Strategies for chief executives to build the organizations of the future

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to help CEOs understand the capabilities and mechanisms that they need to adopt today to build successful organizations in the future. Design/methodology/approach: It illustrates with examples of global companies including Blockbuster, Nokia, Kodak and Sears that failed to embrace change while Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook succeeded in reinventing. It draws a blueprint for CEOs to build organizations in the future. Findings: It implores to plan for multiple and emerging visions of the future using a scenario approach. It concludes that CEOs must predict the future, embrace change and adopt innovative tools and techniques to lead the organizations in the future. Practical implications: These tools and techniques can be applied by chief executives in any industry and any size of the organization. Social implications: The social implications of this research suggest that the chief executives must adopt these tools and techniques to build the organizations of the future. Originality/value: It explores organizational network analysis, encourages a focused differentiation strategy and emphasizes differentiated skill-focused structures. It advises integrated efforts from all stakeholders including the organization, employees, human resources and chief executives to reinvent and build organizations of the future.