If you were to ask yourself what the following
businesses or careers had in common, the answer would be
obvious:
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| Blacksmith |
Milkman |
| Drive-in movie owner |
Pet rock salesman |
| Earth shoe manufacturer |
Dot com shareholder |
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While some of these may still be around, they are
certainly not careers that most of us would choose today. And
yet, there was a time when no one imagined that there would be
little need for blacksmiths. Or that the skyrocketing Dot Com
companies would be renamed "dot bomb."
The lesson here is that doing what you're good at is simply not
enough. You could be the best blacksmith or milkman in the
country, but if people no longer own horses and they buy their milk
at the supermarket, you're out of business. You didn't change
-- but the world around you did.
So whether you build a better mousetrap, sing a better song,
develop better software or even find a cure for a nasty disease,
your success will depend in part on how well you understand the
world around you -- and how quickly you adapt to changing
conditions.
So when you ask us to write a brochure or build you a web site,
we'll have a lot of questions for you. Like how that fits into
your overall plan. Who is the audience for this project.
How will you measure the results. And how do you know whether
it's the right way to reach your world? Helping you stay off
the list of extinct businesses is just part of the job.
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