Wrong Perspective

In the last 90 days I’ve seen more than ten promising organizations shut their doors. They just didn’t see a way to continue.

A couple blamed a lack of monetization strategy. They couldn’t find a get rich quick scheme.

Several others said they had key contracts winding down.

I suspect the other two bored themselves to death.

What I noticed was that they all made a change to increase efficiency, curtail constructive time wasting.

Each had found a promising new service to deliver, then turned it over to a fulfillment team. That fulfillment team decided that their work created the value and therefore all revenue was theirs, which meant work expanded to require the resources available.

Which meant there is no hope for further work.

Some time ago, I started the second fulfillment factory for a national marketing firm. Previously I had played a role in developing our systems at the main office. My second attempt delivered the same results in less time and at one third the cost, which caused distress among the HQ crew.

I endured a rash of audits, inspections, and threats before the owner told his minions to back off.

Why did it take an 800 mile move to cut our costs by over 60%? Actually, we had to get space, vendors, and new customers. It would have been a lot less effort at HQ, but it also wouldn’t have been possible. Too many people had the wrong perspective.

Clayton Christensen says look out below for disruptive competition. A corollary is to figure a way to reduce cost and improve service every week to stave off disruption. If I don’t figure it out, some other guy will.

Part of improvement is working with prospects to define an offering they want more than what they are getting. That’s not sales, that’s self preservation. I figure that’s over 40% of value.

Joy’s Law – The real talent pool.