What
to Do Now. (Hint: "Nothing" is Not an Option)
The
pandemic has accelerated trends such as touchless everything. You may not like
these changes, but you do need to figure out how to make them work for your
business.
One of the most pervasive impacts of the
pandemic across every industry has the acceleration of change. Many changes
were already on the way but almost all of them are here whether we like it or
not. The list is massive and continually growing: video conferencing,
telemedicine, e-sports, remote and distributed work, virtual restaurants, and
touchless everything. One critical case in point, consultant Kearney estimates
that the adoption of e-commerce has been accelerated by five years
in just the past year.
And these changes are now increasingly and
seamlessly integrated into our everyday lives. And here to stay. We're not all
happy about the speed, scope and scale of all the changes or the fact that they
all seem to be happening simultaneously. But almost every entrepreneur I know
is excited about how those shifts will likely open new product and market
opportunities, grow customer adoption and headcounts, and create a greater
willingness to experiment with and accept novel and innovative solutions to any
number of systemic problems.
At the moment, though, the most important
trick seems to be making sure that you can weather the interim storms and bumps
in the road that are inevitable in transitions of this magnitude, so that your
business is around to take full advantage of the good times as they slowly
return.
There are at least three typical responses to
rapid change like this, but only one makes sense if you're planning to stick
around.
First, and worst, is to do nothing. Nothing
new. Nothing different. Just trying to get back to business as usual in a world
that's changed radically and forever. You know in your heart that
ignorance as a strategy choice makes little sense but it's the "painless"
path of least persistence. At least for a little while. Soon
enough, your competition will run right past you and your customers will find
better, more accessible and more attractive new alternatives.
The reality is that any direct and immediate
action is better than none -- even if all the moves you're making might not be
in the right direction. It's not wrong to be wrong. It's wrong to stay
wrong. You're much better off trying to do something and failing than you will
ever be trying to do nothing and succeeding. But be sure to be honest with
yourself and recognize that make-work projects and keeping busy just for the
sake of filling time aren't going to help you change the trajectory. It's like
poking a balloon with your finger - you might displace or move the problems -
but you aren't effectively responding to or resolving them.
What we know for sure is that if you're not
pushing the ball forward - at whatever pace and in whatever direction makes you
comfortable - you're slowly slipping backwards. Like riding a bike, as long as
you're in motion, you won't fall over. Try to stand still, and you're likely to
flop.
The second equally fruitless approach is a
page right out of the immediate past insanity of our most recent ex-President.
Trying to build walls to hold off the future is a wanton and wasteful exercise
in wishful thinking, even apart from the fact that walls clearly won't work.
It's not even obvious that the people who are desperately attempting to stave
off the alleged onslaughts understand who they're trying to keep in and who
they hope to exclude. Trying to interpose fixed barriers, painful process and
onerous restrictions and other novel limitations is akin to placing picket
fences in front of the oncoming floods. A fool's errand and doomed to fail.
Watching so many colleges try to desperately
hang on to full tuition charges in the face of parents and students revolting against
virtual and remote learning models is a good example of businesses trying to
stop the sudden stampede without offering credible and viable alternative
solutions. In times like these, agility, fluidity and flexibility - bending
without breaking - is critical to survival. Walls and dams - however solid,
sturdy and fixed - will be promptly and readily overrun or avoided just as they
have been throughout history. On the other hand, carefully constructed and deployed moats are
an entirely different matter. But even the best moats require constant
attention, continual maintenance, and regular enhancement. Nothing gets better
by itself.
The best solution of all, however, is to focus
on building bridges rather than barriers. Reaching out to others and
constructing win-win partnerships, mutually beneficial relationships, and
shared platforms beyond the resources of any of the individual participants are
going to be crucial to surviving in a post-pandemic world where we can expect
increased market and industry consolidation overall with the big few industry
leaders continuing to grow. You're gonna need a helping hand and some of life's
most challenging decisions are always which bridges to build and which to cross
or not.
The key to sustainable success going forward
for new and growing businesses is to understand that it's going to be
increasingly impossible to provide for and satisfy all of the needs of your
present and future customers by yourself. All the bright ideas for easy
businesses built by Lone Rangers have been tried and taken. And, even more
importantly, it's critical to appreciate that it makes little or no sense to
even try to do everything alone because you couldn't be all things to all
people under the best of circumstances.
Finding and connecting to strong partners who
can supplement your skills and talents, focusing on what you can do far better than anyone else,
outsourcing the things you can seamlessly offload to others, and ultimately
shedding all of the commoditized functions and services to which you bring
nothing special are the ways to streamline and trim your particular offerings.
That will allow you to differentiate from the pack and provide a compelling and
unique set of incentives and values to the customers you really want to
attract.
No one has the time, resources or even any
reason to try to hold off the future. Shrinking and simplifying your strategy,
focusing and carefully directing your attention and efforts, and building
bridges to others who can help you leverage your strengths and strengthen your
offerings are the most effective ways forward.
MAR 23, 2021
