PAVLO’S PERSPECTIVE: Entrepreneurial actions that shape the world of tomorrow
by Pavlo Phitidis,
2015-06-17 06:00:22.0
MASTERY in kung fu is found in breath and flow. Your breathing enables you to remain protected against the emotional agitation of your fight-flight response-creating panicked reactions.
Flow in action embraces being both hard and soft when striking and blocking. It creates opportunities to defeat your opponent. It demands a calm mind.
Without being absolutely present and, through your breath managing your movement, mastery of kung fu is impossible. In martial arts, it’s called "empty mind" and epitomises mastery.
The rate and pace of information that we are exposed to keeps us in an agitated state.
News and information is generated by everyone, everywhere, every day. The noise is constant and it’s mostly suggesting an uncertain future.
Change is never well received. It suggests turmoil and effort. An unconscious sharp, shallow breath when receiving the information floods our blood with the proponents of our fight-flight response — cortisol and adrenalin. Before we can process the information effectively to calmly respond, more information amplifies our agitation.
Taking the right action in the face of a constant stream of information demands more than self-mastery. It must be matched to your resource base.
Responses that require you to need resources to act often see opportunities pass when the resources are acquired. Fictitious responses are a fantasy, leaving you standing still and perfect responses a myth.
The answer lies in flow. Using what you have to respond to what faces you, through a calm and rational process managed by your breath, constantly acting to advance your position.
BMW’s response to the trends shaping the new world of transport is found in two acts.
Language is important. Transport, now called mobility, embraces an experience rather than a function and speaks to convergence of green energy and the connected car.
Driven out of Munich, parallel business models adopting a martial arts-like structure enable BMW to shape this new future through its i-series.
Active engagements through an open innovation platform embraces customers, competitors and niched, skilled suppliers to co-create mobility for tomorrow’s world.
And yet, in a parallel dimension, the rigid structure of its production and distribution engine ticks on relentlessly ensuring that traditional business performance remains uncompromised.
In SA, an action-orientated, obsessed idealist with a deep, inventive history in electric vehicles faces his own challenge. Able and capable to respond to all the trends in mobility but limited by resources, where will his future lie?
It takes years of dedication to master any martial art form, never mind multiple forms. Attempting to be all things to all people risks making you very little to anyone at all.
Yet Winstone Jordaan has a plan. His relationship with BMW is crafting a path towards that of an energy administrator or aggregator. His software platform becomes the conductor of an orchestra made up of multiple charge points (the electric vehicle’s filling pump) at multiple locations, available (or not) at multiple times for multiple electric vehicle drivers.
An effective response to the information shaping a new world requires leadership skills premised on a martial art mind-set and a business model inculcating the principles of flow.
Entrepreneurs, political or business, excelling in this skill set will lead innovation and attain excellence in shaping tomorrow’s world.
• Phitidis is CEO of Aurik Business Incubator, director of Aurik Enterprise & Supplier Development, entrepreneurship commentator on 702 & Cape Talk and presenter of The Growth Engines. Find him on twitter @pavlobiz
Pavlo Phitidis. Picture: SUPPLIED
MASTERY in kung fu is found in breath and flow. Your breathing enables you to remain protected against the emotional agitation of your fight-flight response-creating panicked reactions.
Flow in action embraces being both hard and soft when striking and blocking. It creates opportunities to defeat your opponent. It demands a calm mind.
Without being absolutely present and, through your breath managing your movement, mastery of kung fu is impossible. In martial arts, it’s called "empty mind" and epitomises mastery.
The rate and pace of information that we are exposed to keeps us in an agitated state.
News and information is generated by everyone, everywhere, every day. The noise is constant and it’s mostly suggesting an uncertain future.
Change is never well received. It suggests turmoil and effort. An unconscious sharp, shallow breath when receiving the information floods our blood with the proponents of our fight-flight response — cortisol and adrenalin. Before we can process the information effectively to calmly respond, more information amplifies our agitation.
Taking the right action in the face of a constant stream of information demands more than self-mastery. It must be matched to your resource base.
Responses that require you to need resources to act often see opportunities pass when the resources are acquired. Fictitious responses are a fantasy, leaving you standing still and perfect responses a myth.
The answer lies in flow. Using what you have to respond to what faces you, through a calm and rational process managed by your breath, constantly acting to advance your position.
BMW’s response to the trends shaping the new world of transport is found in two acts.
Language is important. Transport, now called mobility, embraces an experience rather than a function and speaks to convergence of green energy and the connected car.
Driven out of Munich, parallel business models adopting a martial arts-like structure enable BMW to shape this new future through its i-series.
Active engagements through an open innovation platform embraces customers, competitors and niched, skilled suppliers to co-create mobility for tomorrow’s world.
And yet, in a parallel dimension, the rigid structure of its production and distribution engine ticks on relentlessly ensuring that traditional business performance remains uncompromised.
In SA, an action-orientated, obsessed idealist with a deep, inventive history in electric vehicles faces his own challenge. Able and capable to respond to all the trends in mobility but limited by resources, where will his future lie?
It takes years of dedication to master any martial art form, never mind multiple forms. Attempting to be all things to all people risks making you very little to anyone at all.
Yet Winstone Jordaan has a plan. His relationship with BMW is crafting a path towards that of an energy administrator or aggregator. His software platform becomes the conductor of an orchestra made up of multiple charge points (the electric vehicle’s filling pump) at multiple locations, available (or not) at multiple times for multiple electric vehicle drivers.
An effective response to the information shaping a new world requires leadership skills premised on a martial art mind-set and a business model inculcating the principles of flow.
Entrepreneurs, political or business, excelling in this skill set will lead innovation and attain excellence in shaping tomorrow’s world.
• Phitidis is CEO of Aurik Business Incubator, director of Aurik Enterprise & Supplier Development, entrepreneurship commentator on 702 & Cape Talk and presenter of The Growth Engines. Find him on twitter @pavlobiz
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