The blackbox thinking in the digital capital era

Why most brands aren’t ready to welcome what is called lack of “appetite” for blackbox thinking? Being creative and innovative matters less than we want. In order to capitalise on blackbox thinking, some brands must translate their shared vision into viable business practices.

Do all big brands have enough talent? Imagine what Amazon is doing as of now! You might get an impression that such a super brand is about to scale down so as to avoid a break-up. However, it is now moving aggressively into almost every industry.

Will it be broken-up? It seems to be escaping not only the break-up trap but also transforming itself into new creative financial assets. Amazon is breaking free from old ways of thinking switching into blackbox thinking.

Amazon has a new proposition to its smart employees that says “quite your job now and we will offer you $10,000 to start a business in delivering packages.”

The brand is trying to speed up its shipping time from two days to one for its prime customers. What next? Amazon is always in Day one; implying a startup company; full of energy and ready to leapfrog rather than Day 2 which is stasis, followed by irrelevance. Followed by painful decline; ultimately followed by death. It’s all about the long-term innovative strategic plans.

Clearly, Jeff Bezos shared vision for his brand has always been front and center, and he is always inspiring his employees to see the big picture. He has managed to keep Amazon to remain a “day one” company, always jostling, always hustling and always focused. When brands innovate products or services, they end up transforming not only the markets but also poaching clients from wherever they are found.

If an employee at Amazon is able to get his job done by mastering the routines that have been documented; provided the procedures can be well executed, then there could be a reason to do things differently.

No wonder Amazon said that, it will cover up to $10,000 in start-up costs for employees who are ready to focus their efforts on perfecting their business skills; hence quite their jobs. That’s like helping people out of their comfort zone.

Amazon has already discovered that such employees’ start-up will be their greatest contribution in case the brand just like other big tech companies (Facebook, Google, etc.) might end up being broken-up due to having too much control over consumers’ lives. However, this could be Amazon’s survival strategy before the split to maintain an indirect steady and reliable brand to leapfrog itself after the break-up in case it happens.

Lack of creativity and innovation doesn’t have to keep businesses from designing better long term strategies. In this digital capital era, the most successful visionary leaders are required to navigate through new situations using blackbox thinking.

One of my favourite columnists, Mathew Syed issued a stirring call on how brands should redefine themselves as well as redefining the word failure.

He explains that failure shouldn’t be stigmatizing anymore. Instead, he demonstrated that failure can be exciting and enlightening; an essential ingredient in a recipe for any brand with a risk appetite. Blackbox thinking has already changed the aviation industry giving it a steady hand for continued sustainable growth.

The annual letter to shareholders by Jeff Bezos is a must read to understand how Amazon disrupts different industries. His employees are challenged to get smarter; they understand that effort makes them stronger.

Therefore, they know much better how to put in extra time and effort which makes all the difference.