network. The fact that she became a regular anchor on CNN is testament to the power of a vast network.
Contact Future Self Academy
Do you want to revolutionise your life and the way that your perspective on every day? If you do – and because you’re visiting Future Self Academy, we know that you do – then one of the courses that we have in our catalogue is sure to fit your need in life. From business to money and psychology, we have it all! For more information, please visit our website.
