“Change, why change? Things are bad enough already”
These words were (apparently) spoken by the then Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, in the late 19th Century. Renowned for his cynicism he certainly lets his feelings be known about the benefits of changing the status quo in the situation he found himself in.
Much has changed though since Salisbury’s time. In those times things took far more time to accomplish and change. Markets (at least those that existed) saw change happen over a number of years and while there were many game changing inventions and introductions in the Victorian era the effect on businesses, markets and sectors was felt over a much longer period of time.
Compare that to today. The gig economy and access to immense amounts of virtual data allows business to reinvent itself over a very short space of time. Competition springs up almost overnight and NO market is immune to disruption. The professions ‐ Accountants/ Banks and Lawyers are seeing online solutions and competition that hits at the very heart of their business and across all markets smart competition can quickly eat into market share.
The pace of change requires a different mindset from business leaders. They can no longer rely on a 5 year plan and follow it religiously ‐ the most one can plan for is a year and even with that businesses need to have the ability and propensity to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. Those businesses who believe in the old adage ‘business as usual’ will not survive because there isn’t an ‘as usual’ today.
We at Tinderbox advise our clients to constantly think about their markets. Don’t look back, it will NEVER repeat itself. Be aware of and receptive enough to look at strategies, ideas and actions that have made massive changes in other markets ‐ can these be adapted? What could you learn and try in your market from other ‘winners’ that just might work?
We also advise that owners tap into the minds of their team, because many good ideas can come from ‘non position holders’ but only IF they are encouraged to think and offer ideas up in the first place!
The mental barrier to people being asked to change is most often (like Salisbury at the start of this article) the fear of failure but the fact is you never learn anything without trying. As Einstein said, ‘Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.’
More than ever before only the people and businesses who are prepared to change, try something new and learn from mistakes to move forward again will succeed in a world where ‘the competition’ today will certainly not be the competition of tomorrow.
Get in touch with us to start your journey to change and success.
david.t@tinderboxbusinessdevelopment.co.uk
07747 023610
David Turner
Managing Director
