All you have to do is look in the mirror to realize that change is a fact of life. But it’s not just our aging appearance we must accept and get used to. Change is all around us and it’s not going to stop. Ever.
Let’s think about it. In 1965, Switzerland had more than a 60% share of the world’s watch market. Three years later it was 10%. The rules changed and there was a paradigm shift. Quartz technology. In 1978, General Motors approached a 65% market share. Thirty-one years later, it filed bankruptcy. Foreign competition, poor management and archaic union contracts.
As futurist Joel Barker says, when the rules change, everyone goes back to zero. Your successful past can sometimes blind you to future opportunities. The two examples above prove you can’t rest on your laurels. We must all be constantly assessing, re-assessing and changing. The status quo is deadly.
Ten years ago, were you watching high-def TV or reading blogs? Had you heard of GPS, Google, Facebook or Twitter? Times change—and fast.
Chrysler is now owned by Fiat. Saturn by Penske. Hummer by Sichuan Tengzhong, a Chinese company. Apple just announced an iPhone for $99 and laptops for $300. Both are more powerful and faster than any computer you could buy three years ago for $2,000.
What about change here in Baton Rouge? Well, Woodforest Bank of Houston just opened its first branch in our market in the Wal-Mart at Cortana. [Did you know half of all bank transactions are not done in a branch? You can even deposit a check from your desk with a remote scanner.]
Did you know that in the last 24 months Baton Rouge has added 1,000-plus hotel rooms in 11 hotels and 4,000 seats in new restaurants? And there are 11 new hotels planned or under construction with 1,000 more rooms—as well as more restaurants coming. Change is happening here.
Lee High School, a school of the future when it was built with its spaceship-like auditorium, is history. Gone. And now we have four separate school districts in our parish, charter schools, and Advanced Innovative Education is planning a digital high school. Baton Rouge Community College has almost as many students as Southern University. And LSU has made it to Tier I.
Our city has changed. Our businesses have changed. The world has changed. So what next? More change.
I think it is hard to look out much further than two to five years. The game will keep changing and so will the rules. You’ll have to be quick and nimble and have people working for you who are willing to adjust, adapt and innovate.
That doesn’t mean your core values or your culture has to change. [Though you will have to prepare for those millennials—they think differently.] Character, commitment, honesty, integrity, teamwork and striving for excellence never go out of style, no matter what the technology. But the way we operate, manufacture, deliver services and interact with the customer continues to change, and we must all be listening and paying attention to remain viable, relevant, successful and profitable. Make sure you set aside some time with your staff to ask yourself some of the questions I mention below in “Self examination.”
Change is going to happen and the pace will quicken. You can ride the wave and see it as a challenge—or you can let it overwhelm you, fight the swell and drown in the surf. This is happening in business, nonprofits, education and government. No one is exempt. We must all re-invent based on today’s reality.
As Lisa Johnson of The Reach Group pointed out recently at our Influential Women in Business luncheon, what got you to this point is not going to be the same thing you need to get you where you want to go in the future. Said another way by Albert Einstein, “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”
We must think differently, get out of the box, make a paradigm shift—whatever cliché you prefer to make the point. As a friend once told me, you must disband the “usta committee.” That’s the group who complains, fights change and says “that’s not the way we usta do it.” The old way is dead. Bury it. Move on. Change. Adapt. Explore. Create.
The future is not in the next decade—it’s now. And I would recommend we all get moving—fast.
Self examination
What is it about your business, product or service that you wish all folks in our area or state knew? How have you thought best to get that word out? What would be the benefit if they did know? Do you have strong members on your team in all areas? And if not, how can you recruit them? Do you need to make changes to make your business more attractive to recruit new talent?
These were the types of questions asked at a Stakeholders Summit held by the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, a real jewel in the LSU system. Dean Peter Haynes and Dr. David Senior pulled together 40 stakeholders to discuss the past, present and future of the LSU Vet School, including their mission, students and faculty. I applaud their effort. It was a wise thing to do. The session was led by Harrison Coerver of Harrison Coerver & Associates.
Sample questions posed were: How are you adapting and changing to meet the demands of the market for the next several years? Does your competition have an edge? How are you positioned?
They also examined: What are the external factors that are impacting our business and industry? What are the internal factors or threats?
The stakeholders looked to the future and asked: What does the future hold for your industry? Where do you see your company [services or products] in the future? Where will your workforce come from? How will you prepare and adapt to the changes?
After you go through this exercise you then must make decisions and imagine: What do I want my business to look like in three years? Five years? Ten years?
Then you must take advice from Peter Drucker, who said, “The future will not just happen if one wishes hard enough. It requires decision—now. It imposes risk—now. It demands allocation of resources, and above all, human resources—now. It requires work—now.”
And one more bit of wisdom shared is worth remembering and applying: “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of those things which matter least.” -Goethe
Country come to town
Mayor Kip Holden is in discussion with Quint Davis, who produces the New Orleans Jazz Fest annually, to produce a music festival in the Capital City. It would be called the Bayou Country Superfest and held on Memorial Day weekend in 2010 in Tiger Stadium. They hope to bring in big stars such as Kenny Chesney, Garth Brooks and George Strait. Now, that is big time—and it would draw folks from across the South and even across the country, not to mention national media coverage.
The event would cost $6 million and Davis is looking for $300,000 from the city and the Baton Rouge Convention and Visitors Bureau. You got to pay to play.
I love the idea and like the fact we’re thinking BIG—like a Jazz Fest-type of event. I’ll bet even the folks from Central and Zachary will come to the city for an event like this. I guess the mayor figures if he can’t get their tax dollars he’ll get their ticket money. Good move, Kip.
