Key strategies to future-proof your business
BRAND MINDS
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Now more than ever, professionals in every industry, seasoned or just starting out, need to focus on the changes the future brings and create solutions to adapt and thrive.
Read on to discover a series of business future-proofing strategies.
Ask What if questions
Asking What questions is a great exercise every team should do at least once a year.
Don’t know where to start??
Here are a few suggestions:
Write your "What if" questions down and start a conversation with your team. Turn the threats into opportunities. Develop various scenarios of how the future might unfold and challenge current assumptions and known truths. And start writing a new business strategy.
Examples of What if questions:
Become customer-focused
Being customer-focused means a lot more than having a sheet with your buyer persona; it means your business has processes in place to facilitate ongoing and active communication with your customer base.
Once your company is focused on customers, you can take the next step: delight them.
One of the principles leading the continuous growth of Amazon is this:?
Invent on behalf of your customers. Your customers will always want something better and it’s up to you to figure out what exactly it is they expect because, and here’s your challenge, they don’t know what to ask for.
What benefits does your company have by going laser-focused on its customers? There are many. But the most important benefit is innovation.?
Ship early and iterate often
If you are working on developing a new product, you want the end product to be amazing. You want to awe your customers. You want your product to be perfect. It’s a very dangerous temptation and you must resist it! No product is perfect and if you wait too long, you might ship it too late.
Ship your product as MVP (minimum viable product) and iterate as often as you need. The advantage of shipping early is that you have an incredible opportunity to build a community around your product and even enlist their help in improving your product.
Invite your early adopters (who will become your first customers) to contribute to the development of your product. Ask them what new features they think would improve your product or how they would change it to serve their needs better. You might uncover solutions that your team didn’t think of. Or be inspired to set on a different path altogether effectively changing your future.
Keep your first customers close and turn them into ambassadors so they can attract new customers.
Read the full article: 7 strategies to future-proof your business
Which type is your company: The Insurgent, The Frontline Obsessed or The Owner Mindset?
An 18-year study conducted by management consulting firm Bain & Company found that companies capable of sustained growth over a long period of time have maintained attitudes and behaviours most commonly found in young companies run by strong, successful founders. They called this Founder’s Mentality.
The most successful companies nurture and retain 3 traits:
The Insurgents are characterized by a sense of higher purpose; they set out to redefine their industry on behalf of underserved, or new and emerging, customers.
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The Frontline Obsessed are focused on customer loyalty and advocacy.
The companies with The Owner Mindset have a strong cash focus, move fast and avoid bureaucracy.
Companies that fall into one of these categories have experienced sustained long-term growth because:
3 simple ways to help you speak up in team meetings
Do you ever feel uncomfortable speaking up in team meetings? Have you ever felt frustrated that you had valuable input but didn’t share it?
First of all, you need to acknowledge the following:
Now that you have solid ground to walk on, here’s what you need to do:
1. Start by asking questions
Asking questions invites discussion, it opens up the door for brainstorming and it is a way to present yourself as an analytical and logical person.
2. The Yes, ….plus/furthermore…..method
Start by acknowledging what the previous speaker said, then tell your idea like so:
Yes, it’s a great proposal, plus we can also do it this way…
Your idea is great, moreover here’s another approach I’m thinking of right now…
Yes, we can do it this way, furthermore, we can also put it this way: ….
Notice the structure of the phrase: you give positive feedback, followed by moreover/furthermore and your input. Maybe your colleagues won’t like or accept your suggestion, but you would have given it in a nonconflicting manner.
3. Follow your intuition, but back it up with data
Intuition is a very powerful quality. Don’t ignore it! Go with your intuition and ask for answers when something feels wrong or sounds fake.
Take your intuition as the starting point, and build on it with hard facts and figures, reports and whitepapers.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb has joined BRAND MINDS 2023
Our team is excited to announce that Nassim Taleb, creator of the famous Black Swan Event theory has joined our lineup of amazing speakers for BRAND MINDS 2023.?
Taking risks was Nassim Taleb’s career for over 21 years. As a quantitative trader on Wall Street, he closed 650,000 transactions and examined 200,000 risk reports.?
Today, his extensive experience and mathematical genius make him a rare thinker with a unique perspective on global events affecting the business environment.?
Join BRAND MINDS with your team and learn from Mr Taleb How to take calculated risks in uncertain times.?
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