Nokia once an incredibly successful company became the poster child for the perils of ignoring change.
If you get a chance check out the 2018 TV documentary ‘The Rise and Fall of Nokia’ where we are told at one time Nokia’s:
“annual budget was larger than the government’s. It was a part of the country, certainly a source of national pride. Until the pride was replaced by shame”.
In the opinion of the author the sheer scale of Nokia’s achievements over time led to hubris and a fallacy of invincibility. The author witnessed hubris first hand in Anglo Irish Bank and can attest to its negative energy. Hubris was the root of many challenges faced by Nokia.
- Groupthink
- Suppression of any staff challenge
- Arrogance
- Complacency about technical capabilities
- Status quo and risk averse biases
- Falling back from early innovative focus
Were all internal challenges.
In the external environment the competitive landscape and indeed the landscape itself was also radically changing.
A Porter Pestle analysis, an Ansoff Matrix or a disciplined Stakeholder Mapping exercise could have revealed so much to management, but the organisational culture was so damaged these tools were never envisaged.
Management was simply blinded by the ‘temporal myopia’ described in the seminal analysis, ‘How Nokia Lost the Smartphone Battle’ from Vuori, T. O. et al.
Key SentinelReward Lesson: Be alive to creeping hubris and recognise the importance of perpetuating a vibrant culture and intent to innovate.