What's your biggest challenge? SPEED OF CHANGE!!!

What are you doing to be sure your company is staying relevant?

Will your company be around in 5 years? Seriously...will your company be around in 5 years? How about 3?? What about next year???

Over 40% of businesses won't be around in 5 years because they refuse to adapt a strategy, mindset and culture conducive to change!!!

The pictures above show the vast difference in technology in just 8 years. After working tightly with over 250 companies in the areas of Business Intelligence and Leadership, I see a massive flaw in most companies and their culture, philosophy and strategy.

Companies simply refuse to stay relevant in today's rapidly changing world!!!

Here are some facts for you regarding fast movers....

• #Google is 20 years old
• #iPhone is 11 years old
• #SurfacePro is 5 years old

And then there's the other side of the coin....

• #Blockbuster shut down in 2011 after turning down acquisition deal for Netflix in 2000 for $50 Million. NOTE: Netflix today is valued over $152 Billion...higher than Disney or Comcast.
• #Kodak invented the handheld digital camera yet they refused to market it because they were making too much money on every step of the process.
• #Toys-R-Us went under in 2018 after 61 years in business.

We see both the successful companies...and the not so successful ones...listed above. We see the benefits of moving and changing fast. We also see the massive long-lasting effects of moving too slow. If we are not careful, we will settle in with the "move too slow" crowd and we will continue to make these mistakes over and over and over again!!!

This is a new world full of technology, social media, and rapidly changing business models. We must adapt and change or get left behind!!!

If we want our companies to truly be successful, we must change and adapt each and every day!!!

This means change our leadership style (more collaboration and teamwork), make better use of technology (Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, etc.) , and embrace new and fresh ideas from all generations...yes ALL generations in our workplaces.

We must learn to color inside the lines and yet think outside the box

Here are some quick bulletpoints for you to help your company boost productivity and the bottom line in today's rapidly changing world. You may ask "what does this have to do with speed of change". What you will see is that as you apply the points below, it will allow you to remain relevant and being the true thought leader with your partners, suppliers, customers and employees.

• Don't overreact because of one data point: Sometimes people want to move so fast they hurt themselves in the process. Even though this is about "Speed of Change", be sure to look at your data...over time....to get true trends and direction. Once you have the trends identified, then be swift and sure in changing as needed.
• Don't overthink: Sometimes we have paralysis by analysis. Air B&B, Lyft and Uber...all have made an impact because they were quick to get their ideas to market. Your idea doesn't have to be perfect before you launch (think Microsoft Windows)
• Get off demographics...get on psychographics: Marketing the old way by demographics only will leave your company lost and floundering. You need to understand the psychographics (the study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria, especially in market research) of your audience.
• Content is not king...Context is king: Too many people are stuck in the old way of trying to push their solutions, products, etc...at the wrong time. Delivering the right message, at the right time, to the right people is a combination of art and science. Spend the time and resources to learn how to deliver in the correct context will return a massive ROI.
• SERVE: In today's world of "it's all about me", we have forgotten how to serve. We need to serve our employees, customers, vendors and partners. I mean truly serve. We need to present, provide, furnish or supply something needed or desired, with no ulterior motives. That's hard in today's world however it's what separates the mediocre companies from the GREAT companies
• Follow the 10-80-10 rule: I see too many leaders micro managing their people. I have found the best leaders who consistently thrive and grow , give their people 10% of the vision, let them develop the next 80%, and then they step back in and help finalize and put the polish on the last 10%. This will allow your company to change and grow in the best ways possible. Hint Hint...

Stop telling good people what to think! Instead teach them HOW to think and let them run !!! Doing so will help you to thrive in today's rapidly changing world

I'd love to hear your thoughts...What is your company doing well to stay relevant? What is the one thing you are doing strategically today to ensure your relevance in 5 years?

Here's to your massive success!!!

John

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