Truth 3: A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Moving forward and looking into the future is the name of the game. Crisis management has emerged as very strong field in these days in relation to business.

The author is of the view that mostly organizations don't take tough decisions on their own, until and unless it has to be done and there are not a lot of choices. this is one point which differentiates innovative organizations from the rest of the clan.

The real point is that when you are facing a crisis situation you can take it as an opportunity or threat as you may want it to look like. The thinking about threat will lead to inertia while opportunistic mind set will lead to innovation.

In case of IKEA, it faced different crisis in different era. As written in the text,

"IKEA’s history is a sequence of such choices. Competition with other mail order
firms led to its first showroom. Supplier boycotts led to it designing and building
its own furniture. Transportation problems led to the flat pack concept. A
showroom fire led to a much bigger showroom concept. Insufficient numbers of
sales people at the showroom launch led to the self-service idea. It would have
been easy to waste each crisis but instead they inspired innovation."

This is an example of reactive thinking. The writer is of the view that waiting for the crisis to drive the innovation is not the right strategy because such an innovation may not drive as much benefits for the organization as it may have done otherwise.

The need of the time is to develop a proactive thinking like Intel, where the goal is that no matter what the processor speed has to be doubled in a period of two years. it can be done by tools like scenario planning where you look at the possible future situations and plan accordingly. For such proactive thinking you have to "Create links in time". It means that you look at your past, present and the possible future and then make strategies accordingly. This, in the longer run, will lead to a position for your organization where you will be able to stand in the hard times as well.

However this thinking about the future, according to the author, may lead to a  paranoid organization. It means that the organization is limited in the expansion of its business and it is always thinking of the current products. Here I differ with the write in the sense that it also leads to specialization and this specialization also drives growth.  

Soon the next truth will be discussed on this blog :) Truth4:A GREAT INNOVATION DESERVES A GREAT NAME

Rule 2: A beautiful Idea is Never Perfect

This rule explained in the book is related to the rule 1 described earlier on my blog. By the heading of this rule you can well correlate it with the rule 1. The rule one described that any innovation can be successful only if there is a market need. A market need arises only when there is something missing which customer requires. These requirements can be due to many reasons and one of them is the external environment in relation to your organization.

If your idea would be perfect then what does it means? It means that you will be reaping profits out of it always or it also means stagnation over a longer period of time and if later is possible then i think there would be no new innovations and hence we would not be where we are today.

Now focusing on the fact how this idea has been described in the book. It starts by focusing on the point that there is always room for improvement. Even if your innovation is the perfect one according to the present environment, it would not be the case in the future due to the changes in environment and changes in customer needs and wants. 

"There are no ideas complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement. There are no ideas that exactly fit customer’s needs ever or forever. There are no ideas entirely without flaws, defects, or shortcomings. This is good news for anyone who wants to contribute and for any business that wants to grow."

The author provides the examples from the big chains like K-Mart where it changed its slogan several times. It was always low price, always once and then it was Expect More, pay less later. These changes were made due to the changing customer needs. Similarly, Wal Mart was built on the idea of convience shopping and it has done so. It started of as a business where one employee started selling bread to others in the work place and later on this business was taken by the Japanese to the level. The idea of this store is still the same but locations of the stores have changed according to the changes on the changes in the nature of the work of major workforce of any particular location.

In the end regarding this rule I would say that the whole idea is:  as an innovator, everyone of us is of the view that his/her idea is the best one and it will work out. Being possessive about your brain child is a good thing but remember, one thing which is perfect today is not going to be so tomorrow and hence love your brain child but also bring up this child in such a way that it is adaptable and able to fulfil  his/her future needs otherwise living alone will lead to death of your this brain child.

Hope you enjoy the read... will be back soon with the next RULE 3: A CRISIS IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE.