How do we ever get "ahead of the curve" when everything is so fast?

There is an old saying in sports that is used to describe how a truly great player approaches their respective game, using the hockey version, it goes something like this: They are able to place themselves where the puck will be, not where it is. In business, we have seen numerous companies use this approach and they have jumped way ahead in their respective industries. We might immediately think of Apple, Netflix, Tesla, and Uber to just mention a few. They thought in abstract terms and created a market based on what they felt the consumers were looking for, they built a business based on those suspicions and carved out an entirely new space.

Whenever things are changing rapidly, there is an even greater desire to get ahead of the curve, stay current, and be prepared for whatever changes the future might have. However, that task has been getting more and more complicated, wouldn't you agree? Who of us could've predicted the impact of Covid? Who of us could've predicted a crisis in Ukraine that will no doubt have economic repercussions in the years to come? Technology is also changing quicker than it ever has before and the wants and desires of consumers are all over the map.

Some business owners, executives, and leadership teams try to stay at the head of the curve by analyzing what they see in their own business. They look at past performance, analyze current web traffic trends overall sales performance, survey their customers, and hope to plan in such a fashion that they'll be in the right place at the right time.

Others have a broader and more holistic view of how to stay ahead. This group looks at their own business, segment, vertical, industry, and they review industry publications and listen to thought leaders from within their space. Again, all of this is hoping to stay ahead of the curve and be in the right place at the right time.

There are not as many people that go even further, but this group looks at business overall; they consider what's happening globally, not just regionally. They try to include data from all types of industries and collectively make sense of where they think the market is going. This group might even try analyzing other sources from academia, economists, futurists, and big thinkers in economic forecasting.

Once again, all of this is done to stay ahead of the customer and the market and to keep your business profitable sustainable for a much more extended period. However, the best way to know where things are going is to look even outside of the overall business world itself. When I think about the best companies that emerged over the past 10 or 20 years, there is no doubt that their origins were not in analyzing the market, the world of business, current consumers, or specific industries. The foundation of their success lies in the fact that they considered and thought about trends in human nature, family structure, and individual desires.

But interestingly the companies I mentioned at the outset, now struggle to continue doing this, it seems like the first few innovations happen quickly and are really exciting, but then things start to change - why? Well, innovation becomes more frightening when you are established, it's as if there is now something to lose. There is also the fear of not repeating the prior success and the fact that this would feel like a failure. Finally, these brands were not alone for long, they now face competitors that have typically imitated their model and now that plays a role in creating hesitancy.

If you are looking to get ahead, look for trends that are emerging in the family, social circles, and other areas where you can learn more about human behavior. Then find a way to place your business at that intersection and fearlessly pursue that future as reality. Companies like Trend Hunter publish reports that help us to do that, to learn about global consumer trends that might impact your business. Check them out soon.