For Market Breakthroughs, Put Timing on Your Side
In today' s marketplace, the pressure for immediate bottom-line results forces many companies to give knee-jerk
reactions to economic fluctuations. While this management style may produce some immediate short-term gains,
it is self-sabotaging because it handicaps the development of creative inspiration, which is the cornerstone of
long-term marketability. Successful enterprise building requires seven key elements. These are: 1) People, who are the source of the creative ideas that drive the enterprise' s innovations; 2) Financial Resources to fund the transformation of these ideas into market breakthroughs; 3) A Coherent Business Philosophy from which the enterprise sets its course; 4) Capable Leadership in order to properly direct and manage the enterprise; 5) Strategies and Tactics to focus the enterprise' s strengths and minimize its weaknesses; 6) Marketplace Intelligence, which allows its people to understand the changing forces in the environment
that are producing both the windows of opportunity as well as potential dangers; 7) Time, for it is only with adequate time that the creative ideas, properly nurtured, directed, and implemented, can fully blossom into successful innovations. Of all these elements, "time" is the one factor many organizations neglect. They may have great people, deep
pockets, an inspiring business philosophy, visionary leaders, cutting edge strategies, and all the marketplace
intelligence in the world, yet they all too often fail to give their ideas the time they need to come full circle. This time deficit has two forms. Either executives are reluctant to make decisions, causing delay and procrastination to become their nagging partners, or more commonly, they let their shortsighted quest for immediate returns cut short their "long-term" plans. They fail to nurture their creative ideas into market breakthroughs. Perhaps business leaders should take a few lessons from other professions. For example, the farmer in
springtime first plows and then plants, but he does not rise early the following morning hoping to begin the
harvest. He expects to wait months for his crop, during which time he must repeatedly fertilize and then weed if he
expects a bountiful harvest. It is that frequent fertilizing, "nurturing and encouraging," along with the repeated weeding, "directing and guiding,"
that cannot be cut short. The same applies to business. If creative ideas are to mature into breakthrough market
innovations, business leaders must nurture their ideas and give them time to fully develop. Unfortunately, it is this waiting and nurturing that so often bedevils us. Ten years ago the advent of the personal
computer industry spawned the euphemism "vaporware." Today, most industries sport their own versions of "vaporware," if not in form, then certainly in substance. Organizations in every industry repeatedly rush creative ideas, many very promising ones, to market before they are ready. The consequences of this hasty action include unhappy customers, damaged reputations, and often diminished long-term profits. In the most extreme cases, it
can cause companies to abandon what could have been a revolutionary new product or service. In the movie The Princess Bride, there is a classic line where Miracle Max is trying to revive the "mostly dead"
hero, Wesley. Feeling the pressure from Wesley' s friends to hurry, Miracle Max responds; "You rush a miracle
and maybe you get rotten miracle." Well said Max! Too many executives today are wondering why they keep ending up with rotten miracles. Frequently they need look no further than their own myopic quest for instant profits. In the ' 50s and ' 60s, the phrase "long term" referred to decades. By the early ' 70s, "long term" had shrunk to mean five to ten years. Today, "long term" is anywhere from one to three years or less. No wonder senior executives focus so heavily on monthly or quarterly results. If creative ideas are not in and of themselves small miracles, then certainly the act of transforming those flashes of insight into profitable plans is miracle making in the marketplace. With their potential to suddenly propel an enterprise several years ahead of competitors, what else could these seeds of genius be? Unfortunately, far too many creative ideas of great promise result in "rotten miracles," not because of the ideas themselves, but rather because executives prematurely transform them into "vaporware," as they are impatient for immediate results. In order to consistently succeed at turning creative ideas into breakthrough innovations, you must tend the idea with diligence and patience. Like choice grapes in a vineyard, your creative ideas will mature, eventually showcasing the fruits of your labor and rewarding you with long-term profitability. Copyright 2005 by John Di Frances John Di Frances is an internationally
recognized organizational
legacy expert and keynote
speaker. www.difrances.com
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Two years ago, the book The Cluetrain Manifesto shook up the business community (see http://www.cluetrain.com/book.html). The revelation? That business is about humans. As Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Petzinger Jr. writes in the foreword: "I was dumbstruck. There in a few pages, I read a startlingly concise summary of everything I'd seen in twenty-one years as a reporter, editor, bureau chief and columnist for my newspaper. The idea that business, at bottom, is fundamentally human. That engineering remains second-rate without aesthetics. That natural, human conversation is the true language of commerce. That corporations work best when the people on the inside have the fullest contact possible with people on the outside."
It turns out that the human "voice" is an underserved or ignored need. In a world of 6+ billion inhabitants, the individual craves to speak and to be heard.
References
Blogs As Disruptive Tech: How Weblogs Are Flying Under The Radar Of The Content Management Giants, By John Hiler, CEO, Webcrimson, http://www.webcrimson.com/ourstories/blogsdisruptivetech.Htm
Making Room For Disruptive And Emergent Technologies, By Hugh Blackmer, Science Librarian, Washington & Lee University, http://home.wlu.edu/~blackmerh/sabb/nitle2.html*
Blogs As Disruptive Innovation: What A Brave New World Blogging Is Building!, by Dr. James V. McGee, Professor, The Kellogg School Of Management,
http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2002/05/15.html
Weblogs At Harvard Law, Bookmark List For ABCD Weblogs Meeting, By Dave Winer,
http://Blogs.Law.Harvard.Edu/Stories/Storyreader$199
If My Work is Good Enough
"If My Work is Good Enough, I Shouldn't Have to Market, Right?"
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