Why Bold Futures?

Any business that does not have a clearly articulated bold future shaping day-to-day actions is stacking the odds against sustainable profitable growth. Without a bold future, would P&G have come up with their breakthrough Innovation Model ? They say "no way". “CEO Lafley made it our goal to acquire 50 percent of our innovations outside the company.” That’s what we mean by a Bold Future.

The evidence that more and better of the past does not guarantee a sustainable business is overwhelming. Look at any market and the evidence is there. Take cell phones as an example, and Motorola’s dominance – til Nokia. And Nokia’s ascendancy till Samsung – and then came the iPhone, followed by, …

At first it takes courage and imagination to plan and organize for a Bold Future that is not an extension of the past. However, the organization as a whole quickly gets that that is the most stimulating environment for innovation, and THE path to breakthrough and organizational transformation - culture change successfully accomplished, as well as desired operational results obtained.

The paradox is that to get different actions and accomplish a different order of results Bold Futures are much more effective than goals that are viewed as attainable. In the "impossible, yet we are committed", there is a call to action; there is excitment, often passion, and sense of accomplishment as we progress. More "reasonable" goals, that are not viewed as radical, tend to rein back into what we know how to do, and the "invention" of new and innovative solutions get stymied.

There are critical success components to these BOLD goals.