Good ideas fuel companies. Isn’t there some commercial that says, “Business is changing at the speed of light?” Any successful business needs top talent to help it stay ahead of the crowd. It is much better to be ahead of the curve than chasing it. Think about it – are YOU ahead of the curve?Harvard’s John Kotter says, “The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades.” You want your ideas to be at the forefront of rapid change.
Remember, change for change’s sake is not innovative. We all know that not all ideas that get the “green light” turn out to be the right moves. Change for change’s sake doesn’t win friends and influence people. Think about New Coke, introduced in April 1985. Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, attempted to change their formula. Some authorities believe that New Coke was invented specifically to respond to its commercial competitor, Pepsi. The reformulation was led by the then-CEO of the company, Roberto Goizueta, and Coke president, Don Keough. The new Coca-Cola formula caused a public backlash. This caused the company to return to the old formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic only three months later.
Clearly, Goizueta and Keough were able to articulate their ideas. Trusted leaders, they pushed through a plan and had it implemented. However, in retrospect, it was clearly a bad idea! I like to think of these instances as “wasted investments.”
A more recent example of a bad idea winning – the Jay Leno – Conan O’Brian fiasco.
You want to be sure not to push forward ideas that turn into wasted investments. In the long run, these plans are like flushing money (and time and effort) down the toilet.
Think about your organization. Where are there opportunities for true, positive change? Where are the doors that are waiting to be pushed open? If you see the cracks, will you know what to do next? Do you have the ideas you need to be the go-to person in your field?
After completing the Communicate to Win workshop, you will have the most compelling argument and the best ideas. With this complete package, you will gain the tools necessary to guarantee that you have the best ideas and that you can present them confidently so you will WIN. Read what participants say.
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Photo by Katrina Snaps. Used by permission.
Hey, good writing.