2 Kinds of entrepreneurs.
Originators.
Duplicators
Originators are McDonalds, KFC, Ford, Levis Jeans, SONY, ROLEX.
Duplicators are Burger King, Wendy’s, In and Out Burger, Chick Fil A Chrysler, GM, Nissan, Wangler, Lee, L.L. Bean, Lands End, Costco, Timex, Samsung etc.
It’s easy to fault Duplicators for being unadventurous. But eventually, every successful Duplicator improves upon some aspect of the product they are imitating or they die. The key word is “successful.”
For decades McDonald’s and KFC made a chicken burger.
Then along came Chick Fil A with a better chicken burger. This is true of automobiles, jeans, discount department stores and electronics.
You can get in the game of business copying a competitor, but eventually you will need to out-think your competitor on some level.
You will do this by becoming creative yourself or hiring people more creative than you. And either way you need to understand the creative mind.
I am here to demystify the creative mind.
WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM?
Courtesy "Everything Is A Remix" by Kirby Ferguson
COPY •
Copying is how we learn.
We can’t create anything new until we are fluid in the language of our domain.
All artists spend the early part of their career producing derivative work.
We need copying to build a foundation of knowledge and understanding.
After we ground ourselves in copying, it's then possible to create something new through transformation.
TRANSFORM •
You take something and create variations of it.
Thomas Edison didn’t create the electric light bulb. But made the first commercially viable light bulb after he tinkered with 6000 variations of filaments and glass configurations.
Transformation is time consuming but necessary. Transformation does not create original ideas. It simply improves on what is there.
COMBINE •
INTERNAL PODCAST FOR EMPLOYEES.
If your employees are dispersed across several locations or you have many remote workers, podcasts can be a valuable internal communication channel. They allow you to distribute information to all employees regardless of their location without feeling overwhelmed by long emails. It also helps remote and distant employees feel engaged with the company, rather than just being a part of a lame group email that no one reads.
PODCASTS ARE CONVENIENT.
Your employees can listen to your company podcasts when it is convenient for them. Employees can always download podcasts onto smartphones and can listen to it as they commute home from work. Employees can also break it up and listen to it throughout their day or during their lunch break. Podcasts are simple and most individuals have their phones within reach. Once downloaded, employees can listen to it without any additional equipment, passwords, or network security obstacles.
IMPROVE INNOVATION WITHIN YOUR COMPANY.
There are dozens of resources that can not only improve communication within your company, but aid in other areas of your business as well.
The New York Times, for example, shifted from sending a large number of emails to implementing internal podcasts.
They found it led to other tools such as blogs, videos, wikis, etc. During their research, leaders found that they needed to find ways to distribute information in a way that their employees would consume it. Technologies such as podcasting were key to this new way of communicating.
As with all forms of communication to employees, consistency is important. When you create regular podcasts that are fun and engaging, your entire company benefits.
Organizations like IBM, Whirlpool and Disney are purported to be producing podcasts for internal purposes.
DISNEY AT WORK
Click to link to internal Disney podcast.
IBM
Click to link to IBM Internal Podcast.
If you have any questions or entrepreneurial ideas you would like to share with me, I can be reached at:
oliver.warmflash@gmail.com
Make sure you remind me that we met at your class at Ryerson.
And please listen to my show
Click to link to PodPlanet.org