Lesson 41: it's Day One

Recently I came across Amazon 2016 letter to shareholders. Jeff Bezos clearly articulates the company's strategy and emphasises on the difference between Day 1 and Day 2 type of companies. you can read it here

It is indeed insightful and there are valuable lessons that one can learn from this article. Day 1 company characteristic are in line with the startup mentality in lean thinking, development and continuous reinventing the model, however this also calls for change in leadership thinking and organization culture to emulate the right model of corporate governance, we've all seen what happened to uber , Uber is a Day 1 company however it has a weak organization culture.

For an organization to be successful there is a need to change the mental model that sustains the business.

Finding the right model to base your strategy is key for growth. For example Tesla thinks of itself as a technology company that manufactures cars, likewise Amazon thinks of itself as a technology company in the retail business, Uber thinks of itself as a technology company in the taxi business. We can go on and on to share more examples of companies that are using the right mental model to grow their business.

It is fundamental for organizations to build the right mental model and base their strategy with key investments made in the strategic objectives that have been identified, with the current rate at which new innovative products are launched on a daily basis, it is either you reinvent your business or be cannibalised. We often remember the likes of Blackberry and Nokia were late in the era of smartphones, we no longer here of Kodak in digital photography, Sun Microsystems went under, Yahoo failed to be innovative,

When Facebook moved into their new office which was the former Sun Microsystems headquarters, Mark Zuckerberg didn't replace Sun Microsystem's sign. Instead, he flipped it over and put Facebook's name on the front. The Sun logo reminds employees to stay motivated. It demonstrates what can happen when you're on top but fail to innovate.

The Front

The Back

The digital revolution is forcing every company to move from business models focused on products
and services to those that leverage networks and platforms.  It’s a fundamental change in how
you think and what you measure. But once you align your mental, business, and measurement
models, you will be well on your way to a successful digital transformation.