Struggling with “Info-FOMO”?
I have a secret. I live in a perpetual state of “Info-FOMO”, wondering if I could be missing relevant information that I’ll need to make an informed decision. This is not the ideal state for a person in my position. I lead business transformations, which involves constant evaluations of scenarios and analyzing V.U.C.A: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. So, dealing with ‘unknowns’ is my lifeblood.
Over the years, I’ve developed several methodologies to manage my “Info-FOMO”. Starting in college — to get through massive amounts of research, studies, business cases, literature reviews, etc. to identify arguments, critique hypothesis, and evaluate data — I created an acronym to frame the information. I affectionately called it “T.L.C”: Thought. (what’s the primary message the authors are trying to communicate/convey?) Logic. (what data, calculations, timeframes, metrics are presented to backup the primary message?) Clarity. (finally, are there pertinent aspects that fall outside, outliers, not explained?) Read this LinkedIn article I wrote to learn how you can use my T.L.C for business analysis
Then the Pandemic hit! There were little ‘knowns’ to analyze, and even less reliable information that wasn’t becoming obsolete as the sunset on that day. The world was inundated with pundits, analysts, and futurists declaring [fill in the blank]. The world was influx with speculation, and I was drowning in a vortex of “Info-FOMO” that was spinning and expanding out of control. My beloved “T.L.C.” was not up for this type of challenge, where information was unknowable. So, I sought to reinvent a tool for disruptions.
This time, I wrote a book, “Disruptive Innovation and Digital Transformation”:
The author evolves key approaches to disruptive innovation theory to reveal new digital applications and tells leaders what to look for — specifically major categories of customers’ expectations in an escalating pattern to understand in what context digital plus disruptive innovations must be aligned with consumer preferences, environments, and the jobs-to-be-done, which is modeled in a new theory, Disruptive Innovation Customers’ Expectations (DICE). DICE provides methods to use to lead digital disruption across products, services, and business models. DICE translates the vague parts of disruptive innovation by simplifying them down to what-to-do. DICE takes away the elusive nature of disruptive innovation by advising how to scan, to track, and to detect disruptions. This book provides leaders with the right lenses to filter markets, giving order to complexity, and making disruptive innovation simpler.
It turned out that my theory and model, Disruptive Innovation Customers’ Expectations (DICE), predicted two major disruptions two years before they became headlines. The book was written in 2020 and published in January 2021. These announcements made headlines in 2022: Amazon and Google’s head-to-head challenge over smart mops was predicted, with Amazon recognizing the disruption first and acquired iRobot. The book also foresaw the resolution of the e-waste debate in the European Union with the decision to mandate a single cable for charging smart devices. I’ve since predicted other market developments ahead of appearance in headlines; I share them in my LinkedIn posts. Connect and follow me.
After developing materials for my DICE theory and teaching online courses and facilitating executive workshops, I developed two more tools to manage my “Info-FOMO”, a game of strategy cards, that I use to digest, interpret, analyze, and evaluate information occurring in real-time — — Disrupt2Go The Card Deck. And the complete game set to build organizational readiness, Disrupt2Go The Game. Both are available now on TheGamecrafter.com. I designed them for organizations to sharpen readiness for disruption! These game options explore strategic choices in Business, Innovation, Numbers, Growth, Operations, as well as Strategic Themes across drivers of disruption. They are must-haves for anyone seeking to gain a competitive edge.
Along my journey, battling “Info-FOMO”, I’ve developed a variety of techniques and tools. I hope by sharing them with you it calms your inner “Info-FOMO” or at minimum helps to manage it. Thank you for reading this article. Please share and comment. I’d love to learn from you!
