The industrial revolution launched us into an age of bureaucracy. Fast forward to recent years, where we’ve shifted into an age of information, which has changed the way we work into a meritocracy. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen the world’s top companies leveraging the power of information to boost their competitive edge in global markets, and the majority of new businesses have followed suit.
As it stands, data is on the tongue of every company, big or small—and the Middle East is no different. However, according to Julian Birkinshaw, professor and chair of strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School, things are on the cusp of taking a different turn. “Big data has become ubiquitous, and so it can no longer guarantee businesses a leg up,” he says.
So, is the information age coming to an end already? And what’s next? In his book Fast/Forward, co-authored 
Excerpts from Fast/Forward, provide insights on gaining an evolutionary advantage in an ever-changing environment.
Analysis paralysis
“Information overload at the individual level leads to distractedness, confusion, and poor decision-making. At a corporate level, we end up with analysis paralysis, endless debate, and a bias toward rational, scientific evidence at the expense of intuition or gut feel. These pathologies have a deleterious effect on our companies. They lessen the quality and speed of decision-making, delay action, and engender a sterile operating environment in which insightful thinking is quashed unless quantifiable. As a result, many companies end up standing still, even as the world around them is speeding up.”
Fast/forward strategy
“How do you define and implement your strategy? It is the oldest question out there, and many academics, consultants, and former captains of industry have offered their views… So in a world shaped by the paradoxes of progress you need something else, and of course there have been many attempts over the years to frame strategy making in a less linear way—for example with a bottom-up process alongside the top-down one, or as a loop or a set of simple rules, as an emergent process, or even as a garbage can. While these are all valid points of view, we draw inspiration here from an unusual setting, namely how the world of software development has been transformed over the last fifteen years.”
Linking strategy to purpose
Monty Python’s movie The Meaning of Life was released in March 1983. The original tagline read, “It took God six days to create the Heavens and the Earth, and Monty Python just 90 minutes to screw it up.” The movie sought to provide irreverent and humorous answers to the ancient questions of why we are here, what life is all about, and what the purpose of existence is. These are difficult questions to be sure, but they are worth grappling with because in answering them we gain a sense of direction which helps us to make difficult choices and trade-offs. These questions are equally important in the world of business.”