Most companies that we knew decades ago are now gone.Some are gone because regulators brought in rules that made difficult to grow a healthy margin.Some are gone because the management were ignorant of changes in their industries or were slow to adapt to the new demand of the market.Some are gone because leaders were too complacent and thought they knew it all.When I was kid ,my parents had a Kodak photo. To see that Kodak is not on top today is not something I could have imagined.Big and Giants do fail and here are three ways you will fail even if you are a giant today.
1- Cutting your research and development budget to grow your bottom line. Without research there is no innovation.Without innovation you will die as a business.To grow and stand you must learn how to sell more instead cutting your path to the gold.To research and to develop a new capacity is the best way to stay on top.
2-Ignoring or being careless about your human capital or life capital. When you take care of your people ,they will take care of your business.Reciprocity is real . To learn more about reciprocity,read Robert Cialdini books such as Influence or Pre-suasion .You may have a cool mission ,a nice vision and a fantastic strategy but if your human capital is not aligned and ignored you will fail .You will fail because processes can’t run themselves uncontrolled.Knowledge ,talent and aspiration of your team is crucial if you want to stay on top.
3-Closing to the world of business is closing to the world of profit . Economies are more than ever connected today,thanks to the internet. You may be In USA but a small company in India can cause your nightmare.Internet leveled the play field .Get connected to the world by knowing what is going not just in your vertical but also in your horizontal.join business forums and be immersed in the new to stay new because if you don’t ,you are going to fail.
Jonathan Etse
Game Changers Avenue