Tag: MSN

Inertia and urge

In business parlance, we call them “entrenchment” and “creative destruction”. Find a niche, dig in. By the time you crossed “valley of death”, someone had already elbowed in to eat your lunch.

As Venture Capitalists scour the globe looking for “the” deal, they find new energy and risk-taking in places like Rwanda, Indonesia and Israel, the new “BRICS“. Emerged out of the ash of the Great Recession, these countries offer a unique proposition: invest in us for we got talent, nerve and market.

Since history can only be understood backward and not forward (a need for spices and to dispel “Earth-is-square” theory drove Columbus to stumble upon America), we can’t manufacture another version of post WWII American Dream. Whatever shape it will take, post-recession wise, one will likely find “gems” in the most unlikely places (GE and MSN in India, or “frankenfish” farmed in China bio-lab).

After reading Sarah Lacy‘s book about start-ups in emerging countries (Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky), I felt as if “Independence Day” were celebrated else where, and not in the US.

Web eco-sphere and capital flow (as in the case of hyper-Brazil) are tilted to smaller countries: lower barriers to entry, greater access to broadband and micro-funding.

To jump-start a project, one needs more than an urge to get rich. In most cases illustrated in the book, it has a cause or personal narrative to underline the efforts. Innovator’s dilemma implies a balancing act between preserving the status quo and feeding the creative urge.

If not, someone else will and will do you in.

It’s called Progress. It’s called evolution. Climbing the pyramid of need and innovation. Unplug the respirator and move into the “incubator”. I have lived on both sides of the world, one more risk-taking, and the other,  safety. It’s as if we have reached a plateau in “subduing the Earth”. Columbus, welcome to America, now go home. Take another lesson in adventure and entrepreneurship elsewhere. Maybe we haven’t failed enough. But it’s time to finish the race. Inertia and urge. Let the urge overtake the inertia.

creative disruption

Innovator’s Dilemma is when incumbents grow complacent and are challenged by emerging forces that disrupt and destroy them.

Gary Hamel in The Future of Management urges constant reinvention of management principles e.g. decision-making be pushed to the outer edges.  The point is, leaders are listeners, not lecturers.

That’s hard! For centuries, we are conditioned to sit passively, and take in whatever thrown at us from the pulpit.

Now, it is as our turn to be leaders, and we are told to ask “who else got anything to share”.

Organizations that don’t listen (or create a feedback loop) do so at their own peril.

A decade ago, if you worked at Microsoft, or Yahoo, you were set.

Now, Bill Gates is contemplating a Jobs-like return. Hard times.

In marketing class, I was told to observe high-school age groups, our future consumers.

Through them,  we found Micro Trends: knitting, the return of flannel shirts, and music mix (disco era and modern).

There is a T-shirt company which uses the winner’s design for mass release. Crowd-sourcing.

It’s been said that customer is King but the King isn’t listened to, until he screams at Customer Service  reps (Return and Exchange line)  rather than at product design stage (pre-mortem).

Some examples of successful “listening” are: Nissan‘s LEAF and Samsung electronics.

With more computing power, product design offers more choices. This leaves marketing staff with clip boards in hands to observe, listen, and PROBE.

The King will tell you. There will be a gush of feelings once customers are open up.  Or they will vote with their feet, by flocking to the nearest competitor. Some “disruptors” will always be there, lurking in the shadow, ready to eat your lunch. We got more ways for feedback now than ever. Just need work on the listening part.