Using Dynamics III

...believing that today's changes are huge, dwarfing those in the past, reflects an ignorance of history. 

An exogenous wave of change is like the wind in a racing boat's sails.  It provides raw, sometimes turbulent, power.  A leader's job is to provide the insight, skill, and inventiveness that can harness that power to a purpose.   You exploit a wave of change by understanding the likely evolution of the landscape and then channeling resources and innovation toward positions that will become high ground--become valuable and defensible-as dynamics play out.

To begin to see a wave of change it helps to have some perspective.  Business buzz speak constantly reminds us that the rate of change is increasing and that we live in an age of continual revolution.  Stability, one is told, is an outmoded concept, the relic of a bygone era.  None of this is true.  Most industries, most of the time, are fairly stable.  Of course there is always change, but believing that today's changes are huge, dwarfing those in the past, reflects an ignorance of history. 

ACTION POINT:   Maintain a long perspective when looking at the waves of change in your industry.