I recently attended a conference in Vigo, where we had the honour of being addressed by Enrique de la Rica, CEO of Dreamers Zone. In his address, Enrique, confronts the topic of hyper change using the analogy of the “taxi driver’s face”. It is important to note while this might be oversimplification as taxi drivers are individual and not all of them have the same but in general there seems to be a propensity that we can learn from. Enrique contends that, in general the face of the taxi driver has not changed over the years, in fact, taxi drivers have become more exasperated over the years. They have seen part of their market being taken over and they blame everyone from the government, technology, customers, pretty much everyone is at fault.
Growing up in the townships of KwaZulu Natal, I can relate to the general face of the minibus taxi driver. While our minibus taxi are different to the taxis we see around the world, one thing is generally common, the face of the taxi drive. I have not taken a minibus taxi in while but on the occasion that I have come into contact with the taxi drivers, that face of the taxi driver has generally remained the same, despite all the changes of the 21 century. This is waht I could relate to the face of the taxi driver.
Enrique proposed three items that prevent incumbents from being conscious of the potential of hyper change. It is the response that these incumbents provide when asked the following three questions:
- What do we have? We have invested in these assets, and sometimes, still owe debt on these assets. We therefore cannot just forklift all this investment and start afresh.
- What do we know? This is the only business we know and this is how we have always done things around here. The industry is a cycle, it will always come back. Customers always come back to the traditional way of business.
- What do we believe? No body is going to accept this new technology, customers will remain with our way of doing things.
I would like to propose a different face, “the face of an Uber driver”. While Uber drivers have not had it easy, they seem to have distinctly different face to that of a taxi driver. Most Uber drivers I have met have a face of gratitude. The last driver, I met, used to be truck driver. He used to drive roughly 16 hours a day in order to make his monthly targets. He was then retrenched and compelled to drive for Uber to support his family. He is however grateful, grateful that he has an opportunity to earn and still come home to his family after an honest days’ work. He therefore greets every customer with a smile and thanks them for the business.
Dr Strive Masiyiwa, recounts a conversation with one of the Uber drivers in New York. When the Uber driver is asked what he used to do before, he mentioned that he used to drive the yellow cabs in the city and when Uber took over most of the business, he changed to drive for Uber. Strive proceeds to ask the driver if he is aware that Uber is aiming at replacing drivers with autonomous vehicles in the future. What will you do then? The Uber driver says something very important and that is, “I will adapt”. When faced with the hyper change, volitivity and uncertainty, one of the things you can do is change your face. You have a choice; do you choose the taxi drivers face or do you choose to adapt and put on the Uber driver’s face? One this is for sure; we all have a choice.
I believe a positive attitude is a pre-requisite for success and to continually succeed we need to adapt. Business leaders must earnestly consider how they respond to the three questions above.
