"Management is not a science, like physics, with immutable laws and testable theories.  Instead, management, at its best, is an intelligent response to outside forces, often disruptive ones."  So says Steve Lohr in " How Crisis shapes the Corporate Model" in The New York Times Saturday.

For years, many people thought of management as being all about execution.  How to build plants, make things, sell those things and finance the operations of building and making stuff.  In fact, whole books were written on execution, with the basis that strategy was pretty much unimportant.  If you could execute well, what's the need for strategy?

But the last year has shown everyone that the world is a dynamic place.  GM missed many changes, and now is barely alive.  Despite a focus on execution, the CEO Rick Wagoner has been forced to step down by the administration if GM is to get more bailout money (see "GM's Wagoner Will Step Down" WSJ.com March 29)  When you get behind, a "re-invention gap" emerges where the competition keeps going with the market further and further into the future, while you are left behind struggling to sell, grow and make money as you focus on execution.  The longer you keep focusing on execution, the bigger the gap gets.  Depending on size and competition, eventually you end up completely out of step with the market and unable to compete.  Like GM.

The pressure to change with market needs is high everywhere, from banks to manufacturers to newspapers.  From General Electric to Sara Lee to Sun Microsystems to The Tribune Corporation, companies that can't adapt to changes have seen their valuation hammered.  And the companies we like today are those demonstrating they can adapt to market needs – like Google, Apple, RIM and Virgin.  These companies are today investing in launching new products, investing in growth, rather than just trying to cut cost and execute on old business practices while waiting for the return of "better times." 

Globalization is now hitting everyone.  No industry, and no player in any industry, can ignore the impact of global competition in the way they compete.  Today, we can wire together businesses from various service providers, with precious little investment, and reach customers quite profitably while maintaining enormous flexibility.  Just ask Nike if you want to know how to "do it."

Focus, hard work, diligence – these have been the mantra for many business leaders.  It makes us feel good to think that if we work hard, if we keep our eye on execution, we can succeed.  But as readers of this blog have known for 4 years, those admirable qualities do not correlate to success (as academics and journalists have been pointing out when arguing with Jim Collins and his spurrious mathematical exercises).  To be successful requires adaptability.  You have to constantly scan the horizon for market shifts and emerging competitors that are ready to disrupt markets.  And be ready to change everything you do, not just part of it, if you want to compete in the markets as they shift.

The companies, and executives, that will fail as a result of these tumultuous times has not been determined.  You can keep from being one of the downtrodden if your focus remains on identifying future market needs and adapting to new competitors through White Space where you can develop new solutions.  It's very possible to succeed going forward, if you're adaptive.  Or you can end up like Mr. Wagoner and the management team at GM.

PS – The New York Times Company had better start reading its own material and undergo same radical adaptation of its own, or it may not survive to be a media player very soon.  To steal from an old saying, it's about time that cobbler started checking his own family's shoes.