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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lees, Richard (Chief strategy officer), author. | Raj, Azlan (Chief marketing officer), author.
Title: Shift : Transform motion into progress in business / Richard Lees and Azlan Raj.
Description: West Sussex, United Kingdom : Wiley, 2022. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021042852 (print) | LCCN 2021042853 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119810148 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119810506 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119810490 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Customer relations. | Consumer behavior. | Consumer satisfaction. | Success in business.
Classification: LCC HF5415.5 .L438 2022 (print) | LCC HF5415.5 (ebook) | DDC 658.8/12—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021042852
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021042853
Cover Design: Wiley
FOREWORD
At dentsu, we are striving to be champions for meaningful progress. This is one of the core principles that underscores our vision, but what does it truly mean? For us, meaningful refers to activities that add value to people's lives, while progress is the positive manifestation of motion with the focus placed firmly on our desired outcomes.
Meaningful progress is a force for growth and good. It is a force that can unlock unique possibilities to drive sustainable value and lead to lasting change. It is the gateway to the future for brands in all industries.
I first met Rich and Az after joining dentsu in 2020, and when they shared the concept of this book, I could immediately see how our ambition of championing meaningful progress was woven throughout its chapters. More than this, it maps out the connections that businesses of all sizes must consider if they, too, are to achieve meaningful progress.
In the highly competitive and fast-changing world that we find ourselves in, keeping up is hard enough and staying ahead can be a constant challenge. The currency of business nowadays is speed. Doing “something” is simply not good enough. There are numerous fronts that must be navigated simultaneously, and prioritising the important over the nice-to-have can be hard to do.
This struggle is one that Rich and Az understand well. The ideas they share in this book are simple to draw out. They are easy to explain, and certainly important to connect. However, they are difficult to do, which is why so many businesses get stuck in a trap of constant motion, whereby a lot of tasks are done that keep everyone very busy and deplete budgets, but you lose sight of meaningful progress.
When this happens, it becomes increasingly difficult to translate this movement into clear and measurable business or customer value. This is when the focus often shifts to processes and projects, moving away from customer needs and the value that is derived from meeting them.
Az and Rich use a simple Formula 1 analogy to link the three core themes that a business must connect to create one seamless ecosystem for success. Drawing on their collective 50 years in the realm of customer experience, they use clear examples of the challenges that businesses face in order to highlight not only the importance of each core theme, but more importantly, the need to weave them across every element of the business landscape to deliver true value.
The first of these core themes is a clear vision that sets the direction and common purpose for your organisation, and the need for clear measures to ensure you remain on track. The second is the team and the need for alignment of purpose across an entire organisation. They also delve into radical collaboration, another of our passions at dentsu, as well as the need for autonomy. The final theme relates to reading the market and understanding the external factors that affect every business's ability to compete effectively.
The threads that connect these themes and their many integrated topics are the simple concepts of starting with the end in mind, recognising that motion does not necessarily equate to progress, and actively seeking out and measuring that progress.
If you can't turn motion into progress, what you are left with is a lot of very expensive movement. If you proxy motion for progress, as many businesses do, you will become stuck. As you read, you may realise that your business falls into this category. If that's the case, you'll find tools in these chapters to help you turn motion into meaningful progress. I urge you to use them.
Since starting my role with dentsu, I have spoken to hundreds of clients and all of them mention the same challenges; chief among them are transformation and finding a way to measure the efficiency of their activities. In my career I have been both client and agency side; I have worked with some of the world's biggest brands and I have witnessed how these challenges manifest themselves in different organisational environments. I also understand the crucial role that strong leadership plays in navigating these challenges.
I believe a leader's role is to provide a careful balance between hope and reality. Great leaders paint a vivid picture of what they want to do and where they want to go. They align people and resources around their vision of the future, but they do so without neglecting the reality of where they are now. They are transparent, honest, and realistic about what the journey from their current reality to their visionary future entails. This is the foundation for achieving meaningful progress, and it is these ideas that you will find woven throughout this book in an interesting and thought-provoking way.
The compelling anecdotes and connected themes that are covered in this book are as applicable for marketing leaders as for CEOs. Dive in, learn what you can from the years of experience Rich and Az bring to this space, and have the courage to invent the future that you're taking your company into. In doing so, you too will become champions for meaningful progress.
Wendy Clark
CEO, dentsu international, and former President,
