The answer is in the room

Most people think that to generate and brainstorm the next big idea has to involve far-reaching experts nobody has ever met, when in fact, regardless of age or generation, the answer to our needs is normally in the room – all we have to do is find the most effective way to facilitate the discussion and identify it.

Plus you don’t need a focus group; the world talking and debating online every day, customers talking about your company and product and service, is the biggest focus group you will ever need.

What is your moat?

moatI read an insightful interview with an executive from a major player in hotels where he discussed the future of the industry and his organisation’s “moat.”

When you think about a moat, you immediately see protection and defence, and with so much change happening around us, and accelerating in many ways, we all need to consider what it is that differentiates, but also protects, our company and service, to such a degree that we can actually visualise our place in the market for years ahead?

Today, most companies can’t.

 

Be the disruptor, not the disrupted

Here is a great story from one of pioneers of the IT industry, Andy Grove, former Chairman and CEO of Intel. It comes from his book Only the Paranoid Survive and is well worth retelling.

In a discussion with then Chief Executive Gordon Moore, he asked what would happen if the board kicked them out and started anew. They agreed that a new CEO would no doubt leave the past behind and detach them from their memories.

So Grove and Moore decided there and then to do that themselves. They left the business of chips behind, moving into microprocessors and thereby set the stage for the next generation of the Intel business.

It was, and remains, a lesson in management: leave the past behind, don’t let a single line of business define you and be the disruptor, not the disrupted.

A return to simplicity

Technology is no silver bullet and better technology doesn’t automatically mean better education.TV

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that across more than 40 countries, students who use computers for their schoolwork, but for a slightly lower-than-average amount of time, do better than average on reading exams. Students who spend an above-average amount of time on computers at school scored lower than students who don’t use computers at all. Like everything, how helpful technology is depends on how you use it.

It has also been highlighted how job roles that require empathy, for example doctors and nurses, are better positioned to withstand the changes that technology is sweeping along its path, and with 36% of the workforce in jobs that have a high risk of being automated by 2030 (via a study by Oxford University) we need to de-mystify the confusion and complexity that technology often brings to our day-to-day existence.

This leads me to a paragraph of hope – during my recent travels I read about the declining numbers of subscribers to cable television. Executives in the industry believe “skinny bundles” might be one solution to halt this decline, and I picked up on that – wouldn’t skinny everything help us in the long term? Offer consumers a menu of options and let us piece together only what suits us – move us from mass production to mass customisation.

That way we get what we need, we are satisfied with what we pay, and we don’t spend hours filtering through unnecessary material. Or maybe we just shut down the TV networks at 10:30pm and ask society to read a book for 30 minutes before falling asleep.

 

Customers First or Second?

I created some new slides this week for a series of presentations coming up at industry events and partner/dealer conferences. One slide that is firmly in my deck asks whether we should be putting customers first. Sharp intake of breath I sense!

My view is that we should be putting customers second, still a silver medal position. My reasoning is simple. If we take care of our people first, they will do a fantastic job of looking after our customers.

Furthermore, if we allow our staff a little time of their own to be creative and encourage them to do a few crazy things from time to time, our organisations will benefit. We will retain our best talent and word will spread that we are a great place to work. The best talent will start to gravitate towards us.

We have all seen the pictures of the Google offices in Switzerland. How many people do you think walk out of Google’s employ on a regular basis and how long is the queue around the block of people wanting to work for Google?

If we take care of our people first, and provide them the tools, the technology and the environment to be imaginative in the fast-changing world we operate in, they will take care of our business, generate new ideas for our future and do a great job exceeding expectations with our customers.