Technology, innovation and creativity are not new; it wasn't something invented in the 20th Century by students in Palo Alto...
In 1838 Turner painted his famous picture "The Fighting Temeraire..." which depicts an old warship of the Royal Navy being towed up the Thames for scrap by a new steam Tug...
The picture was displayed in 1839 and in 2005 was voted the "Nations Favourite" in the UK according to a BBC Radio 4 Poll...
A copy should be hung in every Entrepreneur, Business Owner and Executives office to serve as a reminder that one day - if they don't adapt, learn and change - they too will be taken to the scrap yard by new technology...
The picture is symbolic in many ways; the sunset and ghost like Temeraire with the much more definite Steam Tug in the foreground symbolic of the end of an era and the dominance of the new...
Whilst the picture shows a sunset behind the retiring fighter, as she was being towed West toward Rotherhithe for dismantling, this was artistic licence on the part of Turner...
Whilst the picture shows a sunset behind the retiring fighter, as she was being towed West toward Rotherhithe for dismantling, this was artistic licence on the part of Turner...
There is a scene in the Bond Film - Skyfall where Bond meets with Q in the Museum and the sit opposite the painting of The Fighting Temeraire. Symbolic of Bonds impending obsolescence and the him needing guidance and help from the younger Q...
Picture credit - www.paintingsinmovies.com
How does this apply to Your Business...?
We are all Fighting Temeraires', we will all become obsolete and overtaken by the next generation unless we adapt and change...
The technology that will wipe you out has already been invented, it's just not on the market yet...
Battery Cars will wipe out the Internal Combustion Engine, and likely that Hydrogen Cells will wipe out Batteries....
Rental will wipe out ownership - from cars, to software from buildings to franchising. People will not "own" products, they will simply pay for their use on an "as required" basis...
Keyboards will be replaced by first voice and then thought activation controls, and education will go the same way - the Qwerty Keyboard was invented in 1873 and yet we still use a 140 year old design to communicate with 21st Century processors...
There are Three Types of Innovation that all companies and organisations can use to maintain their competitive advantage...
1. Technology Innovation #1 - Creationism...
This is where a brand new Technology enters the market and has the potential to dominate it in the future. These are relatively rare - they don't seem that way, but most Innovations are made at #2...
These would include Nuclear Fusion, The Internet (although I would argue that this is real;y a #2 Innovation...) Flight, Radio, Electricity, Calculus etc...
These would include Nuclear Fusion, The Internet (although I would argue that this is real;y a #2 Innovation...) Flight, Radio, Electricity, Calculus etc...
The fundamental building blocks that enables change to happen - when William Gilbert investigated what we now call "electricity" in 1600 he didn't realise it but he was starting a revolution that would change the world.
Note - Amber was found to attract light objects such as feathers when it was rubbed and the Latin word Electricus meaning "of Amber" or "like Amber" was established from the Greek word for Amber - "Elektron"
Note - Amber was found to attract light objects such as feathers when it was rubbed and the Latin word Electricus meaning "of Amber" or "like Amber" was established from the Greek word for Amber - "Elektron"
2. Technology Innovation #2 - Adaptation
Adaptation is where existing technology is either made better or adapted for specific purposes - this is where 90% of Innovation actually takes place...
Airbnb did not invent the internet or the development of Apps - they "simply" used the platform that already existed to connect people with rooms with those who wanted one...
Uber did not invent the Taxi business, the Smartphone or the Internet. They too "simply" brought existing technology together to enable people with empty seats in cars to be found by people needing a ride...
Tesla - did not invent either the car or the battery. Battery powered vehicles are not new, they have been around for decades; in fact the first Electric car was pioneered by Thomas Parker back in 1880 - 136 years ago...
3 D Printing - clever, but only an adaptation of existing technology and engineering principles. The transmission of designs to remote "printers" is amazing but again, only using platforms invented somewhere else...
This is where business can score big wins - you really don't need to be the next Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla or Sir Isaac Newton - what you do need to be is adapting the technologies that are available to capitalise on the opportunities in the market...
3. Technology Innovation #3 - Transformation
How can you transform your customer / client experience not just as a consequence of a new App - but in terms of how they think and behave...?
For example - we don't by music anymore - we can download it for a fee but increasingly simply rent access to a library where we can list and sort what we want to hear - providing we keep paying the subscription...
Games are be rented over the Web - disks will become obsolete as they have for Video and Music....
Cars will be made to suit the mass consumer, and we will rent them for specific journeys. The days of washing the car on a Sunday and having it parked either on a street or in a garage for 96.5% of the time.
Any other depreciating asset that was utilised for around 3.5% of the time would have been made obsolete years ago...
For example - we don't by music anymore - we can download it for a fee but increasingly simply rent access to a library where we can list and sort what we want to hear - providing we keep paying the subscription...
Games are be rented over the Web - disks will become obsolete as they have for Video and Music....
Cars will be made to suit the mass consumer, and we will rent them for specific journeys. The days of washing the car on a Sunday and having it parked either on a street or in a garage for 96.5% of the time.
Any other depreciating asset that was utilised for around 3.5% of the time would have been made obsolete years ago...
Can you "rent out" your services and products rather than sell them...?
Franchising is the rental of Intellectual Property, Microsoft is in the Software Rental Business - there is a move towards efficiency and productivity in the use and allocation of scarce resources, products and services...
Paying on an "as required" basis is the fundamental driver of the Freelancer market - connecting skilled people to buyers when they need them is the way that work will evolve in the future - the days of the 40 Year career have long gone, the days of the 40 hour employment contract are evaporating quickly too...
Paying on an "as required" basis is the fundamental driver of the Freelancer market - connecting skilled people to buyers when they need them is the way that work will evolve in the future - the days of the 40 Year career have long gone, the days of the 40 hour employment contract are evaporating quickly too...
Leverage is the key - why sell when you can keep the asset and rent it out multiple times to multiple users...?
How can you disrupt your market with innovative services and approaches that use existing technology to transform the user experience...?
How can you disrupt your market with innovative services and approaches that use existing technology to transform the user experience...?
How is it done...?
Simple - people, time and money...
You have to have what Lockheed Martin describe as a "Skunk Works" - a team of people thinking the impossible and creating new ways of working, producing, marketing and selling...
You have to invest in people who will get it wrong 90% of the time, but who will invent flight, AC current or Uber and Airbnb occasionally too...
You don't have to employ them - use the technology that enables them , to locate and organise them - bring in outsiders to look at your business, get students to evaluate your next product line...
Get people from outside your industry to look at what you do - Millenials and Pensioners (technology is wasted on the young..) Engineers and Artists - people who don't think like you, look like you or behave like you...
Build your virtual creativity team and enable them to create the nest product or service innovation that will make you and the rest obsolete overnight - if you don't do it then someone else will...
In fact they probably already have - it's just that you don't know about it yet...
David Holland MBA is Business and Executive Coach - he's also a Husband of 30 years; to the same person too, Dad to two amazing boys, an only Child (explains a lot...) a Drummer and a Biker...
His cooking sucks - apart from Christmas breakfast which is awesome, ask Jon and Rich - but he can fix cars, is kind to animals and is really good at enabling people to achieve remarkable results both personally and professionally...
He's published 48 books, (thank goodness for spell-check...)worked in 25 Countries, lives in France and has offices in Luxembourg, the UK and the USA...
His friends call him Dutch and Lynn calls him anything she likes because we all know who the boss really is...
You can come along to one of his events - click HERE to find out where in the world he'll be appearing next...
AND - you can even drop him an email to see how he can be involved - he'll even do a keynote for your conference if it's due to be held somewhere warm...
Richard Branson had a record shop - just one - and had scraped enough money together to open a recording studio call The Manor...
Michael Porter defines 5 Market Forces that should be taken into consideration when developing your business; it challenges us to be critical about the environment we either will be or are operating. Remember, the market changes and this process should be carried out at least annually to take account of environmental, social and economic changes...
There is a load of Coaches out there, the barriers to entry are low and they have to be a competitive bunch...
If you are going to go into the Coaching business - you need to go down the Differentiation Focus route for example...
His cooking sucks - apart from Christmas breakfast which is awesome, ask Jon and Rich - but he can fix cars, is kind to animals and is really good at enabling people to achieve remarkable results both personally and professionally...