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Hamilton Mann

Group VP, Digital Marketing and Digital Transformation at Thales

France, France

Hamilton Mann is the Group VP of Digital Marketing and Digital Transformation at Thales.

He leads the Digital Transformation in Marketing to drive enhanced customer engagement and experience, and Integrated Digital Marketing Campaigns excellence in support of revenue generation.

He heads the worldwide 'Thales Digital Seller' initiative, aiming at designing and deploying Thales’ Sales & Marketing enablement practices and technology platform towards Thales’ 7 Global Business Units, 30 Business Lines and 68 countries, strengthening the collective willingness to break down internal silos to leverage the full potential of Thales’ business synergies for faster sales, up sell and cross sell.

In support of Thales’ Digital Transformation, he also leads the implementation of Group transverse Digital initiatives, focusing on helping make the company an exceptional place to drive Business Innovation and Growth by making experimentation the norm.

He has established the Thales 'BIG' program (“Business Innovation & Growth”) aiming at achieving BIG ambitions of countries, cities, and economic actors in civil society, in the fields of Space, Aeronautics, Mobility, Digital Security and Defense, in innovative ways. As of today, “BIG” brought the opportunity to over 10,000 Thales staff to embark in the Digital Transformation journey while giving birth to new Thales ventures and business models, leveraging AI, Big Data, IoT and Cyber security technologies.

Previously, he served as Director of Thales Consulting, the management consulting arm of Thales Group, working as advisor for Thales executives and focusing on Business Technology, Innovation, Marketing, Digital Marketing, Globalization Strategy and Organizational Transformation.

Prior to joining Thales, he was Director at Capgemini Consulting (now Capgemini Invent) working on Strategy and Digital Transformation assignments, and have previously co-founded, Mann & Miller, enjoying an entrepreneur experience delivering global marketing campaigns for top-ranking luxury companies.

Hamilton Mann is the President of the INSEAD Digital Transformation Club of the INSEAD Alumni Association France, Co-President of the INSEAD Strategy Execution Graduate association, Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD, Mentor for the MIT IDEAS social innovation challenge of the MIT Priscilla King Gray (PKG) Center, General Secretary of the No More Plastic foundation (www.nomoreplastic.co) and host of the 'Hamilton Mann Conversation' (www.hamiltonmannconversation.com).

Hamilton Mann is an alumnus of the MIT Sloan School of Management, INSEAD and EDHEC Business School.

Hamilton Mann Points
Academic 140
Author 89
Influencer 353
Speaker 106
Entrepreneur 100
Total 788

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Company Information

Company Type: Company
Minimum Project Size: Undisclosed
Average Hourly Rate: Undisclosed
Number of Employees: Undisclosed
Company Founded Date: Undisclosed

Areas of Expertise

AI 30.03
Business Strategy 30.04
Customer Experience 30.02
Digital Disruption 50.63
Digital Transformation 35.84
Entrepreneurship
Innovation 44.94
Leadership 30.02
Marketing 30.03
Sustainability 30.16

Industry Experience

Aerospace & Defense
High Tech & Electronics
Manufacturing
Oil & Gas
Professional Services
Telecommunications
Utilities

Publications

1 Academic Award
MIT IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge
MIT
December 15, 2020
Mentor of MIT student-led teams to harness their unique skills and interests to prepare them to explore and address complex social and environmental challenges.

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Tags: Innovation

12 Academic Certifications
Creating High Velocity Organizations
MIT
May 07, 2021

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Leading Digital Transitions
MIT
March 26, 2021

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Digital Operations Strategy
MIT
December 30, 2020

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Advanced Manufacturing, Internet of Things and Industry 4.0
MIT
December 03, 2020

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Digital Supply Chain Strategy and Management
MIT
November 11, 2020

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Platform Strategy
MIT
October 24, 2019

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship
MIT
October 11, 2019

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Mastering Innovation Disruption
MIT
October 09, 2019

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Implementing Enterprise-Wide Transformation
MIT
October 04, 2019

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Strategy Execution
INSEAD
December 13, 2018

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Leading Digital Marketing Strategy
INSEAD
November 03, 2017

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Blue Ocean Strategy
INSEAD
October 13, 2016

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

10 Article/Blogs
Why Digital For Good Matters
Forbes
March 18, 2024
To grasp the essence of 'Digital for Good', it is essential to acknowledge that technology, even when created with the best intentions for the greater good, is not inherently immune from producing adverse effects in society.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Innovation

Is not intelligent « what » wants
Intelligent Automation Network
November 03, 2022
Can artificial intelligence (AI) benefit society? Hamilton Mann shares seven guideposts for ethical AI

Artificial Intelligence is exclusive by nature.
Since the beginning of human history, we have always been very good at building products that meet the specific needs of certain people, thus excluding certain others.

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Tags: AI

Five underrated and no less important aspects of digital transformation
Intelligent Automation Network
September 27, 2022
Much has been written about digital transformation, this new industrial revolution boosted by the meteoric advancement of new technologies, offering many opportunities to increase the limits of what is possible across all sectors.

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Tags: AI, Digital Transformation

MIT Sloan ACE holder Hamilton Mann and global teams at Thales turn the pandemic business disruption into a boost for digital transformation
MIT MANAGEMENT
June 12, 2022
The MIT Sloan Advanced Certificate for Executives in Management, Innovation, and Technology (ACE) program tends to draw business leaders who appreciate in-depth, hands-on learning experiences because they see the value in applying what they learn immediately in their organizations. Hamilton Mann, Group Director, Global Digital Marketing and Digital Transformation at Thales Group is no exception.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Marketing

Value is Human.
LinkedIn
March 05, 2021
Many economic players around the world are looking for the next generation of new business models, focused, passionate, stubbornly determined to take advantage of digital technologies to invent the next Amazon, the next Facebook, the next Google, or another current digital giant.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Marketing

Business Innovation and Growth (BIG)
Thales
July 19, 2020
Since 2016 the Group organize the Business Innovation & Growth (BIG) Challenge, mobilizing the ingenuity and creativity of its employees from all around the world. Over the years, this initiative has proved to be a true opportunity for all to carry out disruptive digital business innovation projects, experiment things that the industry has never offered and thus, make tomorrow possible, today.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Be the Bird.
Linkedin
April 29, 2019
Some people are afraid that their idea can be stolen. I have never seen an idea run by itself. With all that it takes to innovate, it’s not the idea that makes the idea, it’s the team. Not the idea but the team is your most critical asset ever.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

A large company going back to the garage, inventing the future from within.
Innnov8rs
March 10, 2019
Three reasons why intrapreneurship is a critical asset of any organization, serving long-term survival, sustainable growth, competitiveness and attractiveness.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Exploring. That’s what intrapreneurs do.
Linkedin
August 26, 2018
No business model lasts forever — They all have an expiry date.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Setting Up a Digital Proof-of-Concept Factory initiative
Linkedin
May 13, 2017
"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do" (Rob Siltanen and Lee Clow)

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

2 Board Memberships
INSEAD Strategy Execution Graduate Association
INSEAD
July 01, 2019
Building a global and vibrant connected network of INSEAD SEP practitioners in the service of making a difference in getting Strategy to Execution.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

No More Plastic
No More Plastic
June 24, 2018
Pledging to support the development of solutions that will help end the cycle of single-use plastics flowing into our ocean.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

1 Book
Improve quality of services
Eyrolles
January 22, 2009

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

1 Conference Publication
Métiers du Consulting
Institut G9+
December 12, 2018

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

2 Founders
Mann & Miller
Mann & Miller
November 13, 2014
NY Lincoln Center - Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Chaplin's The Little Tramp

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Mann & Miller
Mann & Miller
March 24, 2014

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

7 Influencer Awards
TOP 50 B2B Thought Leaders and Influencers on Digital Disruption
Thinkers360
July 18, 2020

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Digital Transformation
Thinkers 360
July 11, 2020

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

100 B2B Thought Leaders and Influencers to Follow in 2020
Thinkers 360
December 31, 2019

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Innovation - Nov. 2019
Thinkers 360
November 12, 2019

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Top 10 Digital Disruption - Thinkers 360
Thinkers 360
November 01, 2019

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Top 10 Digital Transformation - Thinkers 360
Thinkers 360
November 01, 2019

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Top 10 Innovation - Thinkers 360
Thinkers 360
November 01, 2019

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

1 Journal Publication
Value Is Human
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23949643211011877
May 23, 2021

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

10 Keynotes
New Value Creation
Association of AMBAs
December 07, 2020
Value creation of any business should no longer be ruled by the financial values only.
This value system has not only systemically created irreconcilable inequalities with human rights, but has also indiscriminately precipitated global pollution and depletion of natural resources necessary for any human life.
The time has come to define new business value norms leading to reinvent what any businesses’ value creation should be.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

12 rules for business innovation
Innov8rs
February 02, 2020
Number 1: Many people assume that generating new ideas is the beginning. It’s not.
Number 2: It's not the idea that makes the idea, it's the team.
Number 3: Business Innovation starts with a Roadmap with no Plan.
Number 4: There is only one place to be: the Uncomfortable Zone.
Number 5: Fail Fast only makes sense to Learn Fast.
Number 6: Don’t seek the path for Perfection, but the Speed.
Number 7: Doing a lot more, doesn’t mean you’re getting a lot more done.
Number 8: No innovation without progress — no progress without transgression.
Number 9: Better is not good enough – Different is better than better.
Number 10: Great experience leads to great products – not the other way around.
Number 11: Adoption means Network Benefits + Stand-alone Benefits – Price ≥ 0.
Number 12: Pitch the value, not the features.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Owning what the customer journey is
e-Connect B2B e-Commerce conference
December 03, 2019
Want to be Customer-Centric?
What your customer need is the destination.
What your customer want is the journey.
Being Customer-Centric is not about focusing on the customer’s needs but on the customer’s journey.
The Customer-Centric mind shift is to get to know what your customer really want, to deliver what they need to master their journey, before they even think about what that could be, should be or looks like.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

No business model lasts forever — They all have an expiry date.
Open Innovation Summit Berlin
November 20, 2019
Only 12% of the Fortune 500 companies included in 1955 were still on the list in 2017. On the remaining 88%, there are bankruptcies, mergers, acquisitions, as well as companies that still exist, but are simply not part of the Fortune 500 anymore. Going forward, in the context of this third industrial revolution, the risk is very high for any large company around the world to face a “Kodak moment”, to be overtaken by new digital offers and end up with a business that dies out.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

The Number One Barrier to Smarter Digital Transformation Efforts Within Organizations is Culture
FEI Europe
June 18, 2019

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Embracing that particular place: the Uncomfortable Zone.
Johnson
June 03, 2019
Seeking to work with people who look like us, act like us, think like us, went through the same experiences as ours, over and over again, while expecting different results, is the definition of insanity — It’s being regularly in contact with what seems different to us that gives us the opportunity to evolve, grow and develop completely new thought patterns, and finally create new things.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Some say that you have to fail fast - Fail fast only makes sense to learn fast.
Marcus Evans
May 20, 2019
Business Innovation starts with no proven business models, roadmaps with no plan, business plans with no revenue, cost and expenses with no margin — One of the biggest obsessions is to figure out how to find them.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Culture: The Number 1 Barrier To Digital Transformation
Innov8rs
April 10, 2019
Some people are afraid that their idea can be stolen. I have never seen an idea run by itself. With all that it takes to innovate, it's not the idea that makes the idea, it's the team. Not the idea but the team is your most critical asset ever.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Business Innovation starts with a Roadmap with no Plan.
Digital Innovation Hub
March 27, 2019
Business Innovation starts with no proven business models, roadmap with no plan, business plans with no revenue, cost and expenses with no margin and even Go-To-Market with no Market — One of the biggest obsessions is to find them.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

You do not drive Digital Transformation, Digital Transformation drives itself
Euler Hermes Digital Summit
November 29, 2018
No innovation without progress, no progress without transgression, no transgression without disobedience, no disobedience without questioning, no questioning without risk.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

4 Media Interviews
Why embracing diversity and acting fast is key to innovation
Technology Magazine
July 18, 2020
On the factors crucial to enabling innovation.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

BIG
Thales Group
June 27, 2020
The “BIG” programme aims to address customer’s BIG ambitions in an innovative way, privileging Iteration over Perfection, Openness over Restriction, Empowerment over Permission, with no sacred cows, no taboos and no status quo, making Experimentation the Norm throughout the Group and contributing to The Thales Digital Transformation journey.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

The Number One Barrier to Smarter Digital Transformation Efforts Within Organizations is Culture
FEI Europe
May 20, 2019
Industrial revolutions always precede disruptions. Only 12% of the Fortune 500 companies included in 1955 were still on the list in 2017. On the remaining 88%, there are bankruptcies, mergers, acquisitions, as well as companies that still exist, but are simply not part of the Fortune 500 anymore. Going forward, the risk is very high for any large company around the world to face a “Kodak moment”, to be overtaken by new digital offers and end up with a business that dies out. This fourth industrial revolution leaves organizations no choice but to adapt and innovate if they want to survive.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

Accelerating new businesses at Thales Digital Factory
Nicolas Bry
April 08, 2019
Digital transformation at Thales involves digital offers, and digital ways of working, with Ux (User Experience) at the center. The challenge is to achieve a fine product, with a more agile way of working, and in line with TTM (Time To Market). There is a symmetry of attentions to create new offers and to think product differently: it involves a new mindset, starting from customers’ problems, and introducing technology as a solution to a problem.

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Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Disruption, Innovation

1 Panel
Creating a new growth playbook for 2020 and beyond
Showpad
June 23, 2020
Buying and selling behaviors are changing rapidly. Now is the time to revise your revenue playbook for the years ahead.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

6 Podcasts
The Hamilton Mann Conversation with Tom Davenport
The Hamilton Mann Conversation
November 02, 2022
Tom Davenport is the President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, co-founder of the International Institute for Analytics, Fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and Senior Advisor to Deloitte Analytics. He teaches analytics/big data in executive programs at Babson, Harvard Business School and School of Public Health, and MIT Sloan School.

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Tags: Digital Transformation

The Hamilton Mann Conversation with Vivienne Ming
The Hamilton Mann Conversation
October 20, 2022
Frequently featured for her research and inventions in the Financial Times, The Atlantic, Quartz and The New York Times, Vivienne Ming is a theoretical neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and author. She co-founded Socos Labs, her fifth company, an independent think tank exploring the future of human potential. Vivienne launched Socos Labs to combine her varied work with that of other creative experts and expand their impact on global policy issues, both inside companies and throughout our communities. Previously, Vivienne was a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley's Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, pursuing her research in cognitive neuroprosthetics.

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Tags: Digital Transformation

The Hamilton Mann Conversation with George Westerman
The Hamilton Mann Conversation
October 04, 2022
George Westerman is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Principal Research Scientist, J-WEL Workforce Learning.George works at the dynamic intersection of executive leadership and technology strategy.

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Tags: Digital Transformation

The Hamilton Mann Conversation with Reid Blackman
The Hamilton Mann Conversation
October 01, 2022
Reid Blackman, Ph.D., is the author of “Ethical Machines: Your Concise Guide to Totally Unbiased, Transparent, and Respectful AI (Harvard Business Review Press), Founder and CEO of Virtue, an AI ethical risk consultancy, and volunteer Chief Ethics Officer for the non-profit Government Blockchain Association.

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Tags: Digital Transformation

The Hamilton Mann Conversation with Marshall Van Alstyne
The Hamilton Mann Conversation
September 22, 2022
Marshall Van Alstyne is co-author of the international bestseller Platform Revolution. He is one of the world’s experts on network business models and is Questrom Professor of Management at Boston University. He is a frequent speaker, board level advisor, and consultant to startups and global firms. His research has received over 20,000 Google Scholar citations and won half a dozen academic awards.

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Tags: Digital Transformation

The Hamilton Mann Conversation with Sam Ransbotham
The Hamilton Mann Conversation
September 14, 2022
Sam Ransbotham is a professor of analytics at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. He teaches “Analytics in Practice” and “Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.”

Ransbotham serves as a senior editor at Information Systems Research, an associate editor at Management Science, and an academic contributing editor at MIT Sloan Management Review.

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Tags: Digital Transformation

1 Speaker Bureau Membership
Member of Thales Group Speaker Bureau
Thales
December 17, 2020
The Thales Speakers Bureau aims to provide its customers and business partners with a wide range of expertise on today’s key issues through participation in upcoming events.
The Thales Speakers Bureau brings together engineers, scientists, managers and different experts from across the Thales Group, all renowned in their fields and passionate about sharing their experience as broadly as possible.
The aim is to explain, in simple terms, issues that may be complex or difficult to grasp. The Thales Speakers Bureau is thus able to help provide you with answers to the big challenges facing our world.

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

1 Visiting Lecturer
Leading Digital Transformation and Innovation
INSEAD
September 15, 2021

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Tags: Digital Disruption, Digital Transformation, Innovation

Thinkers360 Credentials

4 Badges

Blog

1 Article/Blog
Endurability, the driving force for the next industrial revolution
Thinkers360
February 13, 2023
Endurability, not just durability, is the defining issue of the coming decades.

Over the past ten years, a growing and amplifying awareness of ecological concerns has emerged. Some facts are no longer just a warning of an imminent threat, but a situation of life on earth whose parameters are vastly different from the standard on which the comfort of industrialized countries was established:

As per a 2013 publication in Nature by a team of international scientists, "The Pliocene-Pleistocene transition: an expanded database, new analyses, and a revised age model," the analysis of CO2 data from glacial and marine sediment cores has shown that CO2 levels during the Pliocene era (around 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago) were significantly elevated compared to any other time in the last three million years but did not exceed 400 ppm.

According to an article published in the journal Nature in 2004 by a team of scientists from the United States, France, and Denmark: "High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period," the analysis of CO2 data from Greenland ice cores has led to the conclusion that CO2 levels during the last interglacial period (about 129,000 to 116,000 years ago) were comparable to current levels, but never rose 300 ppm.

Based on a 2018 article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team of scientists from the United States and China, "Evidence for early Holocene ultra-low CO2 concentrations," analysis of CO2 data from glacier cores reveals that CO2 levels during the Holocene era (approximately 11,700 years ago to present) were similar to current levels, but never surpassed 300 ppm.

What distinguishes these 3 analyses: they were all conducted using different methods and cores. What ties them together: they converge to highlight that the CO2 levels in the atmosphere were not as high as they are today in the past 3 million years, and that the current CO2 levels are unprecedented in the recent history of the Earth.

This increase in CO2 levels is primarily due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and is a major contributor to global warming and climate change. According to the Global Monitoring Laboratory, they average 419 parts per million (ppm) in 2022. Moreover, the world population is projected to reach 10.8 billion by 2100, with its implications on resource consumption, land use for infrastructure, housing, etc., this results in an impact on climate due to human activities and what it portends for social and societal concerns.

Furthermore, air pollution has become one of the leading environmental causes of death globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 7 million deaths occur each year due to air pollution.
Right before our eyes, our world is losing biodiversity with the estimated number of threatened plant and animal species numbering around 1 million, especially in the upcoming decades, which has never happened before in human history according to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Not to mention that over the past decade since 2010, the world has seen a net loss of 4.7 million hectares of forests per year, with deforestation estimated at 10 million hectares each year, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

The first reality to recognize is that these few striking facts (because there are others) are not the characteristic of the world we risk leaving to future generations; they have become the characteristic of today's world.
The challenge today is not about lasting. It's about enduring.
Endurability, meaning sustainability under extreme conditions and constraints, is the challenge that the world is posing to humanity at present, not for later, not if nothing is done in the future, but right now and for the upcoming decades.

The essence of Endurability is to build resilience.

When it comes to endurability, what truly enables it cannot be limited to the international acronym that designates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria, which generally constitute the three pillars of extra-financial analysis, whose ultimate goal is to address the financial community, with what this may entail in terms of an exclusive framework of interpretation, and therefore bias.

Endurability requires a more inclusive approach. It means having to master a deep understanding of all the factors inherent in the ecosystem where the system must perform, to regulate its positive and negative impact on that ecosystem, beyond just the system's own interest. This necessarily involves a worldview guided not by a specific community, whether financial or otherwise, but by a wide range of considerations, concerns, and challenges, addressing the interests of the greatest number, such as sovereignty, whether it be energy, industrial, digital or protective for security and defense.

This also necessarily includes cultural considerations, whether in the fields of art, science, education, tradition, or customs. It also encompasses substantial state-related, geopolitical, and even geo-strategic aspects, whether in the realm of institutions, laws, regulations, or justice, at the scale of nations or even the world.

The best translation to date of all these factors is that of the United Nations, characterized by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Endurability is, in essence, made up of a complex blend of internal and external factors, more or less predictable, more or less complex, that determine for any system, any organizational model, its ability to withstand trends, endure over time, and overcome constraints and resource limitations to create resilience.

Viability is a foundation for Endurability.

Every model, whether it be business or otherwise, has an "expiration date" by default. If the goal of longevity is to push back the deadline of this expiration date, not all sustainability strategies are endurable, and not all endurable strategies are viable.

In the environmental context we currently face, the viable endurability strategy is the very essence of the meaning of "sustainability". It is the strategy that all other strategies must be aligned with, contribute to, and without which any other strategy will only result in temporary, perishable outcomes and ultimately lead to increased fragility for the ecosystem in which they occur.

A viable endurability strategy is one that enables us to escape the default phenomenon of planned obsolescence for as long as possible, which exists unintentionally for all systems, models, and businesses. It is the strategy that enables us to extend the limits of preservation, not without change, not at any cost, but in a responsible and equitable manner, that is, without sacrificing the sustainability and viability of any other life or thing.

Specifically considering the environmental dimension, a new equation to solve is posed:

- How to balance its growth capacity with that of renewable natural resources, as well as with the capacity of artificially regenerable natural resources through technical and technological means to build a self-sufficient chain, according to virtuous circular approaches?

- How to decouple its growth capacity from non-renewable and non-artificially regenerable natural resources, as well as from non-natural resources that have a negative impact on the ecosystem in which the model is a stakeholder?

This challenge is on par with the issues we face in today's world and what lies ahead in the coming decades.

Could another strategy besides endurability ultimately be a good strategy?

Could a strategy that doesn't allow for endurance, or that would allow for it in an unsustainable and irresponsible way, be good?

The orchestration of an endurability strategy requires breaking away from established and conventional modes of operation and thought processes, influenced by the "divide and conquer" philosophy we were taught in school: dividing the problem into several independent manageable sub-problems that can be solved recursively, and whose combined solutions result in a global solution to the initial problem.

The reason is simple.

The sub-problems to be solved are not independent, but interdependent with one another. Solutions to each sub-problem, thought of and/or implemented in isolation, pose a major risk of worsening the initial problem as a whole.

Yet, whether it be universities with discipline-specific curricula, businesses with department-based work organizations, or governments with a ministry for each domain, this logic of breaking down a problem into several manageable sub-themes independently, because of their supposed intrinsic independence, is a social and mental norm.

The current complexity of our world makes our siloed organizational modes and linear thinking one of the biggest threats to endurability.

Endurability is the seed of a deep industrial revolution that gives meaning to one of humanity's greatest opportunities.

To give birth to a new form of economy, based on innovations that will serve the interests of the majority without jeopardizing the future, a necessary condition for durability.
To give birth to a new way of life, by anchoring economic action in its benefits, not for some at the expense of others, but for society and the environment as a whole, a necessary condition for longevity.

Enduring the Test of Time: from Obsolescence to Endurability.

Having a viable endurability strategy is therefore ultimately a matter of long-term outlook: a strategic vision.

It's a strategy that underlies the foundation of viability and endurance against all odds, particularly extreme challenges such as wars, natural disasters, resource scarcity or economic instability, all while contributing to maintaining, regenerating, or growing what creates the value that the company is trading with.

In fact, the strategy has never been and should never be anything other than serving such a purpose.

For a business, having a viable endurability strategy is serving the inseparable part of a living ecosystem of which it is a part, considering all forms of life, in all dimensions, to fulfill its reason for being.

While many companies have a "Sustainability Office" and a reason for being, few are truly equipped with such a strategy.

Many have a strategy that is in reality just a series of tactics repeated as much as possible, allowing them to navigate by sight based on the definition of a future limited to the grid of understanding of an era, trend, or mood.

Few are those who define their strategy outside of the present moment, projecting themselves into the accomplishment of a greater purpose that will determine how the company can endure against all odds and cross generations, continuing to exist because what it does and how it does it would become irrevocably programmed to endure.

The endurability of the company is the business strategy: they are synonymous or pleonasms. When this is not the case, both are diminished.

Any company, especially those whose size has become critical and essential to a country's scale, must define its strategic approach to endurability because its responsibility is all the greater for the challenge it represents at the level of society in which it operates, as it grows. With great power comes great responsibility.

The future of economic value lies in Endurabilty.

Often mistreated because reduced to the goal of making profits with too little equitable redistribution within itself, the company remains nonetheless a vital organ of any society.

The company cannot be built without consciousness and responsibility for the devastating and destructive effects that its choices can have in the present and for future generations.

It cannot be constructed on the exploitation of natural resources without concern for the impact that this exploitation can have over time.

It cannot base its existence on the blind commercialization of a product that inevitably leads to harm to human life or destruction of terrestrial and marine biodiversity.
It cannot develop through the implementation of working conditions that result in increased inequality and disparity of opportunities among citizens.

It cannot disassociate itself from intentional actions aimed at promoting the rights and place of women in society. The company is one of the lungs of any society without which it is not possible to live for long.

It is therefore undeniably and inevitably responsible for the future of our societies to a degree that exceeds its sales and profits. It is not solely the property of its shareholders.

The way the company plays its role in society is fundamental to the elevation of any society for its own benefit. The company is intertwined with the society it depends on and serves for its development, which in turn provides nourishment for growth.

Its life is intertwined with the citizens who are all stakeholders in the ecosystem it needs to function, because they are customers, employees, or may become so, or because they are close to those who already are or will become.

The company is bound to its employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, and stakeholders in society such as schools, local businesses, real estate developers, and others, which it participates in supporting, strengthening, growing or deteriorating, according to the principles that govern its strategy for existence and persistence. So, directly involved with all the ills of society that it participates in mitigating, curing, or amplifying, according to the values it erects and especially reveals through its actions.

The excellence of the company is that of its viable endurability strategy, considering that such a strategy only makes sense if it creates wealth whose redistribution multiplies its value, without ever destroying the ecosystem it depends on to create it endurably.

Inventing viable and endurable business models is perhaps the greatest and most exciting innovation challenge of our century, to bring forth the economic value system of tomorrow, that of endurability development.

This article was published in The Hamilton Mann Conversation website and in french on Harvard Business Review France.

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Tags: Sustainability, Business Strategy

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