One of my favorite things about my job is that I get to have conversations with a bunch of interesting people. Many of those conversations are with decision makers from large, global Fortune-500 companies. One of the topics that I’ve found is always top-of-mind for them is the concept of business reimagination.

For legacy companies of that scale, a lot of time and resources are being allocated to finding a way to compete against the new generation of pure digital startups. What do companies of this size need to do to adapt and change their business strategies to prepare for the future? How do they become more customer centric and less product centric?

It all comes down to reimagining their business practices, hiring dynamic leaders, and paying attention to their customers.

What is Business Reimagination?

Business reimagination refers to the creation, adaptation, or modification of business practices with the ultimate goal of modernization. As a recruiter, my role in helping companies implement business reimagination is by finding the rare and dynamic talent that can guide companies through the process.

The key to hiring leadership in today’s business climate is to find candidates that not only solve the problems of today, but have the skill set, intuition, and growth potential to solve the issues of tomorrow. Technology is driving change at a rapid pace, so it’s vital that organizations don’t fixate on the in-the-moment challenges.

A question that I hear a lot is “where should I start with business reimagination?” It’s a difficult question to answer because it varies depending on the size, culture, and work environment of the company. For large legacy organizations, change can be slow. It’s not realistic to expect that a dynamic CEO hire can step in and with the snap of their fingers shift business operations. Instead, organizations need to build a culture of business reimagination, which starts with hiring the right people and becoming more customer centric, not product centric.

Shifting to Customer Centricity

The pure digital startups that are having the most success in today’s market are the ones who are customer centric. Customer-centric companies focus on providing the best solution for their customers, as opposed to product-centric companies, who focus on creating the best product.

The danger of focusing on products is you become vulnerable to falling behind customer trends and getting lapped by the next big thing. Think Blockbuster not recognizing the customers demand for video streaming, or Kodak not identifying the customer desire for digital image storage, or MapQuest getting swept into obscurity by the convenience of Google Maps.

If your organization is not paying attention to the customer, you’ll have trouble modernizing and competing in the future. To shift your company’s business mentality, start with hiring transformational talent.

Hiring Transformational Talent is a Great Place to Start

While it’s unrealistic to expect swift and pronounced change after a single hire, designing a hiring process that identifies and prioritizes transformational talent is a sure-fire way to modernize an organization’s culture.

Transformational talent possesses the ability to alter the course of a company. Bringing a fresh set of eyes to an organizational, transformational talent provides an outside perspective and the leadership to help shepherd a company through change.

Learn 5 ways to identify transformational talent.

Let MJS Executive Search Find You Transformational Talent

Does your company need a dynamic and forward-thinking leader? Get in touch today and learn more about how we find and place transformational talent.