Mar 20, 2013 | Change, Innovation, Marketing, Small business
Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal, early facebook investor, uses this term to describe the opportunity created by not competing, not being pushed into the competitive funnel of beating the other guy, rather they prosper by looking for ways to be different, to see an opportunity and grab it, rather than just doing incrementally better than the other guy at leveraging an established product category, business model, or process.
As an investor, he looks to invest in businesses where the founder has a clear view of the future, where the crystal ball has been rubbed and delivered a picture that makes sense, and disrupts the status quo, even if it has not been even contemplated before.
This story of Facebook turning down a billion dollars from Yahoo when it was still in Zuckerbergs Harvard dorm is instructive, and is perhaps a pointer to why Thiel has such a stellar track record. However, the simple notion of investing in businesses where there is no competition, where a creative monopoly exists, is compelling, and is one that should have far wider appreciation that in a VC appraisal. The successful business strategy book “Blue Ocean Strategy” is a tome that makes the same point in 300 pages, and has spawned an industry, so something must be working.
How are you developing your own creative monopoly? You do not have to be a multinational. Several local SME’s I have contact with have successfully created their own creative monopoly in their area, carved out a niche where the competition is minimal, and are doing very well.
Mar 19, 2013 | Personal Rant, Social Media
Privacy has been, and remains a key concern in relation to the use of the net, and particularly Social Media. Every time you log on you leave a trail, and as we increasingly log on with mobile devices, the data we offer to sophisticated users is true Big Brother stuff.
This leaked video showing RIOT software (Rapid Information Overlay technology) that turned up on the Guardian website is instructive, and scary, although I guess the old “I have nothing to hide” argument still holds.
I bet the crims do not use mobile phones, or at least the smart (and free) ones won’t, although it may not be likely that the police have the budget to do sensible stuff like deploy this sort of technology, too few press release opportunities for their political masters.
Mar 18, 2013 | Innovation, Leadership, Management, Strategy
Well, they can’t, not without people. It is the people who think, then act to get stuff done via organisational processes. It does not matter if you are BHP, or a two person consultancy, it works the same way. Indeed, if you are a one man business, find others against whom you can test your individual thinking, and it will improve.
The essence of “thinking,” really teasing out the guts of a problem or situation is to make use of all the available data and opinions, not just those that agree with yours, not just those that rise from a similar set of assumptions, and certainly not those that lead to a semi-predetermined outcome.
People avoid conflict, it is uncomfortable, they avoid being on the outside of the crowd, but guess where all the really new stuff comes from, so the challenge in enabling organisations to think is to encourage conflict of the mind, to welcome ideas that challenge ours, and embrace the conflict.
The worst thing I have seen in 20 years of consulting on strategy, marketing and improvement is silence. It is always a strong indicator that the organisation is not thinking, but looking to the bosses to make the decisions, because they know best.
Bullshit I say, give me the friendly, heartfelt noise of active debate any time.
Mar 15, 2013 | Sales, Social Media
A mate recently picked up an great new account, on he had been trying to “crack” for a long time, through a piece of good luck, or good management depending on your perspective. All his product and market knowledge, sales skills and persistence had failed to get him past the gate-keeper and his allies.
He noticed on a social media feed that the autocratic old gate-keeper who had the “repel all boarders” attitude was retiring. A little digging led him to the likely replacement, someone who associated with a groomsman at his brothers wedding.
A few phone calls, and an introduction and he was in a position to discuss delivering a solution to the long wanted customer, and it went from there.
All this from a sales person monitoring and leveraging the power of social media, looking for an opportunity to engage, that in this case emerged from a disruption of the status quo amongst his target companies.
He has consistently said over the past few years that this approach “beats the hell out of cold calling” which was the manner in which the job was structured, and how he was expected to operate.
Seems to me that the old adage of” its not what you know but who you know that counts” has been expanded substantially by social media to “its not what you know, but who you know who knows you both” that counts.
The sales function has been radically socialised by the new tools of the web.
Mar 14, 2013 | Governance, Innovation, Personal Rant, Strategy
Leaving aside the fact that it is an election year, and rhetoric is the usual fare served up, there remains an economy to run.
Lots of space will be allocated to “Innovation” plans, the Manufacturing jobs announcements a few weeks ago, the Arts creativity and Innovation plan announced yesterday, big announcements, lots of largely recycled money that probably will not be delivered, and hot air expended, but what of the real dilemma?
Governments govern, they (attempt to) create repreatable processes that exclude variation and eschews risk, whereas innovation requires a high tolerance for risk and failure, the absolute opposite of the risk appetite of Government. Distinctly oil and water here!
How do we encourage and support startups, the innovation lifeblood of the economy? The stuff we can dig up and flog at commodity prices cannot in the long run be anything but a race to the bottom of the price curve, and we will lose, as we are unprepared to accept the labour, environmental and public oversight deficiencies of our less fussy international competitors.
At a time when our exports of services are declining, can we ignore the opportunities in tech startups and services? When Google puts its money where its mouth is, and gets together with a few entrepreneurs with a track record of success as they have with the Silicon Beach Action Group, should we listen?
