One of the big news from last week, apart from Friday’s massive cyber attack, is the merger of AT&T and Time Warner. A few people have asked about my thoughts to said deal…

Failure or imagination. More business as usual. That’s it.

Are they creating the future? No. More of the same? Yes.

This deal is about, wait for it, market domination; not new value creation. If it were really interesting then they wouldn’t be talking about creating synergies, but difference.

How?

It’s not secret that that these two conglomerates are in businesses where not much has changed in the customer experience front. So, what if AT&T / Time Warner — or the next pair-up of giants — announced that, along with its new financial structure and marketing clout, the combined entity would actually do business differently? What if it told the world that it was going to be straight with its customers, take care of its employees, respect the planet, and regularly tell investors how it was doing on all those fronts? What if it then went and actually did those things?

That would be business unusual.

Too radical?

Not thinking it’s possible is a failure of imagination.

Bottom line: As Gary Hamel says, “Companies fail to create the future not because they fail to predict it but because they fail to imagine it”.