Change

If there is one lesson we have all learnt from the last few years it is the impact of dramatic change and the emergence of ‘Black Swan’ events, a term popularised by the writer Nassim Taleb which refers to events which are unpredictable and rare but have severe consequences. Change, of course, has always been with us but perhaps not at the same trajectory, pace and momentum. The key then is how we embrace change and react to it. As US management consultant Peter Drucker said – ‘to create the future we have to be the enemy of today’. This implies an acceptance that success in the past is no guarantee of success in the future and the strategies that got us to where are today will not get us to where we want to go to in the future. All these changes are going to put a premium on relationships and one of the most enduring maxims of business, as written by Dale Carnegie, will endure – ‘People do business with people they like and trust.