3 Trends, 4 Questions for Developing Innovative Strategies

Leadership Unlimited
A Monthly Column by Terry Wall
February 2012: 3 Trends, 4 Questions for Developing Innovative
Strategies

How do you develop innovative strategies that secure your
position and success in the market place?

You look at trends, and then ask questions about how
those trends, projected into the future, could affect your
business.

Many types of trends comprise the landscape, including
politics, geography, and the world order, just to name a few.
Here are three you might consider:

Demographics: The next decade promises massive growth of the
senior population. And, people are relocating much less than
before.

Technology: Mobile technology, and the blending of multiple
technologies for retrieving or disseminating information.

Society: In 1960, 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were
married; today just 51% are. (I’m in trouble if for
Valentine’s Day my wife signs me up for eharmony.com.)

Those are just three categories of trends. And I’ve identified
only one or two trends in each category. But you get the idea.
You have to determine which trends affect your business.

After looking at a trend, you ask 4 questions: 1) What affect
will this have on the products and services I produce? 2) What
affect will it have on how I deliver those products and
services? 3) What products and services should I develop for
the future? 4) What markets should I target?

Let’s look at two examples.

Large, international company: After looking at many global
trends, an international company is introducing a new product
this year. It’s been in the works for several years, and
they’ve invested millions of dollars in this product. It’s a
bold move in an innovative strategy, and they realize the risks
involved.

But the global landscape, and the changing trends that will
influence that landscape, require a bold move if they want to
maintain the top position in a very competitive industry.

Small Business: My friend Tom Falco is in the residential
construction industry. He scanned the industry landscape, and
saw that people aren’t buying new houses because they can’t
sell their existing homes because of falling home prices.

Or they don’t have money to buy a new house. Others, because
of the shaky, uncertain economy, don’t feel comfortable taking
the risk of buying a new house.

Regardless of why, they’re not buying new homes. That’s the
trend.

So Tom asked himself, “What can I do to get more business?” He
decided to focus on home improvement, and found that people who
can’t move at least want to improve the house they’re in.

Tom now focuses on remodeling existing houses—installing new
windows, putting that new roof on, or building a new
addition, of finishing that basement. It’s not the same as
building new houses, but it will do until the industry picks
up.

Look at trends, then ask the right questions.

What trends are you looking at? What innovative strategies
will you use to take advantage of those trends?

Until next edition, keep leading the way!

Copyright (C) 2012 by Terry Wall

Air Traffic Control Chatter, and Why I Got an iPhone

Ok, ok, I finally got an iPhone. 

And it wasn't so I can listen to Air Traffic Controllers talk to pilots, although the ability to do that did come up.  More on that later.

Some of you may remember that in late 2010 I wrote about why I didn't want an iPhone.  What changed my mind was my visit to Las Vegas last week, and conversations with my brother, Kevin, who insisted that I needed an iPhone.

Kevin emphasized all the cool apps, but I'm not into those.  What sold me was Kevin's insistance that it's just more professional to have a smart phone when you're out in public. 

He said my clients expect me to be up to date with technology, especially since they're probably sending me emails from their smart phones.  He's right.  The CEO who brought be to Las Vegas to do the keynote did try to email me right before I showed up, and I didn't get it till checking my email on Kevin's computer the next day.

Just having the iPhone for that is enough justification.

I just don't want to get so attached that I'm always checking my email.  While I was in the airport waiting for my flight home, I watched a mother and her teenaged daughter sitting side-by-side, not talking, but working their smart phones.  For an hour.  I don't want to get that plugged into the technology.

Now for the Air Traffic Control app.  Kevin told me he had heard my flight land thru this app, so he didn't have to rely on the airlines website, which he says is often not accurate.  So we listed to some chatter at the Vegas Airport:

Tower:  Delta 123, you'll have to wait for that Chester 349 to get out of the way.

Delta 123:  Uh, I don't see Chester 349.

Tower:  What?  I..ahh...was just seeing if you're paying attention.  It's actaully  a Continental 349 to look out for...

Kevin and I just looked at each other.  "Wow," I said, "I'd rather NOT hear this stuff...."

I'm Not a Technophobe, But...

...don't get me an iphone for Christmas.  I'm happy as I am with a simple cell phone that I use only for making phone calls.  I know that makes me somewhat of a dinosaur, but that's the way I am.  I only make phone calls.  Oh, I do use it occasionally for an alarm clock when I need a nap. 

No internet.  No email.  No video games.  No photos, either. 

It's just a phone.

On the other hand, I'm writing this now because I'm out of town, and can't, for some strange reason, remotely access my desktop.  The one time I don't bring a pile of stuff to do, just in case, because I'll rely on Remote Desktop, and this is the time it doesn't work.

A colleague just now, I mean JUST NOW, showed me on her iphone the Talking Tomcat application, which takes anything you say, and plays it back in a garbled tomcat voice.

It's another reason NOT to get an iphone.

I work out of  my home, so when I'm not working, it's easy to walk from the family room to the office, and check my email.  Not all the time, just enough.  If I had the capability to do it on my phone, it would just take me away from other more important things.

Like talking to people, or looking at the scenery, or letting my mind wander.

I see too many people who are texting (I text ever so rarely), or checking their fantasy football, or getting the latest headlines, and I just don't need to be that connected.

So now it's off to the hotel, and dinner, and afterwards, if I can't access my desktop, I won't get much work done.  But I'll be just as happy as people who are doing all those things on their iphones.

So, please.  No iphone for Christmas.

I'm interested in your thoughts.  Am I alone?  What am I missing?