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You might have the best team with
the best of innovation, but there are these overly diluted
markets out there, glutted with look-alike brands and
identical services. The challenge is to fine-tune a
marketing process that will not only re-energize the
production but produce a shaper edge in design, quality
and value, and build a unique iconic identity.
Recently,
we came out of the age of curiosity, entered the age
of scarcity and are now sinking in the age of abundance.
Everything is here. Today, all over the world, millions
of identical companies are producing millions of identical
products and services, and they are pushing identical
prices on identical delivery platforms. On top of that,
they have identical management and identical corporate
behavior all the way from the boardrooms to the cubicles.
Furthermore,
there are identical brands, identical names and identical
business and identities. If you've seen one, you've
seen them all. There seems to be a serious lack of originality,
substance, courage and leadership. Is this age of abundance
going to drown us?
Why
We Ended Up Here
Compulsory
and forced innovation has limits; there are only so
many ways to re-design a car. Moving ashtrays and coffee
mug holders every two years is not a new model of a
car. Levitation is. A computer in its current hardware
shape is completely outdated. So are thousands of other
things. Our current culture is responsible for this
lack of original and creative innovation. Office cubicles
have taken away the power of innovation as masses have
been conditioned to rigid conformity, visible isolation,
linear formations and assembly-line mentality. Copying
has been awarded as a safe play.
Three
Solutions
1.
Bring down the wall. Like the Berlin Wall, bring
down the cubicle and run around like the Incredible
Hulk. Ask your teams to create at least one new idea
every day. Discuss it with some serious effort. If not
immediately applicable, then file it away for future
reference. Ask and ask again and again: Why are your
products and services So similar to your competitors,
including the colors, prices and the brand names. Only
if asked with persistence and honesty will it create
and open doors to innovation. Don't blame others, just
search for innovation.
2.
Find the ropes.
Like
Spiderman, avoid the elevators and scale the headquarters.
Jump and bypass your immediate bosses, as often they
are the ones directly responsible for playing it safe
by adopting simple rules and for following others with
identical goods and services. Go to the top; it is easy,
all you need are ropes and good swings. Innovation is
the bond and the glue between new products and customers.
Good ideas will easily rope in the management. Next
time, ask before pushing the elevator button: Is this
the only way to go to the top?
3.
Fly over the globe.
By
air or at least via the Web, circumnavigate the globe
-- not merely once a year but, rather, daily or even
hourly. There is a wild, wild world out there. The ideas
and opportunities are endless. Global research is critical
today. To stay ahead, lead your teams to sharper innovation.
This can be achieved by observing global trends and
market shifts. Put your suits away; try a robe for a
change.
In
conclusion, you might have the best team with the best
of innovation, but there are these overly diluted markets
out there, glutted with look-alike brands and identical
services. The challenge is to fine-tune a marketing
process that will not only re-energize the production
but produce a shaper edge in brand design, image quality
and value, and build a unique iconic corporate identity.
When there are too many identical business journals,
it seems comic books, after all, are nothing to laugh
at.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Naseem Javed, author of Naming for Power
and Domain Wars, is recognized as a world authority
on Global Name Identities and Domain Issues. He introduced
The Laws of Corporate Naming in the 80's and also founded
ABC Namebank, a consultancy established in New York
and Toronto a quarter century ago. Naseem conducts exclusive
executive workshops on image and name identities issues
via web conferences. www.azna.com/ceo.htm
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