Let’s get straight to the point. Here are the three important changes that your business needs in 2025.
Opinion Poll Should Not Be A Major Determinant Of Performance Indicator
Why? Because as it is mentioned in the name, it is OPINION, not facts indicating any underlying determinant influencing the organizational performance.
Is there a good example from 2024 to back this up? Oh hello. YES! That involves President of the USA, Donald Trump (Did I just lose half of the readers? That’s fine!). But the fact is, think about all those “expert political analysts and pollsters”, who provided wrong predictions for presidential elections all around the world, with their 20-25+ years of experience, over and over and still consider themselves as expert.
Now imagine, you are evaluating the performance of a Professor based on the survey of his students – particularly those who failed, customer satisfaction survey because you consider recording ongoing communication with the customers as expensive and employee performance or peer review survey because your organizational processes, including HR, is unable to proactively discover what is going on in the team.
Do you see the problem? Opinion poll or survey or whatever you named it, it is similar to voting in a democracy. But remember democracy is a fancy and could be very expensive concept when it comes down to running a successful business. For all the above scenario, if your regular interaction with your stakeholders did not tell you how to improve organizational performance, no survey will help you relate to the issues draining the organizational performance. Remember, survey was never meant to be expert opinions, it is merely the collections of individual’s point of view.
Yes, survey is
not dead, it can be useful for few scenarios or support the overall performance
indicator processes. But for 2025, I see that as an old, trivial and
ineffective way to try to determine organizational performance.
Ditch Diversity. Equity and Inclusion (DEI) And Any Other Woke Policies Influencing Your Organization
Why? Because the success of any organization depends on innovation of products and services not anything else. Did you notice this DEI thing is a very recent phenomena, whereas all the top successful organizations around the world have been successful well before this latest DEI trend.
You may point me to some studies indicating how DEI had profound impacts on organizations. Well before you go any further, know that those studies are conducted inside a DEI environment by the people have been advocating for DEI and funded by DEI believing donors. No surprises there!
Recently many organizations waking
up to this reality and ditching these woke policies. Among many, one such recent
example is Boeing. While Boeing was busy with DEI, in recent days, Boeing only
managed to create headlines for their faulty products, including Boeing managed
to stranded 2 astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) for months.
“DEI is representation” – a false statement, not true or at least you don’t need it, if your aim is to build a successful business. Because when you go down the woke lane, remember it is never going to be enough. How do I know this? I experienced it firsthand growing up in a Muslim family. I am often seen as a good Muslim by my non-Muslim friends, but whenever I met with Muslim preachers, they would always give me a list of things to improve. If I worked on those things and returned to them, they’d just hand me over another list. This is a common experience for many Muslims. You will never be considered a "good" Muslim by these preachers unless you agree with them 100% and follow them blindly as your leader.
This is a troubling similarity
between the Islamic Fundamentalists and the Woke Keyboard Army. Considering
that the silent majority of your customers want you to focus on your services
and products, in 2025, you will need to choose between prioritizing your
customers and supporting DEI initiatives.
Time To Embrace Friendenemies
This point is slightly different than the two points above and broader in scope.
Friendenemies refer to people who may both support and challenge you. In 2025 you will need them as drastic political and economic changes are expected in 2025 based on events in 2024. This point is particularly relevant for the governments. Regardless, embracing the friendenemies every-now-and-then are beneficial
- Encourages Growth: Friendenemies push you out of your comfort zone, prompting critical thinking and self-reflection.
- Promotes Innovation: Friendenemies often introduce fresh ideas or challenge conventional thinking. This can lead to innovative solutions and creative breakthroughs, as they force you to think outside the box.
- Teaches Tolerance and Patience: In dealing with conflicting perspectives, you learn to practice tolerance, patience, and diplomacy.
Why is it more critical in 2025?
Because the widespread uncertainty
and stress within global business communities have hindered growth. Over the
past few years, these challenges have intensified as major global conflicts
have brought nations into direct confrontation. Whether it's the trade war
between the USA and China or the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine,
none of these situations have provided stability for global businesses. Afterall,
where uncertainty dominates, growth struggles.
Looking ahead to 2025, governments
and businesses will need to focus on stabilizing economies, lowering prices,
and restoring a sense of security. From the lessons of 2024, we’ve learned that
when countries fail to trade essential commodities between them, they end up
exchanging missiles and insults instead. To avoid further escalation,
governments, alongside their business communities, must work towards bridging
divides. This collaborative effort can help businesses expand into broader
markets, as we cannot afford a worsening situation like the one seen in 2024.
Ideally, business communities should take the lead in this effort.
In conclusion, the above suggestions based on expert observations can enrich your decision-making, help you focus, and support you navigate challenges in 2025 with greater confidence as part of future-proofing strategies for your businesses.
