If I asked you how many of today's Fortune 500 companies have maintained the status quo over the past 60 years, you're probably going to get the number wrong.
Or, at least I did.
When we think of the Titans of Industry - your IBM's, your G.E.'s, your AT&T's - it's easy to see why we'd assume that Fortune 500 companies have been around forever OR have consistent staying power.
But once you start to look past the old-guard, you quickly realize that a lot of the companies that once shared a spot on that coveted list are gone.
A.O.L. anyone?
But even with all of that in mind, the number was still shocking: 89%.
And while a lot of factors can be pointed to, my guest today points to one factor that unites them all - a failure to reinvent.
Nadya Zhexembayeva is an entrepreneur and has founded multiple companies, most notably the Reinvention Academy and the WE EXIST Reinvention Agency whose clients have included Coca-Cola, IBM, and Cisco Systems.
She has taught courses on business and management at multiple institutions including IEDC-Bled School of Management in Slovenia, Case Western Reserve in the United States, and IPADE Business School in Mexico.
Nadya has given multiple TEDTalks (1) (2) (3) and is the author of multiple best-selling books, with several focusing on the environmental impacts of business including, “Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering Up Innovation For A Resource-Deprived World” and “Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage.”
We discuss why so many companies don’t survive disruption, how the more you know about what you do the easier it is to let things go, and why admitting you don't have the answer can actually generate more solutions.
It's a fantastic conversation, and if you're a statistics nerd then this is the episode for you.
Enjoy the show!