The world we operate in today is unrecognisable from five years ago, so the greatest risk to an ambitious business owner isn’t lack of knowledge or effort — it’s lack of adaptability. The half-life of business skills has plummeted from ten years to just four and the figure is dropping fast. Anyone still functioning on a static strategy runs the risk of falling behind.
Survival depends on leaning into unpredictability rather than being fearful of it, so we invited speaker, author and serial entrepreneur Richard Mulholland to talk to us about his latest book, Relentless Relevance.
🎧 Catch the full conversation on the Sparks by Ignium podcast — search on your favourite platform.
The 3-question stress test every business should take
Relevance means being appropriate to the matter at hand. With that in mind, here are three questions that deserve constant attention.
Question 1: What’s the problem we’re solving here?
Most leaders start with passion, but Rich argues this is a fundamental error. He says we’ve been sold a cultural myth that doing what you love is the key to business longevity. In reality, should we be problem-solvers first and foremost?
His message is blunt: business isn’t about following your heart, it’s about identifying areas of friction and then being the cure.
‘We’ve been sold a lie. Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life again. That doesn’t make sense. Do what you hate, find stuff that annoys you and fix it.’
Question 2: Is it still a problem that exists today?
Ambitious business owners can easily fall into the trap of solving yesterday’s problems. If your strategy is tethered to a static BHAG, you might be working towards something that no longer exists.
‘The most strategic thing we can do is ignore the traditional models of strategy… We can have aspirations but our ability to course-control needs to be better.’
When I help my clients understand where their business is right now, I use the OODA loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. It develops a better ability to pivot when needed.
Question 3: If it is still a problem, is the solution still relevant?
Even if the problem still exists, the method of solving it may have been turned on its head. This is where the T-Shaped human and business wins. AI might handle the broad, horizontal base of task execution and data, but the unfair advantage belongs to those who develop deep, vertical expertise in empathy, leadership coaching and persuasion.
‘If we have a tool that makes time more efficient, then why are we not giving that back to our staff? Because if we don’t give it back, we’re saying we want you to be more efficient and we want all the benefits. It’s a problematic statement.’
The pertinent truth
Staying relevant isn’t about having the perfect five-year forecast. It’s about having the guts to course-correct in real-time. We’re moving into an era where empathy, agility and problem-solving are valuable currencies.
If you can solve a real problem while treating your team’s time as a gift rather than a resource to be drained, you won’t just survive the age of AI — you’ll own it.
Ready to rip up the rule book? Find more business insights in the Ignium Spark Tank, or get in touch to talk about how we can help you stay relevant and grow.