Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.
How do you make something fire-proof? It’s not that hard. You can Google it and come up with a few methods.
How do you make something waterproof? Again, not that hard. Google it.
How do you make something future proof? Um, well, uh….
When I got in a car accident a few years ago, I was told I was lucky to have been flexible or I could have been hurt. Flexibility kept my body from fighting the momentum of the accident. I had no control over whether I was rigid or flexible at that moment, but the point is: it’s important to be flexible.
How flexible is your business?
When you play pool you have to think past the immediate shot. You can look and see what is going to be the easiest, or you can look and see what is going to be the best strategy. You need to know the probable outcome and decide what shot is best for the long-term.
People, processes, and technology are not set in stone. They are amalgams, constantly evolving to fit in. People need to think outside the box, and be willing to try something different.
Think about some of the oldest companies around. They are no longer their grandfathers companies. No one is still selling typewriters. As new products and processes emerged, these companies shifted to fit into the changing world. Not doing so would have been the end for them. Evolving is a natural step in any life cycle.
A company that once led the market is now struggling as their product becomes obsolete. They were inflexible, standing on a product of days gone by and not evolving to a product for the future.
With a bottom line to worry about, businesses can’t just “roll with the punches.” But they cannot afford to be inflexible either.
We are all byproducts of survival of the fittest. The fittest has never been about being the biggest or the strongest. It wasn’t about who was the smartest or prettiest. The fittest is the one who is most willing to look at the world-changing around them and saying “I can work with this.”
As customers change you need to adjust accordingly.
“If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” ~ Henry Ford
Henry Ford changed the world. His innovations in automation still affect how people work and live. And he did so by creating a new market without his customer even being aware of having a need for one.
It is hard to future proof your technology or your business. You don’t know what the future will bring but you know you want to be a part of it.
Any thing you get is going to work for you today. That is a given, or else why would you be buying it? But what about tomorrow?
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