Innovate or die

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

Rizal Philippines
August 16, 2016

I asked the veteran businessman and CEO with whom I brainstormed today why their family business on finance and chemicals are nowhere to be found now.  He said the company and their current execs became dysfunctional.  They continued to function as if the world was not changing, being as they were before, now and tomorrow;  Being insane, ie expecting the business to grow without inputs and innovation, which according to Albert Einstein is insanity.

Innovate or die.  They failed to innovate, so the company died   While the detergent companies required more environment friendly chemicals for their detergent, their company produced what they knew how to produce.  The detergent companies stopped buying from them and hence, no sales, no cash flow, no business.

History both local and foreign is filled with stories that failed to see the waves of changes that were upon  them:    Nokia, Pocketbell, Motorola, IBM and many many more  This is one of the very few failures that I knew for not heeding:  Innovate or Die

They forgot the basic lesson of what a business:  an entity that creates and maintain customer.

The two important functions therefore are marketing and innovation.

Let us remember that