Innovate to stay alive
Recently, I was reading an interesting case of a mobile phone manufacturing company that until a couple of years ago was the leading and most preferred brand in the world, and all of a sudden it is struggling to keep up with the competition. The reason? Well, competitors have managed to introduce better, cheaper and faster products with superior technology.
Happens all the time. Nothing remains forever. Products, ideas, services, everything changes. Top-selling products fade and become obsolete if they don’t keep pace with changes in time and trends. People / organizations who rise to the top by being imaginative and flexible are also sometimes in a comfort zone. While they fail to explore new directions and become complacent, they give young competitors the opportunity to outperform them, leaving them with two simple options: innovate or perish.
Someone rightly said that “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Consider an example of a successful company in its products, services, people and you will find that the secret of its success lies in a culture that promotes innovative thinking as a way of life. The leaders of these organizations force their people to think about how everything around them can improve. Even when they’re at the top, they appreciate and respect the fact that the only way to maintain that position is by exploring new directions to offer better products, reducing costs, producing faster, and keeping customers happy.
Every organization, regardless of its size, has to innovate to survive and prosper. Here are my Top Seven Tips on what you can do to stay alive in business:
Never rest on the laurels of the past because any newcomer with a better offer can knock you down from the top.
Don’t wait for opportunities; create them by looking for new trends and developments.
Stay on top of any new technology in your field and be among the first to try it, if necessary, train your people on it and adapt it to your business.
Talk to people associated with your business, your customers, suppliers, employees and accept their suggestions and ideas on how things can improve.
Create a culture of having creative brainstorming sessions in your organization as they will constantly feed you information for small improvements and may also pay down the road for a revolutionary idea.
Get new perspectives on your business from all possible sources, such as newspapers, magazines, seminars, television, etc.
Every quarter you ask everyone on your team this question: What are the 3 things that you or our company most need to change?
Let’s start with this thought: ‘People who change after the change will survive; people who change with change will succeed; the people who bring about the change will lead. ‘ So, go ahead and lead, don’t just survive!