Reading for a Changing Utility Landscape

If you have been on the Internet recently, you will have noticed that the end of 2015 brings with it endless online posts regarding some of the year’s bests, worsts, highlights, and lowlights. I'm following suit by listing a handful of my favorite semi-work-related books. Throughout the last year, many thought leaders introduced creative approaches that apply to current utility business challenges. These approaches include, but are not limited to, organic growth, disruptive technologies, and fraternal twins, and global warming and climate change. Here are my favorites from 2015:

1. How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery, by Kevin Ashton.

   Now that the Internet of Things (IoT) has entered the energy and utilities industry in a big way, it is time for people in this industry to read something by the man who coined that term, even though the book itself is not specifically focused on IoT. Debunking the idea that greatness is the result of single moments of revelation, Ashton argues for the merits in repeated experimentation, failure, and gradual development. Utilities feeling pressured by an all-or-nothing approach to developing an integrated and smart organization can pivot their focus a bit more toward how they can start to get their hands dirty, focusing on small achievements to support the foundation of much larger change.

2. Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry, by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff.

   While I did not love the heavy historical narrative in this book, it did really hone in on the concept that one should never underestimate their competition (in BlackBerry's case, the iPhone), and that competition can come from anywhere. Since the power utility industry has traditionally been protected by a regulated monopoly model, lessons in dealing with competition are likely less ingrained than in other deregulated markets. But as the regulatory environment changes, young companies in solar, storage, IoT, energy efficiency, and demand management have encroached on utility consumers like never before, and there are no signs that their momentum will slow. The utility-customer relationship is becoming more important than ever, right when it stands the most threat.

3. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, By Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner

   Based on a 4-year study of random individuals tasked to predict outcomes based on common information, the authors of this book found that the best forecasters followed a common methodology based on data collection and objectivity. This seems like an obvious outcome, but the authors also noted that it is very rarely applied to business, economic, and political forecasting. Something for all of us to ponder.

These are just three books that felt pertinent to me this year given the changes occurring in the United States and globally, where environmental, political, and technological forces are shaping organizational change at an unprecedented rate. In a time of unruly transition, one thing that cannot hurt executives is to start reading up on the topics that have helped leaders in other evolving industries—and look for ways to apply lessons to their new challenges.