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Mindset Driven Dissonance

by Hank Barnes  |  March 20, 2018  |  Submit a Comment

While digital business is changing markets, many organizations still struggle with change.  They know they have to, but the can’t seem to do it.  We all know that change is hard, but why can’t it happen when everyone knows it needs to happen.   Here are a few observations:

  • A desire for innovative new technologies, but a strong preference for proven vendors
  • A desire to gain more enterprise agility, but long standing practices  and a need for consensus that slow things down
  • and more

Effectively, the organization, and people in it, want to change, but it goes against the mindset and personality of the organization.  So we thrash—and often change happens even slower.   We’ll consider more ad hoc purchases, and may reevaluate our plans, but “settle” for a solution that is low risk and does little to accelerate change and competitive advantage.

Photo by David Bartus from Pexels

Photo by David Bartus from Pexels

Some organizations are breaking through (I’ll share more on that later as the research develops) by adapting their personality and practices for the new normal.  Sure, its about culture, but it’s more than culture–you can want to change and support change, but if your practices block it, you’ll get nowhere.

The only way to progress is to eliminate the dissonance between what you want to achieve and your traditional path to progress.

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Category: go-to-market  

Tags: change  digital-business  innovation  risk  strategy  

Hank Barnes
VP Distinguished Analyst
6+ years at Gartner
30+ years IT Industry

Hank Barnes explores the dynamics, challenges, and frustrations enterprises face when buying technology products and services. Using that customer-centric lens, he advises those responsible for marketing technology products and services, general managers responsible for product portfolios, and startup CEOs on next practices to drive success for their customers and their business. Read Full Bio




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