Manifest Digital Human Experience Society

Symbol: Transcend

Type: Verb, Company Service

Text: To rethink market behaviors, the context of business in those markets,and the resources required for success. Strategic services.

Interpretation: Sometimes markets change gradually, with one variable slowly declining or one source of revenue eroding over a generation. But today the change is just as likely to be instant — the chess board is turned 180 degrees, black is white and white is black, and we must learn to play the game from the opposite side. In either case, the companies that prosper are not those that make one part of their operation more efficient or add one new piece to their advertising campaign. The winner is the one who invents a new game. 

Because of their constant conversations with the users of complex systems, Manifest designers are sometimes the first to realize when the rules are about to shift. Other times, a new way of thinking will come in a flash — it just needs the right client to realize it. No matter what the circumstances, however, the company has significant and unique experience in helping clients Transcend existing markets and create new ones. The change is often effected by developing a single new tool or practice, then demonstrating how its effectiveness could be multiplied in a new environment or paradigm. Business models are applied and discarded in rapid succession as the strategist and client collaborate to seek an innovative, new conclusion.

Not every company is in a position to Transcend. The move requires more than a single change agent; company leadership must often see that the shift necessitates an “all or nothing” approach. A company’s sacred symbols as well as its false gods must often be discarded. But those who succeed not only have the chance to create prosperity, but to be the first company of their generation to enter a new market — the Holy Grail of value. And in a world where markets are changing faster than ever, finding the Grail is sometimes the only way to survive.

Commentary: “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” –Abraham Lincoln

Connection: Transcend may lead to a need for Transform as well as multiple applications of Transition, Transfuse, or Transfer. However, given the radical nature of the change being undertaken, it is often difficult to say what the next step will be.