Remember Napster…
…the online service which enabled people to illegally trade and download music to their computers for free? I’m sure that you do.
You’ll also likely recall that Napster had the record companies, publishers and distributors stumped for years regarding how to combat the piracy of their content…licensed music.
While Napster’s practices (as they were then) were eventually shutdown by the courts for infringement of copyrighted music, the music industry, by itself, never came close to producing a solution for their Napster problem. Not until an outside entity came around (Apple), could anything resembling a solution (iTunes) be identified.
Indeed Apple had very smart people involved (Steve Jobs for one), but a significant part of the music industry’s dilemma stemmed from the fact that the record companies executives couldn’t resolve a business problem like they hadn’t encountered before. It was outside their realm of thinking. Their perspective was narrow and they weren’t able to consider all options because they were “programmed” to think how they thought. Very smart people in their own right, but short on ideas outside of their proverbial “box”…
Companies and even entire industries, like we individuals, tend to develop and then operate within patterns of thinking. These molds help form a company’s culture and routine ways of doing business which can also be powerful inhibitors. They hinder and even prevent development of new ideas, innovation and the ability to solve unusual problems; causing a difficulty to “think outside…” Ironically, repeated patterns of thinking is what creates the box in the first place.
In a world of less complicated minds, there wouldn’t be boxes. We’d be able to always see things clearly, with wide perspectives and no limitations. Most aren’t able to stray too far from their paradigms. It’s partly how the brain inherently is but also what it becomes accustomed (trained) to over time.
Problem solving, new products creation, moving anything to a higher level and other designs for improvement require new ideas. And new ideas must come from somewhere. If and when things feel “stuck” it’s likely due to current and recurring patterns of thinking. To break through that, methods of encouraging new ideas must either be developed or imported.
Or else, like the record companies were; without new ideas, we’re screwed!
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Contact Jim Campbell for a no obligation discussion and receive productive marketing ideas for your business at the same time. Feel frustration no longer.
Email: Jim@In-The-Flow.com
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The right products, discussed with the right people, in the right ways, delivers opportunities to serve our markets.
