I believe in focusing on the future; don’t get stuck in what was successful in the past. Your ability to recognize change early and take the steps necessary to implement that change will put you in front of your competitors. You may be scared about what that does to your brand, but you can still keep your core brand concepts and adapt to change.
“Don’t get stuck in what was successful in the past.”
-Stephen McLain
In the Army, especially while I was working in the Pentagon, we were focused on the future. We needed to know who our potential adversaries were going to be, what capabilities they had and what they were developing. We had to continually plan for better equipment, better procedures and better training to maintain our edge to be the best Army in the world.
Here are 6 areas that will help you focus on the future:
- Innovation. With everything I talk about, innovation of your ideas and your products have to be at the forefront of your vision and strategy. Encourage your team to be creative and to develop new ideas that can improve your product lines. Don’t let older, successful product lines to cloud your need for innovation and for the possibility for new products.
- Know your customer demographics. Are your customers changing habits? Do you rely on an aging population? Are you considering the desires of a new generation? In the United States, the overall customer base is continually changing due to immigration, beliefs, protest movements, and shifting values. You have to be aware of how your customers may be shifting.
- Adapting early to trends. How long did it take you to put your data in the cloud? Are you still not there? Adapting early to reliable trends makes you more competitive and more able to change your business.
- No over-relying on Cash Cow product lines. You may have been in business for awhile and you have a successful product line that has been providing a large portion of your revenues, but the product is older, but considered reliable, which also makes you vulnerable to competitors. Your thinking is that I can’t do major shifts to eliminate the chance of losing this revenue stream, but what is false is not committing resources for a replacement product line for the future. It is possible that you have “Classic Coke” and that it will never go away and any attempt to change it will backfire, but I doubt it. You could also have the “Apple IIE,” which was an amazing and reliable product for many years, but also hindered Apple leadership from innovating in a timely manner
- Modeling government mandates for early adoption. The U.S Government likes to spend your money to make change happen, and I am not talking just about tax money. They want to use your profits to complete a political agenda in addition to tax money they receive. I worked in Washington, D.C. and I know the mentality about the bureaucrats who also work there. However, you have to be aware of government mandates that will become law, and you need to start financially modeling those potential future requirements. Some areas that may affect you are minimum wage, family leave, bathrooms, nutrition information, continued changes to medical insurance, free trade agreements, and many others. You need to be aware of what is happening at the national, state and local levels that will affect your business.
- SWOT Analysis. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses will allow you to know your ability to take advantage of a new opportunity and to respond to threats. A SWOT Analysis helps you in the consideration of the previous items on this list. Are you able to integrate a new business practice or can your business survive a government mandate that takes more of your money?
“The heart and soul of the company is creativity and innovation.”
-Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company
Smart competitors will be doing the very same practices and adapt to change before you do. Ensure you are modeling the future to capture potential issues that will affect your business. What system do you have in place to understand and model the future? Please leave a comment or email at comment@stephenmclain.com.
Copyright 2016-Stephen McLain