Thursday, November 15, 2007

Adapt Or Suffer...

Did you notice that the early 90’s changed the world? There were massive social and economic shifts. The first was global competition – if you work for a company, that company now has worldwide competition. An old school friend of mine makes hearing aids. But their competitor makes them for half the cost in Vietnam. So his job is about to go.

Shift 2 was mini computerisation - it created laptops and mobiles, DVD and iPods – and frankly, humans can’t compete with these never-complaining tools.

Shift 3 was instant information – endless channels of digital TV, Broadband, email. Information overload has created a world that is crazy busy, wants instant gratification and has a short attention span. You can find out anything about anything within minutes thanks to the internet.

It used to take a generation to go through these changes. We’ve gone through them in a few years.

And it was done using “Mass Marketing” - where the media blanket brainwashed everyone into buying brand products. Nowadays its individualised marketing aimed at you if you’re the target client they want to reach – that’s why your credit card transactions get logged and you receive more and more junk mail and email about tings that you like.

Mass marketing was simple when there were only 3 TV channels. Now there are TV channels devoted to just one target client. It’s not about selling anymore. It’s about building long term relationships with specific people.

The world has changed from local markets to global markets. Look at how many high street shops and banks that are closing. Frankly, it’s cheaper to run a call centre and a website, than having to pay staff, rent, rates and maintain hundreds of premises across the country. The high street is doomed. The internet makes going global instantly available to anyone, right now. Teachers are having to be careful with Myspace and Facebook in case their pupils learn their personal stuff.

People are no longer willing to wait for 2 weeks for a book from the bookstore. Amazon can do it overnight. The world is going digital. No post office queues, no waiting. The downside? Our kids know more about it than we do.

We need to be resilient, adaptable, or we’re dinosaurs. Rigidity and stubbornness will kill you. “Hardening of the attitudes” is terminal. Flexibility, being able to learn and being able to use a keyboard will allow you/

Read the rest of this article here