(Time to read this Blog is about 3 1/2 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. Biz Quote of the week:
   “When employees feel unheard, they disengage.  When they feel powerless, they stop taking ownership.  And when they feel disrespected, they leave.” 
   …Monty Fowler, Management Author.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:  
   A staff engagement tip: 
    
   If your business is big enough to have a number of Departments or Operational Areas, here are two helpful staff engagement tips.
    
   To help everyone on your Team understand the ‘big picture’ in your business, and how what they do contributes to and affects the rest of the operation do these two things:
   1. Give every new employee a tour of the entire operation, including explanations of how each area contributes to the success of the business.
   2. Hold your regular monthly Team Meetings (you do have regular Team Meetings, don’t you?) in a different area of the business each month.
       
      Have the head of the ‘host area’ describe what is done there and how other areas interact with and affect it.  Encourage questions and feedback.  Then, move on to whatever other topics you have on your monthly meeting agenda.  Over a period of a few months everyone will have a much better understanding of how the entire business works, the role that everyone plays…and why their role is an important part of it.
       
3. Marriages in China fell by 20% in 2024…and by 50% from a decade ago. The Chinese government is organizing ‘Love Education’ seminars to emphasise the benefits of marriage and family as a way to increase Chinas low birth rate.
    
4. Fun fact. Over 95% of the world’s internet traffic runs through 750,000 miles (1,200,000 kms) of undersea cables.
    
5. A shameless plug! If your company, Industry Association or local Chamber of Commerce has a Business Conference this year that will benefit from my world-class, bottom-line management and marketing insights and ‘straight talk’ delivery style, perhaps we should chat.
    
   I’ve delivered about 3,000 Conference Sessions in over 40 industries around the world…and I’m starting to get the hang of it.  I do the homework to customize, and I stay for the entire event because some of the most important value is always delivered off-stage in quiet and confidential conversations.  I’m easy to find at donald@donaldcooper.com.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Will your business be ‘blindsided’ by innovative newcomers?

Will your business be ‘blindsided’ by innovative newcomers?

I’m a big fan of Consumer Reports Magazine and their on-line product ratings.  They thoroughly and independently test thousands of products every year. To ensure their independence and, therefore, their credibility, they accept no ads and accept no free products for their very thorough testing. Everything they test, including 100s of vehicles, they buy at retail.

What I notice, more and more is that many of their highest rated products are from innovative newcomers and not well-know legacy brands.

For example, in Consumer Reports recent ratings of the best toilets, the #1 performer is from a company called Gerber. Whoever heard of Gerber Toilets?  What happened to American Standard, Kohler and Crane?

The highest rated mattress is from a company called Avocado.  Other highly rated mattresses are from companies named Casper, Bob-O-Pedic and Earthfoam.  You have to go quite far down the ratings to find a mattress from the three legacy brands, Sealy, Serta or Simmons.

The point here is that we can’t get comfortable…or, even worse, arrogant.  Every day, remember that somewhere out there are a bunch of super-keen, innovative upstart competitors committed to making your life miserable.  And, they have a big advantage.  They have no ‘unlearning’ to do.  

Unearning is tougher than learning.  Unlearning the stuff that isn’t working anymore…and we didn’t notice.  Unlearning the stuff that never worked…and we never noticed.   What unlearning do you need to do in your business?  What tired old assumptions, processes, policies and practices need to be rethought and replaced. What new technologies or business models need to be embraced?  What or who could replace us in 3 to 5 years?   We will either create ‘the next’…or be replaced by those who do.  There’s a great topic for a Team Meeting.

That’s it for this week…

Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.