The Business Book

9898

desktop-bound roots, in a format
that few, at first, expected to be
popular. The iPad ushered in
a new era of computing, and
remains, even in an increasingly
crowded tablet-computer market-
place, the industry standard.

Corporate culture
Apple has changed the game so
significantly that the brand has
entered the cultural zeitgeist: its
products are seen everywhere—
from coffee shops and classrooms
to television shows. Apple’s
technology has made its products
ubiquitous and its customers
fanatically brand loyal. With such a
competitive edge, it is no surprise
that the company’s prices are able
to sit well above industry averages.
But the challenge for any
organization is to ensure that
such game-changing mentality
informs the spirit of the whole
company. As French businessman
Pierre Omidyar, founder of the
online auction site eBay, suggests,
a leader must be “a catalyst for

change.” But to be truly successful,

and to outlive the tenure of a highly

driven leader, the desire to disrupt

must be pervasive. The energy,

innovation, and courage required

to repeatedly disrupt industries

must be deeply ingrained in the

corporate culture, which must also

allow for flexibility to change.

In the case of eBay, Omidyar

realized that the future was

unpredictable and nonlinear,

and decided to structure his new

venture with the approach of a

software engineer (his former job),

“who has learned to strive for

flexibility in design.” While a

software program might seem

initially to provide more than its

customers need, this is what gives

it the flexibility to change and

“prepare for the unexpected.”

Ebay’s self-sustaining system

required little intervention and was

able to adapt and grow according

to customer needs. Its design

effectively embedded disruption

within the core structure. The idea

of allowing users to rate each other

was both new and risky—as was

a business model that required

users to do most of the work. These

features nevertheless ensured

that eBay evolved not only around

Omidyar’s ideas and energy, but

also around the requirements of the

entire eBay community.

Embracing failure

However, such deeply embedded

game-changing mentality is rare.

Heroic leaders—game changers and

risk takers—are difficult to find and

even more difficult to replace. With

fewer than one in ten new product

ideas making it to market, people

CHANGING THE GAME

Pierre Omidyar, chairman and
founder of the popular auction site
eBay, has embedded the desire for
innovation and dramatic change within
his company’s corporate culture.

What today seems odd,

unnecessary, offbeat—maybe

even outrageous—may

prove integral to solving

tomorrow’s problems.

Pierre Omidyar

Problems cannot be

solved at the same level

of awareness that

created them.

Albert Einstein

German-born physicist (1879 –1955)