Transforming Legacy Organizations

CHAPTER 8WE DON'T KNOW IT, SO WE DON'T WANT IT: THE SOCIETAL IMMUNE SYSTEM

As is the case with the individual and organizational immune system, there are three key parameters in the societal immune system that you must address if you want to strengthen your innovative power. These are:

• Legislation
• Legacy customers and suppliers
• The general economic climate.

LEGISLATION

In GE's annual global innovation barometer, 68% of respondents in 2018 indicated that their governments were unable to regulate innovation because they couldn't keep up with the pace of innovation.¹ Respondents in the study experienced this whether or not they were for or against higher degrees of protectionism. The report's conclusion was that innovation is driven by the private sector, and the legislative power can't keep up.

One of the most obvious examples of this is the war between Uber and the taxi companies around the world. Whether in Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, England, the United States, India, or China, there has been a fight, and even physical combat, between the established taxi companies and Uber's taxi-like service. In the vast majority of countries, if you are a taxi driver, you live under strict regulation. Becoming a taxi driver is by no means easy. There are limits to the number of licenses issued for driving a taxi, and in New York, for example, you must have a so-called taxi medallion, which is very expensive.² The barriers to becoming a taxi driver, or for a haulier to add a taxi ...