The Marketing Message Blog

Clayton Christensen's Innovation Brain 10 Years Later

Check out Jena McGregor's interview in BusinessWeek with Clayton Christensen who wrote "The Innovator's Dilemma" 10 years ago .  The books warns businesses to be alert to competition that goes after new customer groups or low-end markets.  This message still resonates today. 

Key to what Christensen says in this interview, is that blindly listening to your customers to find the next big thing is not the answer.  You must listen to your customers to meet their needs. But, to truly find 'disruptive' growth that changes a paradigm, you need to find a NEW set of customers to lead you in new directions.

The example he uses, is how Starbucks came into the 'middle of the market.'  By this he means they disrupted all the sit-down restaurants.  Starbucks made it inexpensive and easy to have sit-down conversations with friends and colleagues. 

To grow your business, don't follow the new, follow the 'disruption.'

Reset your thinking; grow your business

John Naisbitt's new book Mind Set! is a must-read for small business owners (see Required Reading.)  He presents 11 'mindsets' that will help you understand how future trends can impact your business today.  If you understand how to view trends, you will be able to maximize opportunties. 

This is not an esoteric exercise.  If you are too focused on the limitations of today's marketplace, you will not be poised to seize opportunities as they present themselves.  His mindset is stated as, 'you don't get results by solving problems, but by exploiting opportunities.'   He recounts several stories of business people who saw an opportunity and took it as opposed to following a set plan with no deviations.  Louis Pasteur is quoted as saying, "Change favors the prepared mind. I was ready."

This is a key notion for business owners who stubbornly cling to their ideas and don't invite change.  Try to listen and keep your mind open to new opportunities.  When a problem presents itself, instead of trying to fight it, think of it as a chance to do something new.  Let me know if you have a great example you can share with us.