The Adaptive Enterprise: Sense-and-Respond Organizations
June 24, 2021
Hosted by William Ulrich
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Episode Description
At no time in our history has it been more important for organizations to become adaptive to change. Now more than ever, organizations must be ready to deal with unpredictability, which can come from any direction. We only need to look at the recent global pandemic as one example, but whether it's financial, environmental, competition or other factors that motivate organizations, adaptability is key. In this episode of the North Star, host William Ulrich will interview renowned author, futurist and international authority on customer-value growth strategies, Stephan Haeckel. Together, they will explore what it takes to create and lead sense-and-respond organizations. His book, “Adaptive Enterprise”, outlined the sense-and-respond model where he said that “when unpredictability is a given, the only strategy that makes sense is a strategy to become adaptive – to sense early and respond quickly to abrupt changes”. William and his guest will take a look at what it takes to become a sense-and-respond organization, the impact on strategy setting and if organizations need to take a more holistic perspective on strategy execution. Other topics will look at potential impacts on corporate culture, compensation models and how organizations are organized. This episode will seek to provide business leaders with ideas on how to start becoming more adaptive today and as the future continues to unfold.
The North Star
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Business Channel
The North Star takes a deep dive into the topic of strategy execution, often challenging conventional wisdom for achieving an organization’s strategic vision. The host and thought leaders from multiple fields explore concepts that include rethinking innovation, increasing enterprise agility, transitioning to the circular economy, managing enterprise risk and becoming a cognitive enterprise. Setting sights on one’s “north star” is only half the story. Decades of experience point to the headwinds organizations have faced in pursuit of their strategic vision. To that end, the North Star examines how organizations can more effectively deliver on critical business strategies in these uncertain times. The show tackles intractable challenges that many organizations have historically sidestepped, such as optimizing major program investments and untangling high risk technology deployments. While the show often points toward the road less traveled, that road that can make all the difference.
William Ulrich
William Ulrich is President of Tactical Strategy Group, Inc., Cofounder of Business Architecture Associates, President and Cofounder of the Business Architecture Guild and Cutter Consortium Fellow. As a management consultant for more than 40 years, Mr. Ulrich continues to serve as advisor, mentor and workshop leader to corporations and governments worldwide. He is a thought leader in strategy execution, business transformation, business architecture and transformation oversight. Mr. Ulrich has the unique ability to engage executives and practitioners across business and IT boundaries to facilitate and streamline ecosystem-wide transformation. His transformation workshops and lectures have been widely attended by organizations worldwide. Mr. Ulrich blends his IT transformation expertise with his extensive business architecture and business transformation experience to deliver end-to-end solutions that are fully aligned to business strategy. He has authored or coauthored multiple books and transformation methodologies and was an originating contributor to “A Guide to the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge.” Prior to founding Tactical Strategy Group in 1990, Mr. Ulrich served as management consultant, spending the bulk of the 1980s with KPMG where he helped mature its software reengineering practice. His latest writings focus on the cognitive enterprise, transitioning to the circular economy and business-driven IT architecture transformation.
