Page 228 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

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▶ChApter ten

keeping up with the phoneses

using metaskills to keep pace with the
Increasing evolution of hardware and software

The human body is capable of renewing itself in extraordinary ways:
wounds heal, brains learn, hands master new skills. All in all, humans
adapt in amazing ways to challenges and opportunities. But what about
groups of humans working together toward common goals?
Continuous renewal is, in fact, a distinctive feature of the most suc-
cessful organizations. But why are some organizations so much better at
renewing and refreshing themselves than others? How can some compa-
nies face the same set of external conditions as their competitors, “changing
customer patterns, competitive threats, revolutionary technology develop-
ments,” but produce something clearly superior?
—Jane Linder, Continuous Renewal: Managing for the Upside 1

When we chose the title for this chapter, “Keeping up with the Phone-
ses,” we thought we were being pretty clever. After all, it was a nice
play on the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses” with a smart mobile
technology twist. So after we were committed to the title and had

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