Let’s face it: keeping our head just above the water is not cutting it any more. There seems to be this mentality of surviving as ‘enough’ that we must break out of. Do you want to stick to the status quo, never make waves, and just stay stagnant? Or do you want to break out of the box, take risks, and learn to innovate? Because that’s what thriving is– and it’s so much more than simply surviving.
Daniel Newman brings up two very poignant reminders to help us thrive in a world of complacency.
- “Understand the costs of complacency.” You should know by now that riding out the storm during times of struggle will not get you anywhere. In fact, it will probably keep you pretty stagnant. You want to take risks and focus on innovation. It may seem kind of scary at first, but failure is a HUGE part of success. It’s how we learn and grow. If you’re too scared to make real changes, you’ll be stuck in the eye of the storm forever (which means you’ll never grow as a company). There’s simply no room for uncertainty in today’s business world. Big corporations are constantly updating and reinventing themselves in order to stay on top of the trends. It’s how they stay competitive in a fast-paced, ever changing market. You’ll see more and more companies make gluten free options or non-GMO products just to stay up to date with all their competitors. Just because something has worked in the past doesn’t mean it always will. You HAVE to aim towards innovation if you hope to succeed. Please friends, do not let yourselves get complacent.
- “Be proactive, not reactive.” Obviously, this goes hand in hand with what we just talked about above. You can’t let yourself ride the current and hope to get anywhere. It takes thinking ahead and CONSTANT innovation to thrive. Being only reactive is probably the worst thing you can do for your company. Think about the companies that failed to stay up to date with the times: Exhibit A- Blockbuster. They were reactive instead of proactive. They did not think ahead at all and now those old Blockbuster signs are just a reminder of failure in the business graveyard. Here’s another one for you: Borders. Do you remember this one? A bookstore in direct competition with Barnes and Noble. One of them jumped on the eReader/web train and the other went bankrupt. Want to guess which is which? That’s right! Borders went out of business and Barnes and Noble seems to be doing fine currently. It’s all about staying ahead of the game. Innovation and proactive thinking is the vital step in creating a successful, barrier-breaking business.
So, what do you all think? We believe breaking down walls full speed is the best way to move forward. It takes collaboration, communication, and compelling content to do just that. When you engage your employees and focus on team communication, you WILL bring yourself into the future. It can be difficult sometimes to try and psychically divine what will work in the future, but it’s so worth it. Nothing worth having is easy. It takes hard work and innovative thinking to make your company indispensable.
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