The Myths That Prevent Change - Roberto Verganti. By Roberto Verganti | 11:14 AM May 16, 2012 You probably think that the barriers to innovation are negative elements of your organization — that is, the wrong people, behaviors, and processes.
But the most subtle and pernicious barriers to innovation may be the seemingly positive myths about what has made your organization successful. Every organization has myths about who are the great leaders, what are the behaviors to admire and imitate, what business you are in, what customers want, what are the best skills to run a process. Whenever someone proposes an idea, it is explicitly or implicitly screened with the myths. Unfortunately, the competitive landscape changes, but the myths don’t.
Consider Bang & Olufsen, the Danish manufacturer of music players and speakers. These myths impeded Band & Olufsen from reacting to the rise of MP3 digital encoding. As a result, B&O was slow in capturing the opportunity of this “outlandish” technology. Galimberti talks of individuals. What’s the remedy? To Trounce Competitors, Master The Oldest Attack Strategy In The Book. The pressure caused by my train diving under the English Channel at 150 miles per hour hurt my ears, but I’m out now, zooming past the French countryside, and can concentrate again.
Front-page headlines here in France and the U.K. --and everywhere in Europe--are the same: an upset in the French presidential elections. You may not be following the French election drama, but if you take 10 minutes to break it down, you will uncover an ancient strategic pattern at work. This same pattern is shaping U.S. elections. It’s a pattern that could help you break through whatever is standing in your way. It’s the oldest play in the book. Here is how it works in real life. Phase 1: Attack from the right. Phase 2: The defense pivots to the right. Phase 3: The real attack from the left. What makes this right/left strategy work is that by defending himself against one attack, your opponent exposes himself to another. This same pattern is shaping the French elections. 1. Strategy, Context, and the Decline of Sony - Sohrab Vossoughi.
By Sohrab Vossoughi | 10:55 AM April 25, 2012 Sometimes it’s useful to be reminded that a great strategy is only great in context.
From the early 1980s and into the 90s, Sony’s was great. The unrivaled master of the consumer electronics world, its name was synonymous with cutting-edge technology, sophistication, and desirability. People had a collective vision back then of a thrilling yet humane future, and Sony’s hyper-capable, slightly fussy gadgets were its clearest expression. It was much more than just the Walkman and the Trinitron—everything the company made was of impeccable quality, satisfying to hold and intricately detailed in its functionality.
That last statement is still true today, but everything else has changed. Both observations are correct, but they only hint at the underlying question: why is the strategy that once served Sony so well now failing so badly? Part of the shift is technological. In the experience economy, these expectations are reversed.