Is your company in an industry that is experiencing digital disruption? Many industries have experienced this “disruptive” change, a phenomenon that has transformed many. Even with an excellent reinvention roadmap, there is a little guarantee of survival. But the ESPN reinvention roadmap will illustrate how a good one can be built.
But still, you must do something; will it be to build a shelter or a windmill?
Many a reinvention roadmap.
The bad news is that when the dust of disruptive change settles, historically even the best-run companies typically end up in the loser’s column.
In the computing industry, for example, Digital Equipment Corporation missed the personal computer (P.C.) in the early 1980′s, started to fall apart in the early 1990′s, and got acquired by Compaq in 1998.
Dell Computer’s low-cost business model destroyed Compaq, forcing a merger with Hewlett-Packard (H.P.) in 2001.
Dell’s continued incursion into the P.C. and printing office now threatens H.P., which announced more than 10,000 layoffs in an effort to remain competitive.
It’s the same thing that happened to the book industry with Amazon.com and now e-books on demand. It’s the same thing that happened to the financial industry when they started trading stocks online instead of using traditional stockbrokers.
And to the record companies that once ruled the music industry with an iron fist. And the typewriter industry with the advent of word processing on the computer.
In 1892, George Eastman formed the Eastman Kodak Company to “make the camera as convenient as a pencil.” It was an idea whose time had come and by the early 20th century, Kodak emerged as one of America’s largest companies and Eastman one of its most successful entrepreneurs.
It wasn’t just that one idea that made the company so successful, it managed to stay on the bleeding edge for over a century, pioneering impressive new advancements in photographic paper, development and image processing. In 1975, it invented the digital camera, which would lead to its downfall as a major corporation.
The problem wasn’t that Kodak didn’t understand the potential, but that it became stuck in its operating model. It was so huge and so profitable, that almost any other opportunity seemed small by comparison.
While Kodak is an extreme case, many others fail in new markets for similar reasons, they fail to bridge the gap between innovation and operations.
The list goes on and on.
Make no mistake, if you don’t discover, you won’t invent and if you don’t invent you will be disrupted.. It’s just a matter of time. However, you can’t just show up one day and decide you want to work with the world’s greatest minds. Even Google, with all its resources and acumen, has had to work really hard at it.
It’s made these investments in time, focus and resources because it understands that the search business, as great as it is, won’t deliver outsized profits forever. Today, we no longer have the luxury to manage for stability, but must prepare for disruption.
The internet and digital technology have brought significant change and, occasionally, death to many industries. Your company and industry will not be the exception, as revenues and customers will rapidly switch to the next new digital product set.
A return to the old days is not in the cards, is it? But does that mean that you are doomed?
Not yet, but certainly likely, if you do not act early and in dramatic fashion. Don’t convince yourself that you can weather the storm and maintain the status quo.
Here is a recommended list of ideas and actions to pursue in order to build a roadmap for reinvention that ESPN should pursue if ESPN was under ‘digital disruption’ attack:
ESPN reinvention roadmap … carefullystudy the trailblazers
Carefully study what the trailblazers have learned over the past 5 years.
For example, if you were in the newspaper or magazine business, there are many lessons.
Here are a few of the best trailblazers to start with: Huffington Post, Voice of San Diego, Business Insider, and Tech Crunch.
ESPN reinvention roadmap … make customer engagement a top priority
Let this customer engagement be a source of ideas in all reinvention solution alternatives. Build communities for your customer advocates and your potential customers.
Your biggest customers, other businesses, are also going through significant change … make their success the centerpiece of your reinvention.
Frequently solicit ideas from your customers on critical issues.
ESPN reinvention roadmap … be a rapid adapter
It is all about the timing of decisions, the culture of change, and the ability to take risks.
If you want to have any chance of avoiding digital disruption … you need to be able to make changes and do so before you have to. Don’t let the roadmap get stale.
Spread your wings and take a leadership position within the region. Be a hands-on leader, spokesman, and creator of change and improvement in ways that local governments have not been able to do.
Make the leadership of change the flagship of your new brand like ESPN has been doing..
ESPN reinvention roadmap … make crowdsourcing a center of competence
Put crowdsourcing of new ideas for both internal as well as local issues. Experiment, prototype, and test fearlessly … iterate often.
Make business model experimentation a top priority.
Note that 80% of the game-changing ideas over the last 100 years came from people outside the fields where the new ideas were successful. WOW, now that is an impressive fact.
Collaborate with other businesses often
Look for inventive partnerships that can yield win-win opportunities.
The key here is finding inventive new opportunities in media to pursue.
ESPN reinvention roadmap … become a medium for local social sharing
On-line internet games and learning are in their infancy and would be a great place to start.
Be innovative in ways to present information and data
Many of the issues that your customers and businesses face are multi-faceted and complex.
Be innovative in ways to present information and data improve education and bring clarity to these issues. Look for ESPN ideas.
ESPN reinvention roadmap … develop and hire new skills
Many of these ideas (and others) will require new skill sets by ESPN and others.
Skills such as multi-media specialists, community builders, information technology experts, curators, and innovation specialists will require employees with new skills.
Several of these recommendations you are already pursuing, many others have yet to be defined or implemented.
Be a rapid adapter.
We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing.
– R. D. Laing
Here’s the thing: your idea, solution, or strategy is just a collection of guesses until they’re tested.
There is the real power in making bold assumptions because you can turn them into clear hypotheses, and then scientifically test them in a rapid, iterative way.
Done right, your eventual strategy will indeed survive the first contact.
The bottom line
The biggest obstacle your industry faces?
Letting go of the old ways fast enough so that the new ways have a chance to grow and develop.
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of collaborative innovation. And put it to good use in adapting to changes in your business environment.
It’s up to you to keep improving your learning and experience with innovation and creativity efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your creativity, innovation, and ideas?
Do you have a lesson about making your creativity better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on creativity and innovation from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
