Why Focusing Only on Examples and Results from Your Own Industry Is Pointless
My company supports what is commonly called DX, from sales and marketing to the back-office setup for remote work.
Among the many inquiries we receive, questions like this one stand out:
We get quite a few of these.
Real estate is merely an example, but the point is that they place excessive importance on experience in a particular industry (usually their own).
- Our industry is unique, so measures are meaningless unless they're effective in this unique industry.
- Our industry has its own rules, and we'd like you to understand its assumptions and atmosphere without us having to explain.
- We can't trust results unless they're from our industry.
These attitudes peek through.
It's as though “our industry” is the whole world, haha.
Technology Destroys Conventions and Frameworks
Honestly, with requests taking this stance, I generally decline them all or give one-off advice and leave it there.
That's because “there is an extremely high chance they won't produce results”.
Technology is destroying existing industry rules and past success stories at tremendous speed. Coronavirus arrived as if to accelerate it.
When we need to break down frameworks and conventions, starting with a stance going in the opposite direction makes the outlook worrying.
That is a phrase you often hear.
For example, big tech companies like GAFA, Tesla, Uber and Airbnb alone make this clear.
What's more, coronavirus is changing lifestyles too, making it even more dangerous to rely on conventions and frameworks.
Digitalization Isn't Simply Replacing the Status Quo
A common misunderstanding: very many companies, executives and staff think they just need to replace what they've always done with digital versions.
Suppose you need a website intended to bring customers to your company.
Would it be enough to turn the brochures and service materials you usually bring to face-to-face sales meetings into PDFs, upload them and call it done?
Of course not.
For example:
- Arrange the screen so customers can intuitively access the information they want.
- Allow easy access on both computers and smartphones.
- Cover all the information customers want on the page.
- Let people inquire or apply immediately if they're interested in the service.
Those are just the added requirements that come readily to mind (and you also need to bring customers to the page).
What this before-and-after makes clear is that
Today's businesses cannot survive without “digital leverage.”
If You're Copying Success Stories, Look Across All Industries
Let me also discuss strategy beyond technology.
If you implement measures copied from success stories in the same industry, will they produce results? The answer is probably, “Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't”.
Even if they're reproducible, they are ultimately competitors' measures, and if all competitors use the same measures, their effectiveness naturally disappears.
Also, even examples from the same industry don't necessarily involve the same market position, so often they can't be copied.
For example, if a small restaurant tries to copy McDonald's measures, many are practically out of reach because of differences in capital. The industry framework isn't an absolute way to assess things.
Study Behavioral Psychology, Neuroscience, and Quantum Mechanics
Bezos said he is frequently asked what he thinks will change over the next 10 years. But he says asking what won't change over the next 10 years is more likely to yield important insights.
Source: Amazon CEO Bezos: Focus on “what won't change, rather than what will” (ZDNet Japan)
We live in an age of rapid change rarely seen in history (although, of course, we need to keep in mind that accepted knowledge can be overturned), and focusing on “things that don't change even when the times change” is a MUST.
So what are these “things that don't change”?
One of them, I would say, is this:
That much is safe to say.
By deeply understanding “when people take action,” through behavioral psychology, neuroscience and even quantum mechanics, you can advance your business advantageously without being swept away by changing times.
Many companies don't even think of applying behavioral psychology, neuroscience or quantum mechanics to business, but opportunities lie precisely in what the majority isn't doing.
Conclusion
I'll bring this article to a close, but there's one thing you mustn't forget.
People tend to focus only on things that seem likely to produce “visible,” “easy-to-understand,” “short-term” and “immediate” results. Perhaps the starting point is to abandon those assumptions and expectations.