Three Organizational Traits that Propel Exceptional Results

New research by Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reveals three characteristics that distinguish what they are calling “future-proof” businesses. Collectively, the organizations in their study that maximized these qualities had a 5-fold gain in market share during the pandemic years—tough times for almost all. What is truly interesting is that the evidence-based qualities are quite intuitive:

Trait 1. Make agile, flexible plans.

The organizations best prepared for the pandemic were agile and responsive enough to capture short-term opportunities while also building long-term resilience. Those whose plans were inflexible or, worse, calcified lost significant market share. The intuitive part: nimbleness is everything.

Trait 2. Apply a test-and-learn mindset.

Leading organizations share a strong culture of experimentation, which extends across products and marketing. The intuitive part: rapid iteration is everything, or, as Tom Peters says, “test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.”

Trait 3. Be customer-centric to the core.

Organizations at the forefront, say, of digital transformation committed to altering their entire organizations around changes in customer behavior and need, not just particularly forward-leaning teams. The intuitive part: “customers” drive everything. 

The challenge now for most in the education field is to actively embrace these principles rather than passively allow a return to January 2020.