Alex Holt - Outpacer: The Blueprint for Breakthrough Success in the Digital Era

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This edition first published by Ebury Edge in 2022

Text Alex Holt 2022

The views and ideas of the author as expressed in this book are entirely his own.
The book is not endorsed by or associated with KPMG LLP or any of its affiliates.

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Author photography by Steven Branstetter
Cover design by Steve Leard

ISBN: 978-1-473-59384-8

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For Natalie, Leo and Bailey

They are the disrupters.

The ones shattering the models and myths we live by.

The ones who wake up every day and change how we live, work, play and communicate.

They dont dust off old tools for new problems.

They build new tools to solve them.

They dont float in the mainstream.

They navigate the waves of unremitting change.

Not just imagining, but out-imagining.

Not just performing, but out-performing.

Not just keeping pace, but outpacing.

Welcome to the era of the Outpacer.

We all know who they are the organizations with ambitious visions and disruptive models that seem to glide effortlessly through the new digital economy, achieving astonishing earnings, customer growth rates and market share gains time and time again.

More often than not, they shape the markets they choose to operate in and dictate the pace of change. They are engaging and iconic, with customers who act more like fans than consumers.

Over the past decade we have seen a small number of companies changing every aspect of how we live, work and play. They have created incredible businesses that have redefined what a successful organization looks and feels like. For example, lets reflect on the performance of what Jim Cramer called the Faangs (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google), which have added $8 trillion in share values since 2013. Year in, year out, quarter after quarter, they deliver incredible growth and value for investors.

On the whole, leaders of any Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) business are typically very bright individuals who are high achievers. The challenge for leaders in TMT businesses that are not delivering performances like that of the Faangs is the incredibly high benchmark that is already in everyones mind. It begs the question, from a variety of sources, including themselves: If they can do it, why cant you?

Im lucky to have an amazing job. I meet, work with and get to know the leaders of the worlds top TMT companies. At its core, my job requires me to understand the challenges these leaders face today and tomorrow and, importantly, the opportunities that are available to them to enhance the overall performance of the organization they lead.

Sometimes its an unwelcome intervention to force change, but at its best, it means working with a team to take on a new challenge, often where there is a meeting of minds on purpose, values, goals and execution, plus a lively debate on how to get there. Over more than twenty years Ive had the privilege of an inside view of how the TMT industry has evolved and what it takes to outpace all in sight.

A few years back I had a meeting with a CEO of a multi-billion dollar TMT company. Wed spent time discussing a number of options for a new strategy. All went well, but at the end, the CEO turned to me and said, How do they do it?

Who? I asked.

Them.

This CEO didnt even have a name for them, but meant the pacesetters in digital.

Quarter after quarter they make it look easy.

But it wasnt just this CEO who was searching for an answer to that question. I reflected on other conversations and the fervor Id observed when an insight was shared by one of them on how they ran their business. As soon as I walked out of the room, I knew I needed to find the answer. Thats why over the last few years Ive combined research and personal experiences to identify the secrets to the Outpacers success.

Running a business is the ultimate non-athletic competitive endeavor. You and all your stakeholders are constantly comparing every aspect of performance to the leading marker. Looking at the S&P 500 or FTSE 100 over the past thirty years, there have always been those businesses out in front and leading the way. But for those following, the gap has never been so seemingly insurmountable as it appears today.

As we approached the end of the second digital decade, that gap was growing, and then as we went into the 2020s, the impact of Covid-19 turned that gap from a lead to a chasm. So much so, in fact, that the alleged dominance of these tech goliaths has caught the attention of the global competition authorities.

So does this signal a white flag from the competition? Is it game over? Time for the rest to throw in the towel? Well, not from where Im standing. We are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution. Change is everywhere and many have now accepted the view of author Marshall Goldsmith that what got you here wont get you there. If youre not currently at the front of the race, its not the time to roll over. Its time to find out how to grab a piece of this new digital action.

Over the course of this book Im going to share three key components to help your organization become an Outpacer or continue to perform as one. Ill take you through the nine characteristics that underpin the success of an Outpacer. If you were a sports coach, youd describe it as your system. But just like in sports, it takes far more than a system to create championship-winning teams. Ill spotlight the individuals that exemplify the Outpacer characteristics in the incredible businesses they lead. By understanding the system, the organizations and the archetypal businesspeople, youll discover the inner workings of the Outpacers.

But I didnt want to stop there. One thing Ill share with you right now is that Outpacers have a fair amount of healthy paranoia. Typically, they disrupted something to create their business and they are always looking over their shoulder to make sure theyre not being complacent about their own trajectory. They also tend to be intellectually curious, open to (polite) criticism and different points of view that help them to find that extra edge. So Ive gone further than the business leaders that lead in digital, to look at how non-corporate popular icons have achieved greatness and what we can all learn from them.

Im a big believer in looking outside of your environment to learn new ways of doing things. If youre running a business, all of the following are important as you lead in the digital era: followship, influencing millions, being respected, having an impact, creating a desire to engage with you, changing behavior and inspiring action. Not many CEOs know they do this day in and day out. But if youre one of a handful of popular icons, this is what you do, and todays business leaders have a lot to learn from how these Outpacers have created a formula for impeccable leadership in our digital lives.