Blindsided into tracking JUST competition? Beware. Rank outsiders can gobble up your ENTIRE industry… Lesson from the Apple way

Obsolescence was a threat of the past. Irrelevance is the threat of the present. It seems like yesterday when management gurus and professionals were consumed by concepts like competitor tracking, benchmarking, differentiation and the likes. But in a short span, operating within the paradigm of your own competitive set seems myopic and frog in the well like

Coke Vs. Pepsi, Chrysler Vs. Toyota, Hertz Vs. Avis, Hilton Vs. Holiday Inn, such jousts have constituted popular management lore in the past. But today its not about who will win but will they both survive? Or more importantly, will their industry survive? Uber and Air BnB rank outsiders have rendered at least the latter two rattled

Apple and its strategy best epitomize how quibbling and unsuspecting players in a completely unrelated industry were delivered a lethal punch that left them reeling. Lets look at few examples

Portable Music Players: It was a cozy club of Walkmans, Walkies, Cassetboys and MiJockeys.  An upstart computer company would have never been considered for membership. But in a single bearlike swipe Apple practically brushed aside all of them. Walkman is finding it difficult to walk today even with an Ericsson crutch!

Phones: Ditto. A clean left hook and an uppercut to a blindsided phone industry and Nokia the leader was kayoed. Last heard, still nursing its wounds in a neighborhood Microsoft hospital!

Cameras: Nikon San, Canon San, Minolta San, Pentax San and others have perhaps already spent hours in a warm, private luxury onsen near Mt. Fuji discussing whether “Shot on iPhone 6” could really mean Shot “BY” iPhone 6 for them!

Watches: A recent supra intellectual apple Watch critique by Tag CEO - no battery and juvenile design! C’mon! Does he think Apple is stupid!? And this will be a third blindsiding for the Swiss. Remember Swatch & Quartz? Guys.. smell the air beyond the Alpine. Also Citizen San, Seiko San and Titan Bhaijaan…. watch out (no pun)

And finally Visa & Master. There is an Apple pay coming your way…

So don't be lulled into a feeling of infallibility of your company or of your industry. Keep an eye not just on your company’s future but also your industry or sectors future. Doesn't matter if you are a traditional FMCG company or a core sector behemoth. There are several Apple like players out there evaluating your sector in real time and could administer a kiss of death

I am compiling a list of sectors that require taking predatory insurance and how they can do it. A few that require emergency attention are banking, entertainment, media, chemicals, logistics, and durables… But more on that and what they should do later

For now, if you are only thinking about your competition, be cautious…. and, if you have anything to do with technology…then, be afraid, be very afraid…

5 Hypocritical words in the corporate world

Cubicles, corridors and corner offices around the world constantly churn out words and phrases. Some stick, some become concepts and yet others fade out. A quick list of few hypocritical and misleading ones that perhaps began with a good intent but ended up to mean something quite different. Opinion is personal.

Intrapreneur This one is fashionably overused in my view. From evolving as a neologism for a new projects guy within the organization whose risk of failure is covered, the term has gone on to become a generic attitude descriptor of a professional manager who has entrepreneurial spirit. But entrepreneurial spirit means an ability to risk it all and tenaciously face uncertainty. Frankly, if risk and uncertainty are removed there is no entrepreneur. Will an “Intrapreneur” risk it all? Paychecks, perks, anything? Doubtful. Conversely will organizations willingly share ownership? Again, doubtful. So unnecessary liberal use of the word is a mystery to me. Both, professional managers and entrepreneurs are complementary, important and have their own place in the world of business. No point attempting forceful tagging

Devils Advocate This is one ecclesial concept gone too far in the corporate world.  Devils advocates are as easily found in offices as black coats in a courthouse. God’s advocates are woefully short by comparison. They arrogate solely to themselves the task of pouring chilled water on any new idea & rarely take the trouble of coming up with an original idea themselves. Being one has also become a great personal branding tool. Smartly intellectualize the advocacy and you can even obtain an angelic halo. Besides it is easy. It takes serious hard work to come up with something original but to shoot it down requires a mere micro fraction of an effort. My suggestion. As soon as someone begins, “Er, ahem…let me play the devils…” Stop him right there and tell him that you would gladly let him but only if he places his own original idea at the beginning. Touché

Experience Yes, Buddha did sit under a tree for a long time and gain that supreme experience. But then that was of the philosophical and subjective kind. Just basing it on a single dimension of time however cannot ensure attainment of the objective experience of our mundane type. Yet this is perhaps the most commonly used word in every organization, “I have x years of experience” So? What about variety, depth, quality etc. So beware of the types who remind you of their years of existence in a hurry. They do it as a ploy to mask their resistance to any change. Best to ignore these types. The genuinely experienced will never count you the years. They are permanently childlike and in an inquisitive and a learn mode. Besides in an era of twenty something’s as leaders time as a measure of experience holds no water in any case   

360 Feedback This one is famous but Machiavellian in my view. In good old days feedback was when your boss told you what was expected of you and you in turn told the boss what you aspired for and you went out for a drink after that. When did this simple & pristine “one to one” mechanism transform into a “many to one” and for what reason I don't know. Perhaps because of increased hypocrisy and reduced transparency. Besides, this methodology is frustratingly one way. After all it is impossible to express your feeling to everyone around you. So you just give up and hopelessly sit in the center of the circle and take it from everyone around you. Till of course your turn comes to sit on the periphery and throw it at someone else! My vote goes for qualitative one on one feedback even today

Collaborative This one is a personal favorite. Often the biggest execution deterrent especially in the planning stage. It is supposed to mean teamwork, collaboration and all the good things, but is often used in situations when one person does not or can not take on responsibility and accountability and gathers a bunch so that the blame can be shared in case failure. I feel an idea or a project should start with at least one person taking a clear responsibility. Collaboration can happen in the execution phase. To begin an initiative with a collaborative responsibility is to risk a chaotic end. The buck has to begin and stop at one table 

Add-on to the list if you like. I am sure there are many….