“Uneasy is the head that wears the crown.”
Shakespeare most likely did not appreciate the timeless relevance when he wrote that line for his play Henry IV, Part 2.
When applied to business, the clairvoyance cannot be overstated.
Successful companies achieved their standing by being competitive in their respective markets. A recognized measure of business success is having the company become a part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In 2021, there are no original companies left on the index, and many of these original companies haven’t been part of it for many years now.
There are several reasons for that. Some unfortunately failed to adopt disruptive technologies that would have maintained, and perhaps strengthened, their leadership position. One of the lessons to be learned here is that companies can get left behind if they fail to innovate, leaving themselves vulnerable to more agile competitors who keep a pulse on disruptive technologies. This is an everyday reality in the tech industry. Companies must innovate or succumb to the competition.
The defense industry is now facing a disruptive technology moment and looking directly at Silicon Valley for inspiration. Within the Defense Department, the digital revolution is in full swing, with multiple new programs signifying a push for widespread adoption of commercial processes by defense contractors. The department is signaling that it is ready to push the envelope with commercial best practices and will no longer tolerate the “never enough time and money to do it right, but enough time and money to do it over” acquisition process.
Keep reading this article at: https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2021/2/24/the-price-of-success-vs-the-cost-of-failure
“As the world sees a return to great power competition, DoD must strengthen its engagement with the defense industrial base in order to respond to the national security challenges facing the United States in a more responsive and cost efficient manner,” a Dec. 15 memo signed by Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord states.
Two years after the Pentagon set out to spend billions on 10 breakthrough research and engineering efforts, defense contractors instead are putting most of their money in less ambitious research projects.
When the economy does begin to recover from our nationwide lockdown, one certainty is that it will not be as simple as “turning the lights back on.”
