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 preferred brand in the world and suddenly it is struggling to keep up with the competition. The reason? Well, competitors have been successful in introducing better, cheaper and faster products with superior technology.
Happens all the time. Nothing stays forever. Products, ideas, services, everything changes. Best-selling products lose their shine and become outdated if they don’t keep pace with the times and changing trends. People/organizations that 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 overtake 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, its products, services, people, and you’ll find that the secret to its success lies in a culture that promotes innovative thinking as a way of life. The leaders of such organizations force their people to think about how everything around them can be improved. Even when they are at the top, they appreciate and respect the fact that the only way to maintain that position is to explore new directions to offer better products, reduce costs, produce faster and keep 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 your past laurels because any newcomer with a better offer can knock you off 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 out, if needed train your people and adapt it to your business.
Talk to people related to your business, your customers, suppliers, employees and get their suggestions and ideas on how things can be improved.
Create a culture of having creative brainstorming sessions in your organization as they will constantly feed you with information for small improvements and can also pave the way for an innovative idea.
Get new perspectives on your business from every possible source, such as newspapers, magazines, seminars, television, etc.
Every quarter you ask every member of your team this question: What are the 3 things that you or our company most need to change?
Let’s drop this thought: ‘People who change after change will survive; people who change with change will be successful; the people who cause change will lead’. So follow and lead, don’t just survive!
