When ambiguity is high, adaptability is required: Lessons for those of us in media

An article in the February 2012 issue of Fast Company magazine by Robert Safian on "Generation Flux" offers a lot of terrific insight into business life today in almost every industry. "Generation flux" doesn't attempt to define a demographic group such as Generation X, but rather a "psychographic" one: "What defines GenFlux is a mind-set that embraces instability, that tolerates - even enjoys - recalibrating careers, business models, and assumptions."

While the article focuses on the implications of GenFlux on careers ... my take-aways for those of us in the newspaper industry go beyond our own career paths. Thought leaders in media aren't going to learn anything new from the list by the way ... yet every day it is clear that too few have truly understood / embraced these lessons:

• Chaotic disruption is rampant. Technology is revolutionizing every industry. "You're going to have businesses rise and fall faster than ever."
• Newspaper companies "are not built for flux". Change in a legacy institution such as newspapers is "rough".
• Career newspaper professionals - journalists, salespeople, circulation leaders, etc. - by-and-large are not adept at the most important skill required of this era ... "the ability to acquire new skills". This is compounded by the fact that many newspaper companies have simply cut back on training at a time when it is needed more than ever.
• Those kept awake at night by the disruption and need to change are never going to feel like we are moving fast enough.
• "We need to systematize change."
• "There is a need to be less hierarchal and to rely more on teams." If we don't change the structure of how we take our products to market, we get "less relevant" by the day.
• It is important to be "clear about your business mission". Without clear focus managing the disruption could result in unintended consequences - ie. venturing too far outside core competencies, resulting in failure.
• On an individual level, we can't change how old we are or how much "tenure" we have in a legacy institution, but among the things we can and must change is our "technological age". That requires a lot of off-the-clock dedication and hard work.

And on a personal level - addressing the article's focus on careers - I felt a little less of any old-timer when I read the comments of one 34-year-old woman in the information technology field: "I'm skill hoarding ... You keep throwing things into your backpack, and eventually you'll have everything in your tool kit." This isn't new wisdom; this is counsel that author / consultant Tom Peters has been spouting for decades (and one I have tried to follow). As one interviewee in the GenFlux article illuminates: A "flexibility of skills leads to flexibility of options."

And yet, the more things change around us, the more one might feel they haven't hoarded enough skills. So back to my comment about disruption keeping some of us up at night.

Read the full article.