How is the world dealing with chaos?

Only those who can face the chaos they will encounter in the process of building their businesses will be able to overcome the "valley of death of new businesses. VIP players from venture ecosystems in four cities around the world, who have faced the chaos as individuals, teams, and organizations, were invited to participate in a great discussion on how Japanese large companies should face the chaos. What is important is to change, to have fun, and to just give it a try.

Business opportunities only exist beyond change.

One cannot talk about chaos without mentioning Singularity University (SU), a Silicon Valley think tank. Famous for its ability to attract Fortune 500 companies for future business ideas, it attracts a diverse group of educators, entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, philosophers, and others. It is nothing short of chaos as they discuss the future of their partner companies within the company. Panelist Molly Pyle is the manager of the venture discovery and development department within SU, building contacts from ventures to large companies. She works with companies at all stages of their development, and she says, "The most important thing in business today is to keep changing, no matter how big or small your organization is. Only by thinking beyond doing your job well and updating yourself flexibly will you be able to respond to ever-changing social issues. In an age when it is difficult to predict what will happen in the next 10 years, or even two or three years, change is an extremely effective corporate survival strategy. New business opportunities lie in the chaos that lies ahead.

Let's choose a change area.

Kelvin Ong, CEO of Focus Tech Ventures, a well-known accelerator/investor in Southeast Asia whose Singh is Paul, agreed with Pyle. Ong, who sold his family's precision machinery company and is now busy nurturing the next generation of deep technology ventures, is familiar with the Southeast Asian venture ecosystem that Singh has created around Paul. He is such a man of his word that "the driving force of change for large companies in Southeast Asia is collaboration with venture companies. On the other hand, he comments that his own country, Singapore, as well as neighboring countries, "generally do not have a national character that likes change," just as Japan does. That is why, he says, we should not seek change in everything randomly, but rather select areas for intentional change. Ong believes that the areas that should be selected are those that are tied to the corporate vision that both large companies and ventures want to achieve and the passion of the venture as a driver of change. What happens in those areas is probably the "key chaos" to deal with. Without this choice, he shared his view that companies should be aware of the danger of losing out to the instability that chaos brings and not being able to accomplish anything.

People gather where they have fun.

Change is necessary. And with that change comes suffering. However, it is also true that suffering alone will not sustain an initiative. Jack Wratten of Bloom Accelerate, which has an incubation office in central London, says that "having fun is one of the strongest factors in changing people. He has been involved in incubation in London for more than 10 years and sees how the venture boom has led to frequent pitch events, which the ventures themselves have grown tired of. People don't come for the mere business opportunity," he said. People gather because the people and projects involved are great. And in such "places," they often come into contact with ideas they had never noticed before, and new things begin to happen. That is his ideal incubation space. Ryusuke Komura, Program Manager of Venture Café Tokyo, an innovator community in Boston, fully agreed with Mr. Wratten's idea. Having been involved in entrepreneurship development for a long time, he said it is obvious that people do not change their way of thinking on command. Now that he is about to launch his own program, he says, "My boss only says, 'I'll leave it to you,' and 'Are you having fun? But I'm in the midst of a fun experience where the team is coming together and changing rapidly," he smiles.

The only solution in chaotic systems is to try anyway.

Change, enjoy the change, and at the end of the day, all that remains is execution. What all the panelists agreed on was the importance of doing it anyway. This idea is interesting because it is closely tied to the nature of chaos. Ever heard of the Butterfly Effect? It is a motto expression of chaos in which the flapping of a butterfly's wings in one place can cause a tornado in a different place. In other words, in chaos, differences in initial values can give unpredictable weight to outputs. In a place of change and diverse human resources, no one can predict what the output will be after trying anyway. It may yield insignificant results, or it may lead to innovations that transform people's lives. Since no one knows the outcome, there is no other methodology but to do it first and get the results. This may seem like a ridiculous approach to those who are accustomed to a planned economy. However, the panelists agreed that no new business will ever get off the ground if it is only done properly. Once you get the results, you just have to change and enjoy the changes. After dealing with chaos and overcoming it, chaos is what awaits us.