Jim Dewald, author of the new release Achieving Longevity discusses his fascination with the short survival time of firms, rates of change, and more.
How did you become involved in your area of research?
My interest in corporate entrepreneurship dates back to before I was in academics, when I was CEO of a real estate development company. This dates back 17 years when we saw the opportunity to transact real estate using the Internet for partial dis-intermediation. What shocked me was the number of corporate leaders in the industry absolutely fearful of any kind of change or disruption. Leaders crave longevity, but they want things to stay as they are for the long term. That is simply not reality.
I was so influenced by this experience that I actually started my PhD studies at the ripe age of 44, just so I could study why some leaders welcome corporate entrepreneurship, while others resist, and others actually outright fight against change. My personal view was that successful corporations are best resourced and best positioned to take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities.
What inspired you to write this book?
Two things really started me on the journey to write Achieving Longevity. First, learning the extremely short time-line for firm survival. I mean, how weird is it to think that on average, new operating firms, not just the concept numbered companies, but the actual operating firms only exist for 5 years? That’s kind of crazy.
Second was to learn that the most established firms of all time do practice corporate entrepreneurship. The evidence is compelling – great firms do prosper through entrepreneurial thinking.
As a business school dean, and a professor in strategy, I came to the realization that the story had to be told. Sustained competitive advantage is not the path to longevity, strategic entrepreneurship is. To move from strategic planning to strategic entrepreneurship, leaders need to embrace entrepreneurial thinking. I felt compelled to share this message as widely as possible.
How long did it take you to write your latest book?
I have worked the past two years on this book.
What do you find most interesting about your area of research?
I am fascinated by the diversity of reactions to the same circumstances. When adversity or opportunity (which may be the same, but perceived differently) arises, leaders will react in a wide array of manners. Why? That is the question that fascinates me.
My research has focused on first distinguishing between dispositional factors (how individuals are inherently different) and situational factors (how individuals perceive the event to be different).
What’s the most surprising thing you discovered during the course of your research?
I started my journey by wanting to use changing times as the reason why a leader must pursue entrepreneurial thinking for longevity. I had by then seen the data on the short survival rate of firms, and the degree of change on the Dow Jones 30, and finally the amount of entrepreneurship and innovation within the most successful firms of all time. But I didn’t expect what I found when I started studying change. In fact, we are only fiddling around the edges. Our way of living is so unchanged over the past 60 years or so, it is startling. We drive in cars, the same speed, on the same roads, fill-up with gasoline the same way, heat our homes the same, have plumbing, water supply, electricity to homes, take showers – I mean it is really shocking to think of how little my daily routine has changed since I was a young man to today. By contrast, someone born 100 years before me would have gone from horse to cars, from kerosene lamps to electric lights, from wood stoves to survive winter to central heating, from outhouses to indoor plumbing. Wow.
This revelation caused me to do quite a bit more research on why things have not changed, and how long this phenomenon might continue. A fascinating and revealing study that is still ongoing for me, and will definitely be a main part of my future writing.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Writing a book needs to be an act of passion. You need to believe in it totally yourself. Particularly with boldness. The bolder you are, the less certain you can be that others will find your work important. That is the knife edge that can make a writer very anxious, but it is also very much where writing thrives. It is lonely, and scary, but very rewarding and liberating. Hmm, now I am realizing the question was about the hardest part, which turned into me talking about it being the most rewarding part. I guess that is a statement on just about anything in life.
What did you learn from writing your book?
I learned that it is very important to keep moving forward. One of my favourite sayings is that great writers don’t write, they re-write. I think this is a take-off from a Michael Crichton quote, “Books are not written – they’re re-written.” I found it is really important to put down your thoughts, fully recognizing that there is a good chance that it will be changed before the book is finished. Re-writing is improving.
What are your current/future projects?
I am currently working on a project that is focused on our future, the prospect of real change, and what would change on the level of an industrial revolution mean today? I am very excited about this work.
What do you like to read for pleasure? What are you currently reading?
I am probably too focused on business and business oriented books. Right now, I am reading Blockchain Revolution by Don and Alex Tapscott, The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert Gordon, and An Everyone Culture by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey.
What is your favourite book?
My favourite book of all time is The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, and I am also a huge fan of Max DePree’s books on leadership, most notably Leadership is an Art.
If you weren’t working in academia, what would you be doing instead?
I did real estate development and engineering for the larger part of my work life, and at times I miss it. My thing is really the organization and the people, not so much what we are producing. Academics are great though because of the freedom to focus on what you feel is important and in need of further study.
Without being so evasive, one thing I would like to do is be in business with my children, who are already adults and cutting their own paths. Still, maybe one day…
