MIPS 2021 Guides Integration Partners Into ‘Shaping the New Next’

Peter Hinssen, a renowned thought leader on radical innovation and digital transformation, provided a keynote titled “Thriving in the Never Normal.”

The past year, and going forward, may be all about adapting to “the new normal,” but according to Hinssen we need to anticipate the never normal — a reality where change is constantly triggered by “seismic shocks,” like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The world is going to enter, he said, an era of even more uncertainty, but with the potential for a lot of disruptive thinking. “I spent a decade talking about digital disruption, but what we now have to do is prepare companies for what is next.”

Enter the seismic shocks. Some of these shocks will still be technological in nature; digital disruption is not over. Hinssen said “a cocktail of these new normals” are going to accelerate the pace of change.”

Beyond the technological, how we are in middle of a biological seismic shock that is far from over. Here, think about the big societal concerns pre-COVID around the environment and rising geopolitical tensions, especially between the U.S. and China. “It shows that the world isn’t orderly, but actually more and more disorderly,” Hinssen said.

The uncertainty is not something that is to be feared; rather, every single one of these shocks trigger mechanisms that set in motion events that create opportunities, he explained.

For example, consider that consumer behavior was already greatly altered as a result of digital transformation. “We know more about the consumer; we can analyze and observe and predict. And then COVID just accelerated the accelerator in consumer behavior. Same thing for work dynamics,” he said.

He continued, “But more fundamentally, it’s how we’re going to make money. The operating models and business models that will be more volatile will see huge shifts in capacity and resources, and probably enormous swings in financial performance as well.”

Hinssen explained that after a decade of digital transformation becoming normal, we are entering an exciting new period where a lot of these disruptive patterns are going to be applied to markets, such as food, agriculture, healthcare and energy. And that’s where the opportunities will lie.

“Thinking it’s going to go back to the calm, old normal? Forget it. It’s a world of volatility. That’s what I call the never normal, and it’s going to be winners and losers,” he said. “It’s going to be the best of times and the worst of times.”