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When a crisis comes, as always inevitable, you should invest even more in the development of your company – this is one of the key conclusions that results from research and observation of business over the last 50-100 years. I invite you to learn about 5 examples of 5 companies that changed their market and overtook the competition. At the end of the article you will find additional material – 12 levels that allow you to check the maturity and readiness of your company for growth.
According to the research of the Harvard Business Review – a magazine recognized as one of the most opinion-forming in the world in terms of management strategy and practice, only 9% of companies recover from a strengthened recession. On the other hand, 80% of them are not able to restore the level of sales and profitability from the period before the crisis even three years after its end.
Your industry may be experiencing the current economic downturn, but remember that you are not in a disadvantaged position because of this. In 2010, the US supermarket chain Walmart was the world’s largest retailer. Its founder, Sam Walton, was once asked what he thought during the recession that hit many American companies. This outstanding (though controversial and criticized by many people) businessman replied then: – I have stated that I am not taking part in it. Of course, this is easy for a multi-billionaire to tell. Certainly, small hotels, restaurants or event agencies would also like to be able to say that – but are they able to collapse or shrink to a minimum? It turns out that it is.
The secret is in changing your approach
In the practice of management, there is a term “mindset” that denotes an internal attitude, that is, a way of thinking. The most important thing is not to give in to the situation. “Despite the unfavorable combination of circumstances, however, we will fight for each other” – always say the greatest business leaders. Of course, I’m not talking about the fact that it is enough to think positively and everything will be wonderful. But an effective entrepreneur, even if he sees that his company or industry is going bad, will sooner or later find a solution. It is not easy, but it is necessary.
The crisis is a testing time for our competences. The time has come for many key decisions: Should the pace of production be slowed down? Do you fire people? However, do you continue to develop and invest? In order to make the right decisions here, one needs to have adequate knowledge. And it is imperative to act. This action is a test of our decisions and allows us to assess whether we have made the right decisions. It is therefore a time of trial, a time of decision, and a time of action. For sure however
Crisis is also learning time
Entrepreneurs using the consultations we offer as part of the Personal & Strategic Leadership Mindset workshops are now thanking me for telling them about building the so-called “financial security cushion”. “Now I am secured for 10 months” – the participant of our training is pleased. Another, in turn, expresses his satisfaction with the fact that we have taught him to diversify his thinking and look for non-obvious sources of income. “Admittedly, one business has failed, but the other is doing well,” he wrote to us with real joy.
After the first few months of shock and frustration from the coronavirus attack
The time has come to build a new normality also in business
The so-called “networking” can be of great help here – that is, simply speaking, building and maintaining business and social relationships. It involves the exchange of information, mutual resource sharing and mutual support. It is conducive to a very good business atmosphere and thus brings specific results. We then have access to a large amount of information that we need to survive in the changing market conditions. Like any art, networking must also be learned in order to conduct it and use it skillfully. Therefore, we are building the LMC community, or Leadership Mindset Community, to create a space of people and similar values, goals and ambitions. Business networking is a kind of art. We need to develop networking and relationship networking skills to make them work for us.
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Let us return for a moment to the Harvard Business Review studies mentioned above, carried out during previous economic crises. Their occurrence is inevitable – this is the logic of economic development. The biggest mistake that can be made then is to hide in the proverbial “mouse hole” to wait through this difficult period.
The Harvard Business Review study mentioned above indicates that 17% of companies, however, disappear from the market during a crisis, either by going bankrupt or being bought by the competition. But is it as much as 17% or only 17%?
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The experience of the last hundred years of business development – mainly in the USA, but not only there – shows that companies that invest in themselves also win in the market during a recession. It is not necessarily only about financial investments. It is equally important to introduce the necessary organizational changes: in the company’s structure, supply chain, production organization and finally marketing.
Whether it’s in a bull market or a bear market
Those who invest always win
Here a very important question arises: what to invest in then? The famous business magazine Forbes conducted an analysis of various phenomena accompanying the Great Depression of the 1920s. A great deal of emphasis in this study was to look at the survival strategies of various companies. And so:
Kellog Company – a breakfast cereal and cake tycoon, increased advertising spending and additionally invested in new products. As a result, its profits increased by 30%. These investments in the company, marketing and new products made Kellog’s a market leader. He just took his chance. Were there difficult moments and budget cuts? Certainly so. But surely Kellog’s then showed that
It’s worth taking your chance
During the energy crisis of the 1970s, Volkswagen cut its advertising spending in the US, while Toyota kept it unchanged. One year after the crisis ended, this Japanese brand won with Volkswagen in the “Most popular imported car” category.
Another recession came in 1990-91. Despite this, Pizza Hut – one of the largest casual dining restaurant chains in the world and Taco Bell – an American fast food chain, increased their marketing expenses. For a change, the famous McDonald’s lowered these expenses. Effect? Pizza Hut went up 61% and Taco Bell 40%. McDonald’s then “drowned” 28% of its market share. So let’s remember that …
Even the greatest make mistakes
And no one has any guarantee that he will succeed. However, using the knowledge provided by the above-mentioned statistics, we know for sure that any budget cuts should be made wisely and after a good analysis. All market analyzes of the crisis times also indicate that
Correct investing is absolutely essential at all times. Also in times of crisis.
During the great recession in 2009, Amazon grew by 28% investing in new products and their promotion. The aforementioned Forbes analyzes show that companies that invest in the right way: be it in marketing, in a product, or finally in the right form of their business venture, sooner or later win.
McGrow-Hill Research – analyzed 600 companies from 16 industries during the crisis of the 1980s –85. It turned out that B2B companies which, despite the crisis, maintained or increased their marketing expenses, had higher sales both during the economic slowdown and three years after its end compared to their competitors, which were saving.
We should also remember that marketing is not only advertising on Facebook or on billboards.
Marketing means a strategic approach
to what needs we are now responding to, offering such and not other products, creating these products and engaging in their promotion. Marketing should always be viewed more broadly.
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The Strategic Planning Institute from Cambridge proved that a business that saves on media in times of crisis loses its market share.
When times are good you should advertise.
When times are bad, you have to advertise.
During the last four recessions, Business Consulting Group, an international consulting firm, analyzed public companies with over $ 50 million in turnover per year. During the crisis, they lost all of them, with the exception of the 14% who did not panic and continued to think about long-term marketing, taking appropriate action.
They thought about how to grow, not how to cut.
They also invested in technology. Of course, something completely different can be afforded by a large business with huge capital compared to a small event company, restaurant or hotel. Because what would the latter be promoting? After all, no one will come to this hotel in the times of recession, despite powerful advertising. This is the trick to skilfully invest either in a new product-service or, if the product promoted so far remains on the market, to promote it further skilfully. That is why the above-mentioned networking is so helpful, allowing you to join forces with other businesses.
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Therefore, the mission of the Institute of Change Leaders and the Leadership Mindset Community project we run is to support leaders and their companies so that they grow, develop their potential to their best opportunities. One of the aspects of our support is specialized education. Remember that
The one who knows more wins
This knowledge should concern the psychology of human behavior: our own, our employees and our clients. In addition, specialist knowledge about our business is also important. That is why education is so important.
Our mission is to inspire our clients to find the balance between achieving business results and inner peace – not to go crazy.
And always remember the most important:
The effects come from within you.
In other words, how you do in business, not only in times of crisis, very much depends on how you approach life, what your worldview and competences are. Your strategic ideas and your idea of life in general will come from this.
Both life and business are a continuous process. The better we understand the stages of these processes, the better we can predict certain phenomena. And this allows us to set directions for action, as well as discover the nexus of events that are beneficial to us.
Life is a process of becoming yourself
to the measure you set for yourself
and what kind you discover
I want the leaders of small and large companies to understand the most important standards and best practices that allow businesses to grow. Therefore, the vision of the development of the Leadership Mindset Community is to bring together as many leaders as possible, guided by ethical values in life and at work. At the same time, they learn to build a strong competitive advantage and a strong brand, while taking care of innovation and high profits or revenues. Depending on the moment of development of the company, sometimes profits and sometimes revenues are more important.
Our Institute for Change Leaders has developed a proprietary change management tool called Change Value Process. It combines various methods based on strategic psychology. We introduced this proprietary term into the business nomenclature in 2019. Many of the methods developed here can also be used in working with people, with their resistance and blockages, as well as for their development. Just as business has various blockades and sometimes faces the proverbial “wall”, i.e. a situation with almost no exit, so a person can have various mental blocks and sometimes find himself against this “wall”.
It is extremely important to manage your mind, emotions, and what is going on in our head. In order not to panic in difficult moments, and instead stimulate your creativity. To be able to see things wider, also be bolder and be able to take risks when needed.
We help the leaders of small and large companies working with us to develop the so-called emotional intelligence. The second area is communication which requires developing social intelligence. We teach our clients to speak in public, negotiate, present their products or talk to employees in order to better motivate them to act effectively. The third area is strategy. We are already developing business intelligence here.
Professional networking always helps
We, as a company, develop thanks to recommendations from satisfied customers and thanks to Internet activities. Before that, for many years of my career, I didn’t feel that I needed networking at all, and that was a serious mistake. If I were to establish consciously closer business relationships, not online, but offline, our company, and me together with it, would be much further on the path of developing our potential.
Networking is about being able to talk to people during a business conference, or at a business breakfast, or at other business meetings, so as to create a network of contacts.
In order to reach the heights of business, you do not need to constantly accumulate new methods and skills. On the other hand, it is necessary to meet new, friendly business partners. The simplest things are most important. And not doing them, we stumble on our way not over obstacles, but pebbles.
I can give here an example of an excellent manager who has earned hundreds of millions of zlotys for her company during 20 years of good work. However, she was so involved in this work that she completely forgot about networking. And when she suddenly lost her job, she had no contact with people in various industries and had no one to turn to for help in finding a new job.
There are, among others, on the Internet Business Intelligence Club, allowing to establish and maintain business contacts. When taking care of networking, it is worth remembering the world-famous LinkedIn portal, where specialists from various industries meet. Therefore, it is worth publishing there various posts confirming your competences, thanks to which you will establish new business contacts.
Headhunters also visit LinkedIn, looking for specialists like you. After just a few months of being there, I gained new clients and earned the first few tens of thousands of zlotys.
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I would now like to introduce you to five companies that have dealt with the crisis thanks to the introduction of market-changing innovations. Remember that
Those who invest in technology, product and marketing win.
Now, in the age of a pandemic, is the time of learning when we can also develop networking and the social intelligence associated with it. We can also work on our psyche and develop emotional intelligence, and finally work on the company’s strategy, thus developing business intelligence.
The five companies mentioned above have surfaced, despite the crisis, on the “blue ocean”. This metaphor signifies an area in business where competition is less than or even absent at the beginning of the road. When you are there, you no longer have to kill your business by lowering prices in the fight against competition. Instead, you find a new product and new service that you can offer your customers.
A good example of such a state is the worldwide success of the Canadian Cirque du Soleil. This “extraordinary fusion of circus and street art” was founded in 1984 by two former street artists: Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix. Their project was described as “a circus without animals, but with a concert of classical music”. These gymnastics experts stopped investing in keeping and training animals, and instead invested in a remarkable artistic phenomenon. Each of their performances is actually a synthesis of circus styles from around the world. These performances are staged in nearly 300 cities on all continents, with annual profits in excess of $ 800 million. The number of viewers of their performances has already exceeded 90 million, but now, saving their existence in the time of crisis, they decided to lay off 95% of their crew. After all, they live off the sale of tickets. So when there are no viewers, there is no business. This is an example of a business that changed the market in times of non-pandemic. However, he was not immune to this type of crisis. We can learn a lot from their success strategy and from their downturn. I strongly believe that they will be reborn soon.
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One of the strategic ways to innovate or develop an idea for a new product is to ask yourself: What happens if we give up this or that? For example, by resigning from expensive tables and chairs in the Pizza Dominium restaurant – later Pizza Hut developed an idea for home delivery. It is obvious now, but 30 years ago it was a great novelty on the market.
Often eliminating certain aspects creates space for creation
The enemy of innovation is a schematic attachment to the solutions used so far.
The creators of Cirque du Soleil asked themselves questions: what if there were no animals? What if you could give up the specific “music” played in the circus and take it to a higher level, using musicians from a symphony orchestra? Moreover, the pieces they play will be written especially for this orchestra, what would it be like?
And this is how Cirque du Soleil was born, one of the most famous examples of a company that entered the market in an innovative way.
Changes in the hotel market
Another example is the Dutch hotel chain CitizenM, operating all over the world. Its hotels are marked with three stars and offer “three-star” prices while maintaining five-star standards.
This is a really fascinating business example. Looking for their “blue ocean”, the creators of CitizenM began to carefully probe the preferences of their future customers. They started with the location, which is the most important parameter for a business client. He usually has little time, so he will gladly live close to the airport, and preferably also near the train station. This is how five-star hotels are built.
It also turned out that these business clients do not need large sleeping rooms at all. When you come to the city for a day or two, the most important element is simply a comfortable bed in the room, so that you simply have a good night’s sleep. But they will surely make your stay comfortable with large, fluffy towels. And on top of that, sound insulation so that the client can rest in silence after a day of intense work. In addition, the large hotel lobby, apart from being expensive, also takes up space where many other rooms can be located.
While working on reducing administrative costs, the network gave up various, not necessarily necessary elements traditionally associated with a hotel, and significantly increasing its operating costs. So there is no bellman, reception and restaurant with them. They also gave up the large hall and large hotel rooms.
When a guest arrives at the hotel in the evening, he often doesn’t even need to eat because he has eaten in the city before. So I don’t need a big restaurant. Sometimes, however, he works still at night and then he will need a little snack. If there is no restaurant, what will you return? The solution turned out to be simple and effective. In the hotel hall there are large refrigerated cabinets, which are supplied with fresh meals every day by local eateries. The guest therefore has access to snacks 24 hours a day and at the same time the hotel supports the local community by establishing business relationships with local partners. In return, they recommend to their clients inexpensive – and well-run – high standard hotels belonging to the CitizenM chain.
To sum up: the creators of the new hotel chain wondered what they could give up because of the costs, and what could customers not live without? And in any business you should always keep in mind
What is the priority for customers?
Another company that I would like to tell you about is Kimberly-Clark Brazil, which produces toilet paper. For many years, over 80 producers have been competing on the huge Brazilian market, offering even several brands of paper. Thus, KCB had around 200 marks of paper to “break”.
At this point, they were at the bottom of the so-called “red ocean”, an environment of enormous price competition. What to do in this situation? After all, continuing to keep lowering prices is a road to nowhere, because in a moment we will be selling below production costs. They also did not want to withdraw – so they had to come up with something new. At the Institute of Change Leaders, we also teach our clients how to carry out such a strategic change, i.e.
How to come up with something out of nothing
How to work out solutions that so far “do not fit in your head” and that are beyond our consciousness at all – especially in times of crisis. We either teach it or we just guide companies through the process – not everyone has the time or the willingness to learn it after all.
What Kimberly-Clark Brazil has created is truly amazing. Because what have companies on this market rivaled so far? Certainly the price. Another important parameter in the case of toilet paper is the number of layers. When there are too few of them, there is a risk of getting your hands dirty during “toilet activities”. We also include in the same category, for example, softness, smell and maybe even pictures that will be attractive to children. But when at some point
Everyone already has it, so what do you do then?
KCB’s innovative idea was also very easy to copy by the competition, but our heroes were definitely first here. They have developed an unprecedented solution consisting in vacuum packing paper in packages of 6, 10 or 20 rolls. They discovered them by observing their clients. The “big discovery” – in quotation marks because it was apparently obvious – was when it noticed that 90% of Brazilian families do not use a car while shopping. So they go with the whole family – mum, dad and two or three children – for these purchases and then have to bring them home by hand. And they still have to hide this huge bundle of toilet paper somewhere in their tiny apartment.
KCB imported vacuum packing machines from Italy which cost some money. What were the business benefits for them?
- A package of vacuum-packed rolls takes up less storage space
- Fewer trucks are needed later to transport the same number of packages
- It is easier to transport such a package to the home of the average Brazilian family, who most often goes shopping with two or three children, without a car.
In the end, this “vacuum innovation” brought the company a lot of profit, and before the competition got the hang of it and started to imitate them, KCB became a true market leader.
It is rare, however, that your innovation will make you that leader for the rest of your life. That is why it is so important to constantly develop new ideas to stay ahead of your competition.
How to make such changes, simple and revolutionary at the same time?
The English foundation Comic Relief changed the way charities work around the world. First of all: they eliminated the current “standard” of operation of such organizations, i.e. systematic requests for donations and charity events that took place all year round. Instead, they introduced a higher level of transparency in spending. They also made sure that their donors were not anonymous “money donors”. By organizing events once a year and having a strong symbol, they also caused great involvement of the public. Comic Relief changed Great Britain when it comes to charity fundraising, just as Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity modeled on Poland changed Poland.
In every organization: company, association or foundation, you can find elements that can be removed or changed for the benefit of the entire enterprise. For this purpose, I propose to write down everything that is part of ours on a piece of paper and then analyze one by one whether we can give up something or replace this element with something. Would there be any benefit to it? And what else could we do that no one else does?
In business, sometimes you have to notice apparently obvious “obviousness”
Then comes the time for “non-obvious obviousness”. They will later become obvious to everyone, but yet no one notices them yet. Now, in times of crisis, those who do not devote time to working out new solutions will either fail or shrink to a “very painful” level. You need to talk to your team, clients and your company’s board members for this.
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Some of us feel internally mobilized in times of crisis and then move to a higher level of creativity. However, others “close in on themselves” and – seeing only a narrow fragment of reality – are unable to change industries or at least come up with a new product. Then the period of crisis is very painful for them.
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Everyone probably knows Polaroid cameras, from which the finished photo slides out almost immediately after pressing the shutter button. When this new technology hit the market, Polaroid was just a little known one of the companies taking up this new technology. They became a world tycoon in this field only after establishing cooperation with the Goodby agency, Silverstein & Partners from San Francisco. These experienced marketers prepared a great campaign. Its element was a very intelligently constructed viral using the myth of the proverbial, eternal “dog-cat fight”. Here is a kitten causing a terrible havoc in the apartment, but the mistress gives it to the dog. The next time, therefore, the unattached quadruped brings a print in his teeth, made with the Polaroid apparatus, accidentally standing on the table. In addition, of course, the right music highlights important turning points throughout the story, and the whole thing is crowned with the slogan: “See, what develops” – meaning: “See what’s developing”.
This is a good example of a non-standard approach to advertising. After all, they do not show a standard picture of a family on vacation taking instant photos of themselves, they only involve a dog and a cat. There is a saying in the advertising industry: “If you want to make the client happy, show a child or an animal in the advertisement, or possibly a» cute stuffed animal «animated”. This standard always works, but here the dog and cat were drawn into the game in a non-standard way. The viewer is not only engaged in the characters of animals, but also the whole story that they experience in this commercial.
In the advertising industry, we call it “storytelling”, or the art of storytelling, or narrative marketing. The point is to tell about the product – not only to your customers, but also to employees – so that the story draws them in. Then there is an increase in the level of employee loyalty and an increase in the level of customer loyalty.
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However, if you cannot afford a huge advertising budget and hire a leading advertising agency, you need to develop a strategic and advertising sense.
Ideas are always born in the minds of creative people
You don’t have to create an advertising campaign on YouTube or TV right away. You can learn about the storytelling methods that we teach our clients. Then you will talk about it so “engagingly” that both your employees and your customers will listen to you with real interest.
To create brilliant solutions, you don’t necessarily need to hire an advertising agency right away.
Our Leadership Mindset collects advertising cases from all over the world. Thanks to this, we know what is the best to advise our clients. When they present a problem to us, we – having this knowledge – propose specific solutions.
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Now ask yourself, “Which of the following examples can be analogous to my business?” For example, can local food in CitizenM refrigerators be a story about your market ventures? Or maybe you could use vacuum packing of products? This is another strategic tool called ANALOGUE.
Such “modeling by analogy” provides many stimuli for creative thinking. We do not learn “hard theory” from books, but we observe the business with a watchful eye and ask ourselves the question:
How can I get inspired by this?
When someone is better than us, we don’t waste time being jealous, we just learn from them. By observing its achievements carefully, we stimulate our creativity. Then we come up with very simple and really brilliant solutions. In strategic psychology we call this process modeling.
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I will now tell you about my own modeling adventure. In 2013, our company experienced a serious crisis, because we did not notice a significant change in the consulting and training market in time. Then there was a boom for large conference events in which people participated paying 100 – 200 zlotys. However, when even several thousand people participated in such a meeting, it is easy to count that it was possible to earn quite well on it.
Meanwhile, I have always had the mindset that I want to work only with small groups or even with individual clients in the “one-to-one” formula. And I did not think of myself as a speaker or speaker at conferences. My clients also liked this form of work and did not need a big “motivational show” at all. They appreciated us precisely because we worked in small groups – be it in companies or at open training courses.
It turned out to be a big mistake, because through the aforementioned multi-thousand conferences with a small admission cost, the training prices dropped significantly.
And then I went to my head. After all, for years I have been a lecturer, giving lectures to students of various universities. And how does such a “performance” at a conference in front of a hundred or even a thousand people differ from that? After all, nothing. It was just my “mental limitation” that led to the fact that I was not open to the issue of such a public speaking at the conference.
And I’m not really just another motivational speaker to jump on stage. I was still myself, an expert speaker who can inspire others by sharing my experience.
This is another example of the “opening up to the new” mentioned earlier. It was my personal, and not others, beliefs that prevented me from following the path of big events earlier. But when someone did it, I just followed his example. In other words, in the language of strategic psychology: “I modeled it.” I realized that in our industry, a conference appearance is one of the elements of the “business funnel”, thanks to which we later gain new customers. Back then, in 2012 – 2013, it was not so obvious. The described problems were the result of my lack of openness to non-standard solutions, other than those used so far.
Therefore, it is worthwhile to observe the reasons for the successes and failures of other companies. To model the best strategies.
If you want to develop your company thanks to our knowledge and support, I invite you to the CVP Business School, where we focus on building a competitive advantage, developing a strong brand, creating innovation and increasing revenues and profits. If you want to raise your business, leadership, strategic and managerial competences, gain more time and peace of mind, subscribe to the waiting list. You will be the first to receive information about the program and enrollment in the CVP Business School.
Integral Business Model
As part of the Change Value Process, we have developed a proprietary tool for the overall management of your business affairs, which is primarily a process of presence on the market for specific purposes. In 1970, the great capitalist theorist Milton Friedman formulated the thesis that the main reason for doing business was financial gain. Earlier, the book by Rose and Milton Friedman entitled “Free choice” has influenced the economic history of many countries around the world. However, the thesis about the overriding value of financial profit led to many pathologies. Currently, business theorists are departing from such an approach to the principles of capitalism – there is even talk of the need to create a “new capitalism” based on the principles of the increasingly popular “corporate social responsibility”.
But let’s start from the beginning. The idea of IMB matured in my mind for many years. Finally, it took me two years to finalize it, so it is definitely well thought out.
How to develop a business thanks to IMB?
Start with a customer survey that will give you knowledge about their needs and preferences. Knowing the answers to questions like: How do you know us? How long? Why are you buying from us? you will have hard statistical data on which to base your development planning for your venture. Business is a tough school that gives decent lessons in humility and systematic action. In this game, the winners are those who are able to use the statistical data processing tools available to them.
When I walk into a new client’s office, my first request is: Show me your numbers. When he asks, “But what numbers?” I already know where to start healing this business. Always remember two important rules:
- Show me your numbers and I’ll tell you who you are, and
- Show me what numbers you’re looking at and I’ll tell you where you’re going
The Integral Business Model illustrates the company’s development “step by step”.
In the beginning there is a man who has some talent: he paints, sculpts, designs computer programs, heals people as a doctor or dances beautifully.
And now an idea emerges from this talent: maybe I would start painting, or help people, or would I finally start producing an innovative toy for children that I have been thinking about for a long time? For now, this is only a general idea, with no strategic action plan yet. Only an idea that sprouts in your head.
And now there is someone – an acquaintance, friend, neighbor, family member – the first potential customer who says, “Oh, what a nice talent you have. What nice ideas do you have in mind. Or maybe I would buy it from you – this painting, this training, this toy. And suddenly the product comes out.
But why does it appear as a product? First, we have a man and his talent, which gives rise to an idea. But when the first potential customer comes along who wants to buy something they don’t already have, or a friend says it’s interesting, that’s when the product or service idea comes up.
But when is this product likely to appear on the market? When it responds to individual needs, it will be an individual solution for more people.
Everyone has lots of ideas. Everyone can complain and tell the company how to do something better. But not everyone can create a specific product or service that is a specific solution to a specific problem.
But only when departments dealing with other aspects of running a business appear in the company that the company can really start moving forward. Whether it’s accounting or a sales department – it can even be a one-person cell. But this means that there are already “responsibilities” in the company: someone is promoting, someone is selling, someone is keeping an eye on the finances.
But attention now. If the talent or idea underlying the company begins to be detached from reality, the company ceases to be close to the needs of customers in response to which it was created. Then it ceases to be associated with an idea or a product, and begins to be associated with the building and departments. And such a behemoth of several hundred or even several thousand people begins to be a-emotional, i.e. dehumanized. And this is the beginning of the failure of many companies, seemingly quite well-established in the market.
People stop being creative then and no longer develop their mindset mentality. Communication in the company is too weak, people do not exchange experiences or ideas. And they also think too little strategically, because the strategy is reserved for management boards. This is a serious mistake, because the strategy developed without the participation of department directors, managers and regular employees of the company is often artificial, “dehumanized”, inadequate to the market.
The five companies described above that “spread their wings” during the crises were successful because they responded to the specific needs of people. They examined these needs and were able to adapt to them – something their competitors did not do.
In every company, it is important to hard improve communication processes and improve the structure of the company, which evolves in the changing market environment. If we don’t, the company will simply collapse.
And only when there is the so-called “flow between people” – and people are employees of the company and its customers, we can start talking about the so-called “turquoise management”. Then the company is fully transparent, with a great level of mutual respect and trust between its employees.
However, we must not forget about the “predatory market” in acquiring new customers and markets. Without it, the company risks being “eaten up by the competition”.
Each person has their own psychological profile related to both the innate dispositions of their psyche and the experiences of the years of life. Someone will be more analytical, someone else more intuitive, someone more extroverted, someone else more introverted. And because of this, people have specific problems. And each such problem generates specific needs and aspirations, which in turn influence life decisions.
And if companies do not analyze this process of such and not other purchasing decisions, they will not be able to develop new products and new ideas to meet the needs of the customer discovered in this way. And this process of developing new products is very similar to the process of creating a new company described above.
Then comes the crisis and people start to panic. They “lose” the rules of good communication somewhere and then the crisis begins to threaten the company.
The principles of not to panic and not stop developing the company also in times of crisis – which is a serious strategic mistake – have already been discussed above.
Here comes a new capitalism
In 2007, the creator of Business Insider – an international business portal – Henry Blodget began to talk – recalling Frank Abrams’ statement from 60 years ago – about the need to build a new, better capitalism. It would be based on adding value on several levels: for shareholders, for employees, for customers and for society. The above-mentioned thesis of Milton Friedman about profit as the main driving force of capitalism, meant that Abrams’ ideas were for a time forgotten. Now, however, the world must turn back in this rush to the maximum exploitation of the Earth and its goods before a real catastrophe will befall us because of it.
It is fascinating to see the company’s development in a broader, multi-dimensional way. If you want to test your readiness to develop, to cope with competition, to survive a crisis, download free additional material, in which you will verify the key, fundamental 12 levels of your company’s maturity within 3 minutes.
It’s not over yet!
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