Fast Company on ‘Generation Flux’

Through a special arrangement, what follows is a summary of an article from COLLOQUY, provider of loyalty-marketing publishing, education and research since 1990.

Addressing gatherers on the last day of the NRF Big Show, Robert Safian, editor-in-chief and managing director at Fast Company, introduced the concept of "Generation Flux" and what it takes to be part of it.

Generation Flux refers to the rapidly shifting era in which we live, as well as the kinds of people best positioned to take advantage. Age does not matter — the requirements are adaptability, flexibility and the willingness to slip out of our comfort zones and risk being embarrassed.

"We live in a time of chaos," Mr. Safian said. "Business should be operated in a next-two-hour mindset and be prepared to deal with it."

Mr. Safian explained the concept with examples ranging from chaos theory to physics to soccer, illustrating along the way with stories from the pages of Fast Company. But it was Steven Jobs he used to illustrate the four key lessons to becoming a member of Generation Flux:

1. Take your ideas from everybody.

Mr. Jobs married his organization’s design strength with its engineering capabilities to elevate Apple to a dominant company. "Innovation often happens in the spaces between silos," Mr. Safian explained, adding that leaders should not focus on small bureaucratic pieces of their businesses. John Landgraf, who runs FX, once advised getting all intelligent ideas together because problems today are so complicated, we do not know which combination of intelligences will resolve them.

2. Redefine the corner office.

Mark Parker, CEO of Nike, re-curates his office regularly to keep himself fresh. He also walks the halls of Nike constantly and asks associates for ideas. Likewise, Mr. Jobs dedicated his time on the most risky projects at Apple while Tim Cook kept the trains running on time.

3. Edit and amplify.

When Apple launched, it eventually began rolling out too many products and it lost its way. Mr. Jobs came back after being fired, pared back the product line, and each product became more valuable. When Mr. Parker took over as CEO of Nike, Mr. Jobs called and advised him to cull his product line. "We can’t keep all of those balls in the air all of the time. We have to recognize what we are really best at," Mr. Safian said.

4. Find your mission.

When employee engagement is low, creativity is low. Yet the cost for paying those people, when engaged, is not higher. Robert Wong of Google Creative Labs operates on what he calls the Four Ps — not price, place, promotion and product, but purpose, people, products and process. When a company has purpose, it will propel the other Ps.

BrainTrust

Discussion Questions

Is the theory around “Generation Flux” fairly accurate? How does a “next-two-hour mindset” mesh with traditional long-term planning?

Poll

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Nikki Baird
Nikki Baird
9 years ago

I just read an Ad Age article on “Generation Z” which focused primarily on kids 11 to 16-years-old today. And their defining characteristic happened to be flexibility. So I would agree that flexibility and adaptability are going to become important characteristics, and these are valuable to anyone.

I don’t know how I feel about the “next-two-hour” mindset, though. I think I need to understand the context of the term better. Because if anything, I think too many people have too much of that mindset, and not enough of an understanding of long-term consequences. You can’t be goal-less. And you can’t be 100 percent reactionary. To me, the most successful people and businesses are focused AND open—focused on long-term goals but with the flexibility to recognize unplanned opportunities when they come their way.

Chris Petersen, PhD
Chris Petersen, PhD
9 years ago

There is an interesting common thread across all four points raised regarding Generation Flux: Top Leadership engagement, at all levels, but especially with people on the “edges” between the “silos.”

Said another way, successful management in the age of Generation Flux requires more than management by the numbers, much more. It requires great leadership who can inspire extraordinary passion and performance for reasons “higher than building products.”

Max Goldberg
Max Goldberg
9 years ago

The theory of Generation Flux would turn many CPG companies and retailers on their heads, because it runs counter to what these companies have been doing for 100 years. Not every notion of Generation Flux will work, but it’s important to look at the chaos and embrace that every decision cannot be linear.

The longest planning cycle that I use with my clients is 18 months. We primarily focus on the next six to 12 months. New technologies and dramatically-shortened consumer attention spans demand that successful companies embrace feedback and change. A company can either embrace change or watch its business fade.

Tom Redd
Tom Redd
9 years ago

Finally we figure out this generation thing. I like the Generation Flux story and agree with it all — we are in a time when planning must be continuous. In the retail space, from solution shops to retailers, we are done with the old, hard-structured model and it is time to execute on the FLUX factor. The Apple examples are fine, but overused in many ways.

Take a retailer that is in a fast changing space, like Nike or Tory Burch. Add the FLUX factor in full play and watch how they are able to meet the even faster changing demands of their target markets.

Internally, all types of businesses need to get off the old corner office model and work towards a strong teamwork and team-reward model — almost like the ’80s and tiger teams.
Even areas like retirement are FULL FLUX. We saw our parents kick back and retire. I see friends retire and go do active things they like or even take on new jobs that they always wanted.

When I retire I will be a greeter and an upsell player at Home Depot (Store 420). My FLUX will focus on helping non-home repair people learn to fix it themselves and also add a few more items to their baskets.

Marge Laney
Marge Laney
9 years ago

As the CEO of a tech company, I can tell you that the next-two-hour mindset is great fun for Sales and Development but a nightmare for Production, S&I and Accounting. For me it’s a delicate balancing act and a lot of sleepless nights.

It seems like the omni-channel retail paradigm lives in the NTH mindset. What’s really happening is that tech companies and retailers alike are reacting with a “throw it at the wall and see what sticks with the consumer” development strategy.

Mobile technology offers an enticing array of cool bling that for the most part is just that. The bottom line is that no matter what speed the mindset du jour is moving, the underlying mission all tech providers and retailers need to keep in mind is that their products and strategies need to solve real problems and make their customers’ lives better.

Mohamed Amer
Mohamed Amer
9 years ago

The idea behind Generation Flux is reasonable given the pace of change we are experiencing in our lives. The “next-two-hour” mindset may be an extreme take on it but it helps to crystalize the massive changes we’ve seen in business models, planning horizons and business strategy. It emphasizes the demise and futility of long-term planning and elevates the value of adapting in the moment.

Moving between silos, even better yet—demolishing those boundaries is a future-in-the-making that will redefine what organizations are and how they function. Generation Flux is an accurate projection of the future of work (and society).

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
9 years ago

The “next-two-hour” mindset is hopefully hyperbole. But otherwise these statements are well directed, not with regard to a specific generation, but with regard to how companies should be run and leadership should take place. We can look at the “great” companies that have come and gone over the last one hundred-plus years and we will find that this kind of thinking was completely contrary to the way they acted. Business and life are moving targets. They are changing all the time and the time-frame is being squeezed. Those who can not adapt to this “next-two-hour” mindset will be left behind.

Phil Rubin
Phil Rubin
9 years ago

The theory of “Generation Flux” absolutely meshes with long-term planning. Just listen to a Nike earnings call with analysts. The biggest factors in the examples of Mr. Jobs and Mr. Parker is their ability to exploit the chaos out in the marketplace through leadership, dominance and focus, not to mention the “cool” factor of their respective brands. These leaders articulate the direction, make it a priority and then focus on progress. That means they don’t get hung up in decision-making, favoring meritocracy not bureaucracy.

Camille P. Schuster, Ph.D.
Camille P. Schuster, Ph.D.
9 years ago

If the next-two-hour mindset emphasizes constantly collecting data and reviewing it with both a short-term and long-term lens to identify short-term and long-term consumer behavior changes, then it makes sense to me. If it means to review, replenish and refresh merchandise that makes sense. These two conditions would allow for flexibility that is and will be more important for success. However, for long-term success it means viewing these short-term decisions in light of the company’s mission, core competency and vision. Generation Flux is a clever term for a transition that began a decade ago and is accelerating.

Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly
9 years ago

I like this idea. People of this period will be formed by these conditions in the same way those who came of age in the 1930s were formed by those conditions. And there will be a reaction to this period in the next 10 years.

We plan long term, knowing that technology and humanity’s reaction to it will continue to create flux.

Vahe Katros
Vahe Katros
9 years ago

“Generation flux” will create acid reflux among those who are trying to make a buck. The answer is to get the customers involved in helping you solve their problem, because I’ll bet they will someday say, “I’ve had enough of this flux thing.” Change has short arcs, medium arcs and long arcs. Don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters. But he who isn’t busy being born is busy dying.

Lee Kent
Lee Kent
9 years ago

I’m not buying into the “next two-hour mindset” just yet but I totally get the flux thing. What it says to me? Innovation such as mobility is causing existing staid models to be ineffective.

It’s time for retail and other consumer-facing industries to create models that are always innovating, have the ability to quickly adapt in order to give the consumer what they want.

I visited TopGolf yesterday as part of our local Customer Experience Professionals Association. They walked us through their design approach, gave us a tour and, of course, let us play. The interesting thing to me? Their model was so flexible, they could just as easily switched out to baseball, basketball, or soccer.

What retailer wouldn’t love to have that kind of flux oriented model?

And that’s my 2 cents.

Ryan Mathews
Ryan Mathews
9 years ago

I think there is something to it. Clearly the pace of change has increased and clearly some people are better dealing with it than others.

Oddly, I’m not sure there is as much a conflict as might first appear. The long-term strategic goals may remain more or less constant, say, operate in an ecologically responsible manner for example, but the near-term strategy and tactics could—and perhaps should—be subject to realtime review.

Gordon Arnold
Gordon Arnold
9 years ago

Chaos by its definition calls for a complete lack of information without the ability to make correction. Companies that are wondering what will happen to the market next will only advance with a lot of luck. The need to know your market and customer is getting more important every day and must be addressed as part of the company’s first priority in business.

Martin Mehalchin
Martin Mehalchin
9 years ago

Good management principles in the article and good insights on where society is headed. The key thing in the “next two hour” concept is the second part of that sentence: “be prepared to deal with it.”

It’s a lot easier to be nimble in business if you already have the right foundations in place. For retailers these foundations should include consumer knowledge and seamless operations. Building the CRM and inventory systems that underpin the foundation can take years. So the trick is to have the resolve to build the foundations for the long haul while operating your existing business with a nimble mindset.