In the “Star Wars” world, Yoda served as the chief executive officer of the Jedi council. He had been trained by the foresightful warrior monks to be able to see the future, and yet he frequently let the dark side of the Force obstruct his ability to do so. Yoda was startlingly inept at seeing what was happening around him until it was too late, despite his strength, knowledge, experience, and wisdom. The Jedi Grand Master collaborated closely for ten years with Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, who was the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and was standing right in front of Yoda.
Yoda’s failure to foresee events as they occurred led to the expansion of Palpatine’s empire and the transformation of a whole culture’s way of life. What did Yoda do when confronted with murky hints and complex facts? He retired to his rooms to think, but he made no move. Sadly, the executives of established businesses tend to do this rather frequently. Many business leaders portray themselves as either believing that the good times will never end or as not caring if they do.
The CEO of Kodak famously downplayed the threat posed by digital photography, and the CEO of Blockbuster infamously downplayed the threat posed by Netflix. There always appears to be another industry leader blithely disregarding the winds of change. Leaders should live by the phrase “I have a horrible feeling about this” because it demonstrates alertness and initiative.
Unlike Yoda, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi used action and knowledge to keep the future hopeful. Venture investors, corporate executives, and startup entrepreneurs all strive to see the future. In light of this, the following are five lessons that corporate and startup CEOs may learn from Obi-Wan Kenobi’s valiant deeds in order to develop revolutionary strategies and tactics.
Obtain street-level information to anticipate problems before they arise, the Sith have a point when they accuse the Jedi of being haughty since Yoda, the head of the Jedi, is out of date. Obi-Wan Kenobi is given assignments by the Jedi Council, which is seated in an actual ivory tower. He can gather information to help comprehend what’s occurring around the republic because he is one of the Jedi’s greatest field agents. During the Clone Wars, it is Kenobi who first discovers that Darth Tyranus is truly Count Dooku. Kenobi then proceeds to follow the trail of every lead he comes across in an effort to learn more. In the same vein, Kenobi goes to Kamino in Episode II to solve the clone army’s enigma.
Apple claims that the latter change would save producers time and effort since they will be able to use the dashboard of their hosting company to authorize delivery of both their free and paid podcast episodes to Apple Podcasts. Apple now has a way to compete with services like Spotify’s Anchor, which offers tools for production, hosting, and distribution across all significant listening applications. The lesson for innovators is that you cannot achieve organizational transformation with meditation. The line from “Star Wars,” “I have a horrible feeling about this,” may be compared to Andy Grove, the co-founder of Intel, who said, “Only the paranoid survive.”
It is crucial to pay attentive at all times, according to Grove’s definition of paranoia. This suggests that you are dissatisfied with the lack of clarity and are looking into getting “street-level” knowledge about markets, consumers, and the capabilities of everyone else. Practically speaking, street-level data indicates that companies should network with many startups that have the potential to disrupt the industry, and startups should network with corporations that may be complimentary to or competing with their industry. Each should schedule as many meetings as they can with current and potential clients.
