Prepare to capitalise on the unpredictable markets of today. Firstly your organisation should have two goals. The first is to serve a single customer.
This means tailoring whatever product or service you offer to each individual customer.

The second goal is to act in zero time. You respond immediately to customer demand and capitalise on market opportunities as soon as they appear.

Sounds very easy and logical, but for many companies it is unfortunately impossible task. So what should you do to achieve these goals?

• Change your infrastructure that allows your workers to act instantly
• Provide the leadership tools that rewards workers to be innovative
• Encourage workers to satisfy unexpected customer demands
  
• Hiring workers who recognise and seize new market opportunities

Workers should be wired to customers, to each others, to suppliers, outside experts and own management. Teams form and dissolve as needed to get jobs done. Companies who have successfully run this kind of management structure are e.g. Coca Cola, Dell Computer, MTV Networks, Sears, Southwest Airlines, Buckman Laboratories and others. One has to understand that no company, no matter how successful, can afford to remain in one place for too long without developing and taking care of new challenges.

The faster and more easily your workers can access the information they need, the faster and more easily they can serve your customers. Make sure your information system provide up-to-the-date information in zero time. You might need to be flexible enough to respond to an infinite number of customer needs.

You probably need process technology that streamlines order entry, allows you to produce single units cheaply and eliminates inventory. Your facility, like the structure of your company, must be flexible. It must be able to adapt to the changing challenges.

One of your tasks as a leader is to define your company’s strategic purpose. This is your promise of exceptional customer benefits. Once you have decided what outstanding benefits you want to offer customers, you must motivate your workers to act accordingly to reach these goals.

Keep communications channels wide open in your company and use them as a key for information as well as for companywide interaction. Well-informed workers are better equipped to see opportunities. Encourage your employers to entertain ideas from customers and to exchange those ideas with each others. There might be an unexpected market opportunities. You must also have confidence in the initiative and decision making ability of your employers. Learn to rely on their judgement. It might be risky, but it is part of the picture, if you expect to lead the company in real time.

Today’s accelerated business arena, where markets are uncertain and predictability is almost impossible, you need to take care of all the hiding resources and business opportunities by acting open minded and flexible