A futurist’s model for organizational development and its implications for B2B marketing
- Marie-Louise Cleeren
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
Last week, the Executives' Global Network (EGN) organized an inspiring and thought-provoking online lecture with Stefan Engeseth on the topic ”The business of the future – from stupidity to innovation” (Framtidens affärer – från dumhet till innovation).
Stefan Engeseth is a ’Creative Futurist’, guest professor, author, and keynote speaker. He has written servaral books, including Sharkonomics and Homo Stupido. Stefan is known for predicting trends, challenging norms, and inspiring change. He has spent over three decades exploring the possibilities of the future through interviews and collaborations with researchers, leaders and innovators around the world.
Based on central concepts and ideas from his books, Stefan talked about:
10 attack strategies companies can utilize for sharpening their go-to-market, competitiveness and positioning
How to manage the talent garden of the future – how do you attract and retain the right talent? Relevancy over time?
Creating a “tribe” – rallying around a common mission and objective together with current/future/former employees, customer ambassadors and other players in the market
How to create the future you want – introducing a simple model for how to develop the organization and attract the right people to your “tribe”
The A/B/-A model
His ”A/B/-A model” is stupid simple, yet powerful in its concept for how to take your company from A (current state) to B (future, desired state).
A = Who are you? (current situation)
B = Who do you want to be / What should you become? (Vision)
-A = Who/what are you not?
To move towards the future desired state (vision), it’s crucial to recruit talents that contribute with what you want to become, not more of A (and absolutely not -A!).
-A are behaviors or talent that don’t fit into your particular organization / vision. They need to switch tribe.
Implications for positioning, company culture and marketing
By articulating A (current state), B (future desired state), and -A (who you are not/what you don’t want to be), the A/B/-A model provides the clarity needed to define the following for your tech scale-up:
Positioning: Articulating A, B, and -A is essential for defining the ”competitive place you choose to occupy in the customer’s mind vs. alternatives” (read the excellent article "The Fundamentals of Effective Positioning" by Gerardo A. Dada, published earlier this week, to learn more about positioning). When done right, positioning is a strategic process that impacts the entire company – your product, pricing, culture, marketing strategy, and operations.
Company culture: Defining A, B, and -A clarifies which desired behaviors and values are required to take your tech scale-up to the desired future position. This allows you to build the right company culture based on what success looks like (desired state) and identify gaps that may require a cultural and competence shift, which should be crucial leadership priorities.
Talent recruitment needs / Employer Branding strategy: The model makes it clear that recruitment efforts must focus on attracting talents that contribute to the desired future state (B), while rejecting those that align with -A. This process is crucial for managing the "talent garden" and attracting the right people to the company's "tribe."
Marketing strategy for Transformation and Growth: The model serves as a useful conceptual help for strategic marketing planning through the three typical maturity stages of a tech scale-up – the Crawl, Walk, Run stages. Clear positioning is foundational for your brand – i.e. how you want people to perceive, experience and remember you – and for your value proposition to ensure differentiation and the right audience focus. Identifying the wanted position and market perception allows you to conduct a situation/gap analysis, and define marketing priorities for the next stage of your scale-up journey – what your focus areas must be to transform into the market player you want to be, and what marketing activities you must execute to ensure market traction and growth.
If you need help with marketing strategy and execution for your scale-up journey, SUNMICO would love to help!
Thank you, Stefan Engeseth and EGN for the inspiration!
Executives' Global Network (EGN) is Sweden's largest professional peer network for CEOs, managers, leaders and specialists who want to develop their leadership.
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