Do you remember when the iPod first came out? It was in 2001 and I was 8 years old.
I can’t specifically remember the first time that I heard about Apple and the new music player, but I remember getting my first. It was a black iPod Nano, that held around 2,000 songs. It was wonderful.
All of a sudden my 250MB MP3 player was made redundant.
Apple turned the personal music industry on it’s head (side note: it didn’t stop there, as we all know).
Companies are continuously seeking new, innovative ways of doing things. The one’s that don’t, die. Great companies who, at their peak, are top of their fields can still fail if they aren’t continuously improving and innovating.
Look at Kodak, once the giant of the photography world. They missed the boat on bringing out digital camera’s and suddenly, when Apple released the iPhone (which had a great camera), Kodak became a shadow of what they were.
Businesses need to reinvent the way things are done.
Even before the pandemic, the shift toward digital was upending industries and businesses. People and organisations were discovering fresh, exciting ways to serve customers.
This doesn’t mean that we need to buy into trends or fads. The fundamentals of business remain the same: meeting the needs of our tribe, having sound financial models and efficient systems. These basics still need to be in place. It simply means looking at things differently.
Looking at things with creativity and generosity.
Simon G. Cooper 