Recycling Innovations
When taking out the trash, we all know to separate our bottles and cans and papers into tidy recycling bins. At least you should. And there are times when a paper gets butchered so much that it really can't be salvaged and makes its way to the dumpster.
But what about ideas? When do they need to be thrown to the wayside?
When you are in the war room - when all of your peers and co-workers are looking at you for an answer to the company or clients' problems, are the ideas that you are cooking up ones that are going to justify an ROI or are they ones that sound good to get someone off your back.
Technology has been driven by innovation and yet most sites or communities that pop up are carbon copies of sites that already exist and really don't have that big of a gaping void to fill other than find revenue. And trust me, if you want to do something, you can do it on Facebook, they have apps for everything.
So when do we stop recycling and start innovating again?
When we listen to our customers, fans and industry people. When we hear what they really care about. One thing I learned is that I am not my target consumer. I don't need to sell myself to myself. I need to sell my goods to the people who buy it and who better to know what the people buy than the people who buy it in the first place (tongue twister - dare you to say it 5 times fast).
I finished a survey today on job seekers at a local job fair. Not one had a blog, nor heard of Twitter and only a handful were on LinkedIn. So why pitch them a social network? Why not innovate the way they look for jobs instead of slapping something together. Why not educate employers on this type of employee?
How can you help to break the mode of recycling? It's good for cans, not for people, right?
But what about ideas? When do they need to be thrown to the wayside?
When you are in the war room - when all of your peers and co-workers are looking at you for an answer to the company or clients' problems, are the ideas that you are cooking up ones that are going to justify an ROI or are they ones that sound good to get someone off your back.
Technology has been driven by innovation and yet most sites or communities that pop up are carbon copies of sites that already exist and really don't have that big of a gaping void to fill other than find revenue. And trust me, if you want to do something, you can do it on Facebook, they have apps for everything.
So when do we stop recycling and start innovating again?
When we listen to our customers, fans and industry people. When we hear what they really care about. One thing I learned is that I am not my target consumer. I don't need to sell myself to myself. I need to sell my goods to the people who buy it and who better to know what the people buy than the people who buy it in the first place (tongue twister - dare you to say it 5 times fast).
I finished a survey today on job seekers at a local job fair. Not one had a blog, nor heard of Twitter and only a handful were on LinkedIn. So why pitch them a social network? Why not innovate the way they look for jobs instead of slapping something together. Why not educate employers on this type of employee?
How can you help to break the mode of recycling? It's good for cans, not for people, right?
2 comments:
"I am not my target consumer. I don't need to sell myself to myself."
Very important to remember!
Josiah - Thanks for dropping by. You are very right in noting that point.
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