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- By Charles Miller
The sound of celebration echoed across the City of London.
In 1882, Londoners gathered on Holborn Viaduct to marvel at a groundbreaking innovation: the first coal-powered electricity plant.
Steam generators lit the streets with electric light, heralding a new era of bright, safe nights and accessible power.
Yet this revolutionary technology was destined to last a mere 142 years and was only a chapter in a larger cycle of growth, dominance, decline, and reinvention – a cycle that’s defined UK power generation and global industry since the mid-19 century.
From 1870 to 2024, the UK’s energy sector underwent monumental shifts.
Coal reigned supreme early on, fuelling the Industrial Revolution and becoming the backbone of electricity by the mid-20th century.
By 1980, coal consumption for power peaked at 90 million tonnes.
Paradoxically, coal employment had already peaked in the 1920s, with over a million miners, while the 1950s marked peak mining with more than 1,400 operational mines.
Efficiency and automation drove output higher even as labour declined.
Inevitably coal’s dominance couldn’t withstand environmental concerns, geopolitical change, and technological progress.
In September, 2024, the UK’s last coal plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, closed, a result of the re-invention of the industry and adoption of renewables, nuclear power, and the pursuit of net-zero emissions – a process initiated by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
This pattern of reinvention is equally striking in the corporate world.
IBM stands as a masterclass in transformation. Founded in 1911 as a tabulating machine manufacturer, it evolved into a computing giant, dominating mainframes, personal computers, and later IT services.
Faced with near collapse in the 1990s, IBM pivoted under Lou Gerstner, shifting from hardware to consulting, software, and cloud solutions.
Today, IBM leads in quantum computing and AI, far removed from its punch-card roots.
Similarly, Nokia, once synonymous with, (in order), pulp, electronics, and later mobile phones, reinvented itself after losing its handset business, emerging as a leader in 5G and telecommunications infrastructure.
The enduring success of companies like IBM, Nokia, and nations like the UK lies in continuous reinvention.
This requires three critical leadership traits. First, perceptive vision grounded in a deep understanding of consumers, markets, and technologies to anticipate and act on opportunities.
Second, an obsessive commitment to innovation, turning great ideas into reality through investment and focus.
Not just predicting the future but creating it. Finally, resilience and agility to adapt to disruptions – not merely bouncing back but bouncing forward.
Whether it’s moving from coal to renewables or pivoting from hardware to cloud computing, reinvention isn’t just a strategy, it’s survival.
Those who master it, like the pioneers of Holborn Viaduct, will always have something to celebrate.
