CULTURE, LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION/ AMAIA CABEZÓN SÁDABA
Keep an eye on the future. This is the thesis enthusiastically defended by Alejandro Ruelas, professor of Innovation and Strategy, innovation specialist at CNN, and advisor of technology companies such as Sony, Motorola, Microsoft and IBM.
Professor Ruelas was the manager of Ruelas inaugurate Stop & Think Leadership organized by the School of Economics of the University of Navarra. In the session entitled "The Race to the top", the academic highlighted how innovation must be at the forefront of all processes in order for companies to evolve and position themselves as market leaders.
After years of study, Professor Ruelas highlights three elements that he considers common denominators of "leading-edge" companies: a higher market value; the ability to orchestrate the value of other companies on their own platforms; and, finally, the skill of being emotional, moving the purchase decision from the brain to the heart.
Let's analyze each one, step by step. The first factor: providing the greatest value for companies or businesses in your segment, undoes the "idea of efficiency" that has been so prevalent up to now. Professor Ruelas states that efficiency "looks to the past, is rigid and has no capacity for adaptation". Likewise, Ruelas continues, in the COVID-19 crisis we have seen that companies were not prepared for the status that is happening.
Efficiency means "looking for the cheapest, copying others and trying to lower prices in order to stand out, the widespread concept of low cost," he explains. Cheap labor, and the delay we have been living in for 40 years, when the next industrial revolution could have been achieved, means that we are at a profound disadvantage in the face of the changes to which we must adapt, says the innovation expert, to which he adds that: "Companies need people who think, creative people".
As a second core topic, the academic relates the possibility of generating platforms with the orchestration of ecosystems. This principle originated in the 13th century in Japan and states that companies are not alone or isolated. If you have other companies within your own, you get some protection, for example, in the event of a crisis. Orchestration means eliminating the simple concepts of strengths and weaknesses. Strengths should be reinforced and weaknesses, not eliminated, should be orchestrated with the strengths of others. To do this, Ruelas points out that it is necessary to be aware of the strengths at staff, at the business, regional and state levels.
Finally, the academic stressed the need to be emotional, to move the public's impulses so that they consume our products. The feeling of belonging will only be achieved by companies that defend values, that tell stories that convince.
