Winning In An Always-On World
Jan 12th, 2010 by David Svet
The Baby Bells want more bandwidth. They gave us handheld devices with radically innovative functionality and we like it, a lot. They are suffocating in our use of their bandwidth. We are always on. Everyone’s a citizen journalist. I saw Captain Sully’s heroics on the Hudson nearly 45 minutes before it broke on CNN.com. I watched Michael Jackson being taken into the ER. I’ve seen live demonstrations in Iran and new product announcements from CES. The volume of new information coming at us is a blur and people are very good at managing it — we tune it out.
People are pattern seekers. When we are flooded with input we tune out all but the remarkable — that which is truly different and stands out from all else. The only way to survive in an always-on world is to be remarkable to your constituency. If you can be remarkable you will be noticed, but only for a moment. The onslaught of information will make sure that your bright light quickly fades. Your constituents will ask, “what’s next?” You need to have an answer.
In an always-on society the winners will embrace constant innovation. To win on a consistent basis you will need to have a robust, ongoing R&D function and embrace change like never before. That’s good news. It is a remarkably unstable time in terms of economics, politics, world affairs and technological change. That kind of environment is fertile ground for innovation. This time will pass. Life will become more stable. We will still be always on. Learn to innovate during hard times while it is easy. If you wait until things are stable it will be too late. You’ll be lost in the blur.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
