Changing the game - Reinvention

Reinvention is all about letting go of everything but your very best and finding even better ways of using it. The true essence of sustainability is reinvention.

2018-11-28 14:48:27

We are living under the overwhelming and continuous power of change, either it is about personal lives, careers or businesses. Dealing with change is always a complex process and people don′t have in their nature to find change as an appealing and desirable thing to embrace in their existence. However, people learned during their entire existence to address change, to adapt to it in order to survive, evolve and thrive.

Reinvention is all about letting go of everything but your very best and finding even better ways of using it. The true essence of sustainability is reinvention.

In order to find out more on the concept of reinvention and change and how they can be applied to people, companies, brands and mindsets, Outsourcing Today talked recently with Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva, a business creator in the field of business reinvention and sustainability. Nadya will talk at the end of this month on the stage of TEDx Bucharest, in the first session of the conference′s second day, on Saturday, starting 11 am, at Auditorium Pallady.


There is no escape from change. To hold on, let go

Change is part of the process of reinvention and everything related to these concepts, whatever named they are given, is related to survival and evolution. In fewer words, people, as well businesses should address change as a necessary process to embark on it, rather than avoid, fight against it, get squished by it or thinking that you can escape it.

With the distinction of being named "The Reinvention Guru" by the "Venture" magazine and "The Queen of Reinvention" when sharing her insights into the world of business with audiences at TEDx, Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva is an educator, consultant, speaker, accomplished author and business owner; her speciality is reinvention. As a consultant, Nadya has helped such companies as The Coca-Cola Company, ENRC PLC, IBM, CISCO, Erste Bank, Henkel, Knauf Insulation, Vienna Insurance Group and many other renowned organizations to reinvent their brand, products, processes and leadership practices.

Just as we handle one disruption, another crisis looms on the horizon. How do you survive and even thrive? Nadya and her "Chief Reinvention Officer" team understands the struggle and helped countless companies and leaders deal with change by reinventing their products, processes, and leadership practices. What does it mean?

Nadya describes the process of reinvention from two perspectives, a reinvention or change applied on a short term (that meaning changing regulations, or a change in the customer demands, responding to a crisis) and on a long term, which is applied at a more profound level and addresses the change in the mindset, building to last and reinventing towards a new perspective of doing business. These processes always apply to people.

Allow yourself to take the 90′ seconds reaction time

Understanding how is human anatomy working and how close is the business structure related to human-related aspects is the key to better manage the change, in all its general and profound meanings. At the bottom of change, or transformation, the foundation is built around the way we address change. Nadya explained the process taking it to the very base of a human nature. "In order to choose the response to the event, the key is to understand that the cortisol, the stress hormone that is released, stays in the human body for only 90 seconds." So we are always one minute and a half away from starting on good premises the process of addressing a change 0 which can be small daily tasks such as responding to an email, a feedback reaction - or we are on the verge of bursting in fury, fear or resistance to transformation and change. This is almost the same way a process of change, transformation and reinvention take place within a business or company.

From change, to transformation and reinvention

Keeping the same adherence to the idea that business processes and company′s lifecycles can be explained easier from the perspective of the human nature, Nadya explained the lifecycle of a company, from the creation of a business idea to reaching the business maturity when the companies are feeling extremely comfortable and take the sliding down pace. "How can a company get out of the slide before it is too late and start reinventing themselves," is the questions that most companies are not willing to ask unless they face real dangers, including bankruptcies or being taking over by other businesses.

For start-ups, the change and transformation is an easier process, they are more agile but for large corporations, the idea of change and transformation, the reinvention process are difficult processes. There are companies that were successful at finding a new niche and reinvent, such as Philips, for instance, among others, transforming from a TV producer and supplier to a medical devices solutions company. Hence, the old business models don′t survive unless they reinvent and address the current demand of a market.

About Nadya Zhexembayeva
As a speaker, Nadya has shared her insights with audiences worldwide through keynotes, panel presentations, and workshops. She has delivered three TEDx talks in Austria, Slovenia, US. and soon, at TEDx Bucharest.

Nadya is a member of the Resourcefulness Advisory Board at OMV, an oil and gas company, a member of the Academic Council at CEDEP-INSEAD, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. She also serves on the Board of Challenge:Future, a global student think-DO-tank and innovation competition that unites 35,000 members from 242 countries and territories.

As an author, Nadya has written two books ("Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage" in 2011 and "Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering Up Innovation for a Resource-Deprived World" in 2014) and contributed to five others. In an effort to reinvent corporate approaches to sustainability strategy, Nadya and her co-author Chris Laszlo coined the concept "embedded sustainability", which was virtually non-existent when they started in 2009.

Today, it produces 25+ million Google search results and has become a staple for corporate sustainability efforts. Nadya received her BA in management and BA in psychology from Hartwick College and her PhD in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University.

A daughter of Kazakhstan, Nadya and her family split their life between the US and Eurasia.