Snap shot in time....
The story's of Kodak and The Borders Group can teach us a lot about leadership and what NOT to do in business. They also give us an insight into how our success can lay the foundation for our failures. We all have a blind spot in ourselves, our career and in our businesses. How listening to feedback, tackling change and embracing the future no matter how successful you are will empower you to make better decisions.
For 40 years, you couldn’t walk through Grand Central Station in New York without admiring the Kodak Coloramas. These 18x60 foot photographs showcased the Kodak brand to commuters, highlighting the creativity of great photography in a series of “Kodak moments.” Kodak marketing executives were adept at weaving the brand into the fabric of America for generations. In fact, at its peak, Kodak captured 90% of the US film market and was one of the world’s most valuable brands.
Immensely successful companies can become myopic and product oriented instead of focusing on consumers’ needs. Kodak’s story of failing has its roots in its success, which made it resistant to change. Its insular corporate culture believed that its strength was in its brand and marketing, and it underestimated the threat of digital.
Kodak did not fail because it missed the digital age. It actually invented the first digital camera in 1975. However, instead of marketing the new technology, the company held back for fear of hurting its lucrative film business, even after digital products were reshaping the market.
Another similar story is that of Borders group (parent company) of REDgroup Retail which accounted for 20% of Australia’s $1.6B book market and in another life, might have been Australia’s version of the Amazon success story.
Instead, the parent of Borders and Angus & Robertson in the region as well as Whitcoulls in New Zealand went into voluntary administration. The demise has been variously blamed on the online book market, a strong Australian dollar, import restrictions, high rentals, bad management and overpriced books.
But is this what actually happened?
The real picture that emerges is of strategic marketing blunders, the failed merger of Borders’ regional operations with A&R Whitcoulls, a lack of knowledge about the burgeoning e-book market and an inability to adapt from being a traditional bookseller.
Why did they react in this way?
For one thing, a lot was going on internally at REDgroup. There were several major reshuffles at the senior and CEO level, so no one was running the ship with a long-term view. Looking closer, it is apparent REDgroup’s capabilities were mainly in traditional retailing. They did not have any expertise in publishing, editing, online selling, or electronic books. Their ability was to provide a store where customers could browse, buy coffee and gifts, and shop for books. They did what they knew, rather than expanding their capabilities to respond to the tsunami of change around them.
Both companies were fighting change, fearing the future and not taking "feedback" from outside as the writing was on the wall.
Tim Farris said “People will always take unhappiness over uncertainty"
It can often take strong leadership to manage change but it starts with "Self Leadership" and here are 8 steps to start....
- Understand "self" better - Leadership starts with self so getting external feedback will ensure we see our own blind spots. Using a tool like Extended DISC can give us a external perspective that unlocks the door to "self"
- Expand your thinking - get others perspective and feedback outside of your bubble (we all have a bubble) As human's we tend to be influenced by the group thinking so be brave and go outside of your group.
- Embrace your feelings about change. Whatever type of change is unsettling you, embrace that feeling and use positive words to support it
- Understand that change is an inevitable part of life
- Put change in perspective
- Look on the bright side and stop labelling it as good or bad (It just is what it is)
- Look at why the change unsettles you so much
- Embrace your dynamic nature and ability to adapt....as it's an exciting future.
Thank you to both Chunks Mui "How Kodak Failed" and The Conversation article "What really went wrong for Borders" by Kwanghui Lim for extracts of the stories.
A REMINDER HERE:
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Yoda - The Empire Strikes Back
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5 年A great read Sandy So well written. With your permission I would like to share this article with my cuuent cohort of MBA Strategic Management students in Melbourne..
Simplifying The Complexity That Is Change // Navigating Through Constant and Unprecedented Change With Ease // Organizational Change, Leadership Capability Uplift, Workforce Resilience, High Performing Distributed Teams
5 年Good read thank you Sandy. It is fear of trying something new when what you currently have is rocking. As an article I shared yesterday said ‘no one wants to kill the golden goose but someone else will soon come along and turn it into a dodo”
CEO G2L Unity
5 年Isn't it interesting that you would put all of that effort into R&D to come up with the worlds first digital camera and then fail to see it is the future. They were holding the golden Willy Wonker chocolate bar and never had the nerve or foresight to eat it! I think of how companies like BT went from providing land line telecoms to digital services and how companies like Amazon have moved into digital streaming.