Disruptive businesses
Disruptive businesses
Starting a business is easy, the difficult part is maintaining it.
Starting a business is easy, the difficult part is maintaining it.
1 de abril de 2021
By the editorial team. (Original publication in Spanish)
When I talk about entrepreneurship, I use the word in its broadest sense: as everything you wish to embark on that will imply a change, regardless of how small or large it may be. Embarking on a change as a person or as an organization. Embarking on a business or embarking on a transformation of the organization. This is how we define it in the book I wrote alongside Francisco Berreta and that we launched last month: Embrace your life.
Embrace your life is a toolkit, a real and close guide, created to support people in their processes of change. Personally, I consider myself a constant entrepreneur, and four years ago I made the decision to embark on two major changes in my life: 1) embarking on the path towards a way of life more aligned with my values and 2) embarking on a business project.
I have created my own brand of sustainable fashion, I have advised entrepreneurs and small businesses in their ventures, and, above all, I have embarked on (and continue to do so) my own life path. Among them, I changed countries and embarked on the great adventure of emigrating. The book is a reflection of everything I have traversed, experienced, and learned. And, above all, a reflection towards the beginning of it all: entrepreneurship is easy; what is difficult is sustaining it. The key is to understand the changes.
What motivates us to change?
Most of the time we act out of reaction, we are “motivated” by necessity. Something changes in our environment that forces us to change. On a personal level, it could be, for instance, a job offer (or separation) from a position, a change of city or country, or the beginning or end of a relationship. Conversely, on a business level, some common situations are the emergence of a new competitor, new technology, a change in consumer behavior, or a change in the rules of the game.
All these changes imply a slower response space. On a sequential level, we can consider the following process:
Shock or surprise effect in response to change. This event breaks with what we had mentally or organizationally planned.
Acceptance of what occurs.
Observation of the environment to fully understand the situation and what is being done.
Detection of possible alternatives, solutions, and ways out.
Reflection and choice of an alternative.
Putting into action.
Book ‘Embrace your life’ (Daniela Salvitti)
Sustainable change is one that has the correct foundations
However, there exists another type of motivation driven by the desire to connect with a deeper sense. Changes that arise from within the person or organization and that respond to the “why?”: why do I do what I do? What impact do I want to create?
90% of the time, this reflection is accompanied by an altruistic desire to contribute a grain of sand to the world in which we live, to the society to which we belong. That’s why the reflection involves a different process of introspection and observation to seek that element that makes you unique - as a person or as an organization - and that adds value to the system of which you are a part.
Personally, it involves sincere personal development work so that you can connect with your true desires, removing social labels, eliminating “I shoulds,” and changing “I have to” for “I want to.” This is a journey to discover your authentic self and recognize who you would like to be.
How does the personal process get triggered?
In Embrace your life, we explain the concept of “comfortable discomfort”:
"It is a feeling of comfortable discomfort because you know it is time to change it, transform it, recreate it, but doing so requires awareness, decisions, and courage to take action.
Initiating changes may disturb you and generate uncertainty. Because when a piece of the board moves, the whole game changes, not just the situation of that piece in question, but also its entire environment.
It is the power of change: when you change, everything around you changes. This same power that can transform your life sometimes generates fear, and in response to fear, you may choose to take no action and remain in your comfort zone. You already feel the discomfort, but you stay in a comfortable discomfort. We bless the discomfort because that’s where the alarm clock is, the direction of the next step."
It is a trigger that, accompanied by personal work, will catapult you toward the most genuine version of yourself, where your desire and your value unite to create the impact you wish to see in the world. It is your personal compass. It is your creation of your future.
What impact does it have on organizations?
In the article I previously wrote for this blog, Is cultural transformation, personal transformation?, I explained that:
"The moment the future an organization wants to create coincides with the world a person wants to be part of, the match is the perfect cohesion where commitment, motivation, and attitude enhance all the talent of the people and, therefore, of the organization."
The most solid organizations, and thus, the most resilient, are those in which the majority of the people who make them up share their vision and values.
But, do organizations really know what future they want to create? There is much talk about vision, mission, and values: is your organization’s vision a vision that also improves the lives of others? Or does it merely create a space of limited benefit?
As individuals, we know that to achieve radical and profound changes in our lives, we need help: we seek support from colleagues, friends, family, recognized mentors, therapists, etc. We are aware that alone, we cannot go very far or very deep.
Are we aware of this as organizations?
Real change in the system cannot be produced by a single organization or a single industry. Change occurs in collaboration with other organizations. We are in a global moment where problems require joint efforts. The major planetary issues are not addressed through individual agendas but are shared by all inhabitants of the planet: energy transition, climate change, environmental pollution, digital transformation, are some of the most pressing examples.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted that, to overcome it, we must overcome it together. It is not enough for one country to not have the virus circulating because, if one person moves and transmits it, the rest of humanity is at risk.
In the same way, to truly generate sustainable changes, organizations need to rethink how they are designed and how they operate. Can a single organization be responsible for the energy transition? It is clear that no. To go further and better, alliances are necessary. Alliances that do not add but multiply.
However, can we think of organizations that collaborate with each other in a capitalist system? What would happen if, instead of focusing on the individual benefits of one organization, we thought beyond and focused on the “why?” of the organization?
When there is a shared vision, a joint future to build, collaboration occurs naturally. When there is a clear shared purpose, the work is also shared. Because motivation and change arise from that vision. First, that shared #futuroquemola is identified, and then we think about how to create business models that contribute to building that future. What changes is the focus. And when the focus changes, the strategy also changes.
We have experienced similar experiences in different contexts through the System Innovation Lab of Pentagrowth, where people, entrepreneurs, organizations, and public and private institutions came together to work collectively on a common challenge: (in)mobility in Catalonia (ACCIÓ), Circular Economy in Catalonia (ACCIÓ), Open Innovation Day in Uruguay (Quanam and Antel), the Logistics Ecosystem in El Salvador (COEXPORT and BID + BID Lab), the Innovation Ecosystem in El Salvador (Sandbox and BID Lab), and the pharmaceutical industry in LATAM.
These experiences have created different solutions due to the understanding and living experience of what it means to build and share a future and work together as a team to achieve real and sustainable change in the system.
The greatest revelations that emerged from these shared experiences were:
The abundance of resources available in the system
The potential for integration and collaboration among people
The creation of new links with organizations not naturally thought of.
The solutions proposed to the challenges did not just add up; they multiplied.
What will you do? Will you join alone or will you join the system?
By the editorial team. (Original publication in Spanish)
When I talk about entrepreneurship, I use the word in its broadest sense: as everything you wish to embark on that will imply a change, regardless of how small or large it may be. Embarking on a change as a person or as an organization. Embarking on a business or embarking on a transformation of the organization. This is how we define it in the book I wrote alongside Francisco Berreta and that we launched last month: Embrace your life.
Embrace your life is a toolkit, a real and close guide, created to support people in their processes of change. Personally, I consider myself a constant entrepreneur, and four years ago I made the decision to embark on two major changes in my life: 1) embarking on the path towards a way of life more aligned with my values and 2) embarking on a business project.
I have created my own brand of sustainable fashion, I have advised entrepreneurs and small businesses in their ventures, and, above all, I have embarked on (and continue to do so) my own life path. Among them, I changed countries and embarked on the great adventure of emigrating. The book is a reflection of everything I have traversed, experienced, and learned. And, above all, a reflection towards the beginning of it all: entrepreneurship is easy; what is difficult is sustaining it. The key is to understand the changes.
What motivates us to change?
Most of the time we act out of reaction, we are “motivated” by necessity. Something changes in our environment that forces us to change. On a personal level, it could be, for instance, a job offer (or separation) from a position, a change of city or country, or the beginning or end of a relationship. Conversely, on a business level, some common situations are the emergence of a new competitor, new technology, a change in consumer behavior, or a change in the rules of the game.
All these changes imply a slower response space. On a sequential level, we can consider the following process:
Shock or surprise effect in response to change. This event breaks with what we had mentally or organizationally planned.
Acceptance of what occurs.
Observation of the environment to fully understand the situation and what is being done.
Detection of possible alternatives, solutions, and ways out.
Reflection and choice of an alternative.
Putting into action.
Book ‘Embrace your life’ (Daniela Salvitti)
Sustainable change is one that has the correct foundations
However, there exists another type of motivation driven by the desire to connect with a deeper sense. Changes that arise from within the person or organization and that respond to the “why?”: why do I do what I do? What impact do I want to create?
90% of the time, this reflection is accompanied by an altruistic desire to contribute a grain of sand to the world in which we live, to the society to which we belong. That’s why the reflection involves a different process of introspection and observation to seek that element that makes you unique - as a person or as an organization - and that adds value to the system of which you are a part.
Personally, it involves sincere personal development work so that you can connect with your true desires, removing social labels, eliminating “I shoulds,” and changing “I have to” for “I want to.” This is a journey to discover your authentic self and recognize who you would like to be.
How does the personal process get triggered?
In Embrace your life, we explain the concept of “comfortable discomfort”:
"It is a feeling of comfortable discomfort because you know it is time to change it, transform it, recreate it, but doing so requires awareness, decisions, and courage to take action.
Initiating changes may disturb you and generate uncertainty. Because when a piece of the board moves, the whole game changes, not just the situation of that piece in question, but also its entire environment.
It is the power of change: when you change, everything around you changes. This same power that can transform your life sometimes generates fear, and in response to fear, you may choose to take no action and remain in your comfort zone. You already feel the discomfort, but you stay in a comfortable discomfort. We bless the discomfort because that’s where the alarm clock is, the direction of the next step."
It is a trigger that, accompanied by personal work, will catapult you toward the most genuine version of yourself, where your desire and your value unite to create the impact you wish to see in the world. It is your personal compass. It is your creation of your future.
What impact does it have on organizations?
In the article I previously wrote for this blog, Is cultural transformation, personal transformation?, I explained that:
"The moment the future an organization wants to create coincides with the world a person wants to be part of, the match is the perfect cohesion where commitment, motivation, and attitude enhance all the talent of the people and, therefore, of the organization."
The most solid organizations, and thus, the most resilient, are those in which the majority of the people who make them up share their vision and values.
But, do organizations really know what future they want to create? There is much talk about vision, mission, and values: is your organization’s vision a vision that also improves the lives of others? Or does it merely create a space of limited benefit?
As individuals, we know that to achieve radical and profound changes in our lives, we need help: we seek support from colleagues, friends, family, recognized mentors, therapists, etc. We are aware that alone, we cannot go very far or very deep.
Are we aware of this as organizations?
Real change in the system cannot be produced by a single organization or a single industry. Change occurs in collaboration with other organizations. We are in a global moment where problems require joint efforts. The major planetary issues are not addressed through individual agendas but are shared by all inhabitants of the planet: energy transition, climate change, environmental pollution, digital transformation, are some of the most pressing examples.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted that, to overcome it, we must overcome it together. It is not enough for one country to not have the virus circulating because, if one person moves and transmits it, the rest of humanity is at risk.
In the same way, to truly generate sustainable changes, organizations need to rethink how they are designed and how they operate. Can a single organization be responsible for the energy transition? It is clear that no. To go further and better, alliances are necessary. Alliances that do not add but multiply.
However, can we think of organizations that collaborate with each other in a capitalist system? What would happen if, instead of focusing on the individual benefits of one organization, we thought beyond and focused on the “why?” of the organization?
When there is a shared vision, a joint future to build, collaboration occurs naturally. When there is a clear shared purpose, the work is also shared. Because motivation and change arise from that vision. First, that shared #futuroquemola is identified, and then we think about how to create business models that contribute to building that future. What changes is the focus. And when the focus changes, the strategy also changes.
We have experienced similar experiences in different contexts through the System Innovation Lab of Pentagrowth, where people, entrepreneurs, organizations, and public and private institutions came together to work collectively on a common challenge: (in)mobility in Catalonia (ACCIÓ), Circular Economy in Catalonia (ACCIÓ), Open Innovation Day in Uruguay (Quanam and Antel), the Logistics Ecosystem in El Salvador (COEXPORT and BID + BID Lab), the Innovation Ecosystem in El Salvador (Sandbox and BID Lab), and the pharmaceutical industry in LATAM.
These experiences have created different solutions due to the understanding and living experience of what it means to build and share a future and work together as a team to achieve real and sustainable change in the system.
The greatest revelations that emerged from these shared experiences were:
The abundance of resources available in the system
The potential for integration and collaboration among people
The creation of new links with organizations not naturally thought of.
The solutions proposed to the challenges did not just add up; they multiplied.
What will you do? Will you join alone or will you join the system?
