Several years ago, at the suggestion of a client, I published a blog called A Business Acumen Thanksgiving 2014; Thankful or Worried? I received a lot of positive feedback so I thought it would be a great idea to take a look at 3 business acumen factors impacting businesses’ around the world Thanksgiving 2016. As a reminder, I look at the issue, what we should be thankful for and what we should be worried about.
So enjoy a safe and healthy Thanksgiving weekend in the US and don’t let your brain turn into a pile of sweet potatoes! Please feel free to comment or leave a message!
Continued Geopolitical Changes
First Brexit, then Donald Trump, so what’s next? The possibilities are now endless. There will be a new President in France (I am betting on Conservative Alain Juppé over Marine Le Pen), Angela Merkel will be re-elected despite significant opposition, and China will be forced to remove more internet restrictions in addition to easing their drive for “Made in China 2025” program. In the US, here are a few geopolitical business acumen things to be thankful for and worried about:
Thankful
- New investments in infrastructure – The new president came to power with a lot of rhetoric and many promises. One promise that is almost certain to come true and one that will be good for everyone is new investments in infrastructure including roads, bridges, and perhaps even a high-speed train system.
- Bipartisan tax reform – Both presidential candidates ran on platforms of tax reform. There seems to be strong and early consensus that a sweeping bipartisan tax plan can clean up the codes, eliminate redundancies, and offer businesses realistic tax cuts that will stimulate more jobs and investments.
- Robust economy – Assuming there is a bipartisan tax reform agreement, we will see a robust US economy for the next few years. As of today, the stock market hit a record high so there is renewed optimism on Wall Street for a sustained run meaning more innovation, more jobs, and more growth.
Worried
- Healthcare chaos – The new president is going to try to fix some of the issues created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). No matter what your political beliefs, fixing rising costs is imperative and unfortunately, there will be chaos no matter what.
- Oil prices – Oil prices will eventually go up again. When they do, there will be a potential slowdown of the economy.
- Interest rates – They will go up as well and when they do, it could impact housing prices and new housing starts.
Training Remote Employees
As we know, more and more employees work remotely and we may soon see a day where the first Fortune 1000 company goes completely without any office space.
Thankful
- Employees are used to working and learning remotely
- Good and scalable content such as simulation-centric learning is available and affordable
- Technology presents opportunities for remote and collaborative learning
Worries
- Remote employees will multi-task through the training
- Purchases of really bad content has turned off many participants
- Without interactivity and gamification like simulations, it can be boring (especially to younger learners). In addition, buyers need to work through the perception that simulation is expensive.
Connecting with Customers, Not Selling to Them
Consumers are all suffering from marketing fatigue. And they are tired. Tired of being sold to, and tired of the non-stop bombardment of messages from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep. It is making consumers turn it all off and react to none of it.
The future is connecting people to products and services through apps and other tools. Call it the Uber-ization of marketing.
Thankful
- Traditional and digital marketing has peaked and it will be replaced
- The next generation of marketing will be controlled by consumers who will basically tell us their preferences and value drivers which will make it easier for businesses to connect to them
- It will be new and exciting and I think it will be much more personal and people driven
Worried
- It will take a while for the new marketers to figure it out; wasting a lot of money and infuriating potential consumers
- If it doesn’t work, they will return to old methods
- Executives won’t understand it and won’t pay for it
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!