Myer CEO’s address.
Forces of digitisation, globalisation and large scale societal and demographic change are impacting and shaping us all, and not in a predictable, organised or readily understandable way, Myer CEO Richard Umbers explained in his address at the British Chamber of Commerce event held in Melbourne earlier this week.
“Today’s business jargon is VUCA, in a ‘Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous,’ way, it is now a cliché but a term originally coined to describe the battlefield by the US Army War College.
It’s the ‘new normal’. Witness Brexit as an insight into the unpredictable will of a mass audience. And in retail, our mass audience is empowered as never before, informed and liberated by technology, which has given way to the connected consumer,” he said.
“Today’s shopper in Australia can choose from a global spread of brands, from a rapidly expanding list of retailers, across both physical and online channels.
“Therefore, if we are no longer relevant, what does a hundred years of history matter – people don’t hang around. Our heritage is important, but it has to be a modern heritage,” he said.
Umbers called upon the idea proposed by futurist Bob Johansen who believes we need an antidote to VUCA. “He suggests responding with Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility,” he added.