When I began to write this, I wanted to somehow capture the essence of what Hexagon is about. What surprised me is that it required just five simple words.
Trust me, we have teams of some of the brightest and best people in the world who work tirelessly on things like our ‘value proposition,’ ‘brand positioning’ and ‘competitive advantage’ – all important for any leading global company like Hexagon – and yet, when you reduce it to what matters most, what is and what should be describe our world view perfectly.
I don’t think I’ll get any argument that the world today is not what it should be. While many enjoy the privilege of shelter, warmth, safety, food and water and employment, many still struggle to secure the basic necessities of life.
When I bring this up, sometimes I hear, “Ola, these problems aren’t going away any time soon,” to which I respond, “Why not?” The future of our world is there for us to shape … we are not helpless!
At Hexagon, when we look at what is, we immediately turn our gaze to what should be. The chasm we see between these two states we call ‘change.’ We will never get to what should be without change, so our constant endeavor is to narrow that distance by taking a proactive role in shaping change in the world. This is what we call shaping smart change.
We approach this shaping of change with a sense of urgency every day. I recently read an interview with Nobel laureate James Watson in which he said that he wants to find a cure for cancer in his lifetime. He was 82 years old at the time of the interview.
Watson’s argument rings true for all the global challenges we face: we are stewards of this inexhaustible resource – human ingenuity. We are applying that ingenuity to every challenge we face. At Hexagon, we bring together another seemingly inexhaustible resource, data … Big Data. We are fusing that data with knowledge, experience, creativity and the connectivity that our information technologies empower.
We see information technology not as a panacea, but as the accelerator that enables us to close that distance between what is and what should be with swift decisiveness and intelligence.
The future is there for us to shape.
Hexagon is inspired by this, to narrow the gap between what is and what should be. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be narrowing chasms and shaping smart change.
