Perspective in Practice
Driving Business Model Shifts
Primary Capability
Understanding the Changing Landscape
Related Capabilities
Shaping Strategic Direction
Learning & Adapting
Informed by Experience From
Telia
Scania
DeLaval
Husqvarna Group
Crypto International
Johnson & Wales University
Observation
Growth rarely comes from doing more of the same.
Yet most organizations are structured to optimize today's business rather than prepare for tomorrow's.
Business model shifts rarely begin with urgency. They begin with weak signals—changing customer behavior, emerging technologies, new competitors or evolving market expectations. The challenge is not simply recognizing those signals, but creating enough shared direction to act before change becomes unavoidable.
Why This Matters
Across industries, organizations often recognize that change is coming.
What slows progress is rarely a lack of ideas. More often, it is uncertainty about what the signals mean, what priorities should change and how to mobilize the organization around a new direction.
Business model shifts therefore become leadership challenges before they become operational ones.
Experience Informing This Perspective
Although these organizations operated in very different industries, they faced remarkably similar strategic questions.
How do we recognize change before it becomes urgent?
How do we create new sources of value without disrupting today's business?
How do we mobilize the organization around a direction that is still emerging?
Working across telecommunications, industrial manufacturing, cybersecurity and higher education made one thing increasingly clear:
The challenge was rarely the business model itself. It was creating enough shared direction for leaders to act before urgency forced the decision.
Examples include:
Telia — Developing content payment services and SaaS-based business models.
Scania — Supporting the shift towards service and uptime-based offerings.
Crypto International — Contributing to the transition from encryption products to cybersecurity services.
DeLaval — Developing subscription-based service models.
Husqvarna Group — Expanding digital aftermarket offerings and strengthening a global brand portfolio.
Johnson & Wales University — Establishing market presence in Sweden through strategic positioning and international growth.
Common Patterns
Across these organizations, successful business model shifts depended on leaders being able to:
recognize strategic signals before they became obvious
question established assumptions about value creation
translate emerging opportunities into strategic priorities
align stakeholders around a new direction
create momentum before urgency forced change
Business model innovation was rarely the hardest part.
Creating shared direction was.
My Contribution
I typically work where strategic direction is still emerging rather than fully defined.
My role is to help leadership teams make sense of changing conditions, identify what matters next and create the strategic orientation needed to move with confidence.
This often means combining strategy, business architecture, governance and facilitation to help organizations move from observation to coordinated action.
Common Outcomes
Although every organization measures success differently, similar outcomes have emerged across these experiences:
Earlier recognition of strategic opportunities
New business and revenue models
Stronger customer lifecycle thinking
Improved strategic positioning
Greater organizational readiness for change
Strategic Reflection
Many organizations are capable of recognizing change.
The greater challenge is creating enough shared direction to act before urgency forces the decision.
The question for leadership is therefore rarely:
What is changing?
More often it is:
What are we already seeing—but not yet acting upon?