Archives
Monthly Archives: April 2010
Apr 06 2010
Apr 05 2010
To achieve progress, you have to progress.
As I was admiring this year’s new models at the Car Show a couple weeks back, I observed that American car makers are apparently betting on the automotive equivalent of a throwback jersey –– Ford, Chrysler, and GM all displayed what amounted to new variants of older models.
Car makers from Italy and Germany, however, revealed category-breaking designs and technology. Meanwhile, as American car makers are playing it safe, betting on the goodwill of old designs, their competition is busy innovating.
Perhaps resting on old designs is a relatively safe bet. I get it. But what might this safe bet cost in terms of long-term opportunities lost, or at best, delayed?
Since the first organism evolved from the primordial soup, every single nanosecond of life on earth has been about innovation. Innovation is how living things adapt to
changing environments. When there is a threat to the survival of a species, it innovates. Why should this truism be any different for a company or an organization?
You have to innovate. Especially in a down or stagnant market. You may be inclined to hold back, lay low, play it safe. But while you’re being cautious, you can be sure that one of your competitors senses that fear in the atmosphere, and is investing in innovation of some sort.
If you’re not sure about how you can wisely invest in innovating your products, services or process, market research is the answer. That research might even reveal something that the market wants, and doesn’t yet realize it wants.
Now that’s innovation.