Leading in Times of Crisis: Navigating Through Complexity, Diversity, and Uncertainty to Save Your Business

CHAPTER 3

Destroy and Rebuild Your Business Model

NOT TOO LONG AGO, THE IDEA OF DESTROYING AND REBUILDING your business model would have been considered a radical oncein-a-lifetime event that only a few leaders had to deal with. Today, more than half of leaders surveyed believe their current business model is flawed, often fatally. Anyone observing leaders of the auto or banking industries asking the U.S. Congress for financial assistance can grasp that old ways of doing business are not easy to change. In a recent study of six hundred U.S. corporations conducted by the Corporate Executive Board, it was predicted that 87 percent would hit what they call a “stall point”—a multiyear, significant downturn in revenue growth. Whether these businesses ...