Preparing for a post-COVID-19 world
Positive Minds | Positive Stories | Edition 003
Charlie Firth | Unsplash, Photos for everyone
How INGOs can learn from the corporate world to transform themselves?
There are many uncertainties about COVID-19 pandemic. We still don’t know with certitude when and how it has started. We don’t know when and how it will end. We don’t know how many people will be infected or affected or die of it. But we know one thing: the post-COVID-19 world will be a different world.
Everything everywhere will be different for everyone every time: how we work and travel; how we buy and sell; how we study and teach; how we plan and execute; how we connect and interact. Everyone; governments, companies and individuals; needs to adapt and adjust profoundly.
For large INGOs, the equation is simple: transform, “die well” or “die badly” (read Barney's report on the existential funding challenge for northern INGOs.)
Fortunately, INGOs don’t have to reinvent the wheel. They can and should learn from the corporate world adaptability and agility. Let me use Tesla to illustrate.
The bright side and the dark side of Tesla
Tesla was founded in 2003 by “a group of engineers who wanted to prove that people didn’t need to compromise to drive electric – that electric vehicles can be better, quicker and more fun to drive than gasoline cars”. I believe that INGOs can learn from the bright and the dark side of Tesla as they transform themselves to be fit-for-purpose in the future like Tesla.
In fact, on 1 July 2020, “Tesla became the world’s most valuable carmaker, overtaking Toyota, which built 27 times as many vehicles last year. The electric-only manufacturer’s market capitalisation hit $208bn. Nevertheless, some shareholders have been calling for the removal of Elon Musk, Tesla’s boss, because they think his pay is too high (potentially $56bn over ten years) and that he cannot be trusted with social media.” (2 July 2020 edition of Espresso, the morning briefing from the editors of The Economist)
Two things are relevant to INGOs in Tesla’s story. First, the bright side they can learn from: your size doesn't matter; neither does your age. Second, the dark side they must fight by all means: the global economic system is rigged.
Your size doesn't matter; neither does your age.
If the number of vehicles built (i.e. your size) was a Key Performance Indicator (KPI); Toyota would be 27 times bigger than Tesla. If your age was also a KPI; Toyota, born in 1933 and now 87, would be the great-grandfather of Tesla, born in 2003 and still a teenage of 17.
Yet, Tesla has overtaken Toyota to become the world’s most valuable carmaker with a market capitalisation of $208bn. Tesla is a living example of the 17th-century French tragedian and poet, Pierre Corneille's wisdom: “in souls nobly born, valour does not depend upon age.”
In today world, as demonstrated by Tesla's story, the size of a company and how old is that company are no longer unique selling points or USP. On the contrary, when you put upfront your size and your age, they become the most significant barriers to agility, adaptability and innovation. Over time, they become a liability instead of an asset.
If both size and age are irrelevant in today’s world; so, what matters then? What matters is focus, innovation and efficiency. Tesla combines all three exceptionally well.
FOCUS: Tesla builds only four models of cars: Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y. Toyota offers 43 petrol variants, 35 diesel variants, and 4 hybrid variants.
INNOVATION: Tesla is the pioneer and the market leader in the electric cars industry. Whether we like Elon Musk (the co-founder and CEO of Tesla) or not, he is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time who was ranked the #1 Most Innovative Leader in 2019. Not surprisingly, on 30 May 2020, Musk’s other company, SpaceX, achieved a key milestone by successfully testing a flight with two NASA astronauts hence returning human spaceflight to the United States with one of the safest, most advanced systems ever built.
EFFICIENCY: Tesla makes electric cars that are as cheap as the middle-range petrol cars and far cheaper in servicing and maintenance costs. Tesla’s efficiency is not an accident; it is the combined result of focus and innovation. To be efficient, you need to invest in fewer core product or services (focus) and execute them well and uniquely (innovation). If I could use a mantra to define Tesla, I would say “Master of few trades, jack of none”. Sadly, the mantra of many organisations, both in the corporate world and in the development sector, is “Jack of all trades, master of none.”
What do all these mean to INGOs? They mean the same three things: focus, innovation and efficiency. Development and humanitarian organisations need to master all three to remain relevant, legitimate and credible voices and partners. But to me, the glue binding all three together is ACCOUNTABILITY. As director at Oxfam International puts it well: “No one wonders at Tesla or Amazon what they are there to do- and that is to find the smartest, quickest, and most valuable route to create value for shareholders”.
The global economic system is rigged.
Tesla's boss, Elon Musk, will potentially earn $56bn over ten years or an annual average of $5.6bn. Simply put, Elon Musk's annual revenue is the combined annual revenues of three of the largest and oldest INGOs in the world: Word Vision, Save the Children and Oxfam International.
Yet, Musk is #31 in the Forbes Billionaires 2020 ranking and was worth $46.3bn as of 1 July 2020. There are 30 other men-and I say men; not women-out there who are richer than Musk: Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Bernard Arnault, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer, Warren Buffett … you name them.
A system that makes it possible for a single man to hold $46.3bn in his hands-no matter how entrepreneurial and smart he is-is rigged, unjust, unfair, immoral and cruel. The world faces two hard choices: dismantle the system it has created or be dismantled by its creation. To me, the answer is crystal clear: the world should not have allowed the creation of the system in the first place.
To conclude, I share with you this brilliant reflection from a senior colleague of mine: “I believe that totally original ideas are very rare. Often the best ideas come from picking the good and bad from elsewhere and reconfiguring it in an original way that is suited to needs. This is something [INGOs] should do”.
It’s now your turn: what do you think INGOs can do to be relevant, legitimate and credible voices and partners in a post-COVID-19 world?
Stay safe and healthy.
