At Sage Partners, we work with executives facing constant disruption—shifting market dynamics, emerging technologies, and evolving customer behaviors—all demanding rapid adjustments to strategy, operations, and even corporate culture.
Our role? To help leaders navigate uncertainty and transform change into opportunity.
That’s why we launched the Focus on Growth: Sage Insights podcast—to explore how forward-thinking executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators can shape the future rather than merely react to it.
Assembling Tomorrow: The Executive Playbook for Change
In a recent episode, we sat down with Scott Doorley and Carissa Carter of Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Design Institute (d.school) to discuss how design thinking can help business leaders navigate uncertainty and build a thriving future.
Their book, Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future (Ten Speed Press/Penguin Random House), presents a compelling case for systems design thinking—emphasizing that everything we create exists within interconnected systems. Whether it's business models, technology, or customer experiences, the ability to design for flexibility and adaptability has never been more essential.
Key Takeaways: Designing for the Future of Growth
Two core ideas from our discussion are particularly relevant for executives looking to accelerate growth:
1. Everything Breaks—Design for Adaptability
No business model, technology, or industry framework is immune to disruption. The key to long-term success is designing with built-in flexibility, so when inevitable challenges arise, organizations can pivot effectively.
Consider Social Security—originally designed when there were 15 workers per retiree, it worked well. Today, with a 3-to-1 ratio and increasing life expectancies, the system is under strain. What worked yesterday may not work tomorrow—and smart leaders plan for adaptability rather than permanence.
2. Runaway Design—The Challenge of Evolving Technology
Emerging technologies—AI, blockchain, genetic engineering—are developing at an exponential pace, often outstripping our ability to predict their consequences. Unlike traditional products, these innovations continue to make decisions long after their creators have moved on.
Take generative AI—initially designed for productivity, it’s now transforming entire industries, redefining job roles, and even influencing public perception. This is the reality of runaway design—where systems evolve beyond our control unless leaders actively shape their trajectory.
Turning Uncertainty into Competitive Advantage
While many leaders view unintended consequences as risks, they also represent opportunities for innovation. Success in an uncertain world requires a mindset that:
Identifies gaps in current business models as areas for new growth opportunities.
Recognizes that perfect knowledge isn't necessary to move forward—just as humans used fire long before they understood combustion.
Leverages collaboration across industries to anticipate and mitigate risk.
Leading Through the Fog of Change
As Assembling Tomorrow suggests, change doesn’t signal instability—it signals opportunity. The book opens with a powerful quote from Katherine Anne Porter:
"It may be that what we have is a world not on the verge of flying apart, but an uncreated one, still in shapeless fragments, waiting to be put together properly."
This aligns with our approach at Sage Partners—helping leaders put the right pieces together to drive sustainable growth in a rapidly evolving landscape.
The book offers practical strategies for navigating uncertainty, including:
Noticing – Identifying early signals of market shifts, emerging customer needs, and industry disruptions.
Shape Shifting – Borrowing problem-solving perspectives from other industries (e.g., how would a first-grade teacher simplify this challenge?).
Designing for Growth and Sustainability
A particularly compelling takeaway from the book is the concept of “designing for healing”—creating business models and innovations that don’t just solve immediate problems but also repair past damage and foster long-term sustainability.
A great example? Levi Strauss & Co. partnered with a chemical company to develop an environmentally friendly dye and then open-sourced the formula to competitors—reducing industry-wide pollution by 70%. Instead of hoarding innovation, they embraced collaborative progress, prioritizing long-term impact over short-term competitive advantage.
What This Means for Growth-Focused Leaders
At Sage Partners, we work with executives to turn uncertainty into a competitive edge by:
Identifying strategic inflection points before they become crises.
Designing flexible business models that thrive amid disruption.
Applying systems thinking to unlock new pathways for sustainable growth.
If these challenges resonate with you, I invite you to listen to Assembling Tomorrow: Navigating the Fog of Change—and let’s start a conversation.
About the Pod
Focus on Growth - Sage Insights is a concise, power-packed podcast by Sage Partners. Tailored for leaders and aspiring leaders of companies ranging from burgeoning startups to the established, each episode offers actionable advice and insights to help you accelerate growth. Each episode is 15-20 minutes - designed to fit into the busy schedules of C-suite leaders and decision-makers.
At the core of this series is the exploration of growth strategies and their impact on creating value for all stakeholders. Sage Partners brings their extensive experience and expertise to these conversations.
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Sage Partners Thomas Doorley III and Cedrick Crocker contributed this Sage Advice.
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