In our latest discussion together with Markus Schorn, co-author of “10x DNA – Das Mindset der Zukunft” we talked about the 10x-thinking as a founding principle of developing platform business models. He gave us lots of insights about how to keep innovating and handle upcoming disruptions to stay competitive.
Markus Schorn is a member of the Deutsche Telekom Think Tank with focus on emerging technologies, innovations and business models. Within this role, he asked himself how technologies will impact our future lives and society. His book “10x DNA – Das Mindset der Zukunft”, which he co-wrote with star investor Frank Thelen, also revolves around this topic. It’s focusing on the acceleration of the technological process and the upcoming changes but also is used as kind of a “wake-up call” to make sure that we keep up with all the possibilities and novelties which come along with new technologies.
10x-Thinking as a founding principle of platform business models
The term 10x originally goes back to the Apollo Program and the first moonshot. To realize this project the engineers required the rockets to be 10x better and with this request a lot of groundbreaking innovations came up. Up to now the term has also evolved as an important guideline for business development. All of the four big platforms used this 10x-thinking to get where they are today plus digitization as a central enabler for this.
With 10x and digitization, however, came lots of challenges and changes but it can also “broaden your view on what you can achieve, on what you can innovate on” and reinvent existing solutions in a completely different way. Therefore, corporates have to trust in the exponential progress of technologies to embark on their full potential. Especially for the software industry. Markus points out that: “this is the thing that you have to keep in mind as an executive, operating in this digital space, your products will never be finished. Everything is beta.”
Companies shouldn’t focus only on the product side but also on how to do business in general. This includes also integrating employees into that 10x-thinking through different forms of engagement and learning. Furthermore companies should have an eye on a growing field of competition which is more dynamic and comes from everywhere. But according to Markus with this dynamic era also a lot of opportunities and solutions come up from multiple sides that could be realized via co-creation and co-innovation. According to this Markus makes clear:
“Watch out and have open eyes and ears where new opportunities can come from through this 10x or exponential era.”
Markus Schorn, co-author of “10x DNA – Das Mindset der Zukunft”
And this open-minded thinking has to be implemented in the innovation and business development departments to run a successful platform business. You have to keep innovating all the time and do not relaunch or settle for market share e.g. – or as Markus sums up “keep pushing the pedal to the medal”.
10x-Thinking as a key enabler for sustainability
It is clear that with climate change new problems and challenges arise, which also have a strong influence on the future technological development. According to Markus, the benefits of the 10x-thinking is that „we have every puzzle piece that we need now“. So all the different types of technologies which are necessary to solve problems like the carbon footprint for example already exist. We just need to implement them and therefore the 10x-thinking is a key mind setting enabler.
One last piece of advice
As always, we asked for the one leadership advice:
„Everything can be disrupted so do not settle down. Always keep your approaches fresh, try to reinvent your old approaches, try to adjust your approaches to the new standards.“
Thank you Markus for the great conversation and insights.
The complete episode can be listed at your favorite podcast provider.
