Three diverse occurrences that tie together to show why staying relevant is so important.
- Last week I spoke to a board member and investor of a company that is currently not operating. Over the past five years I probably spoke to the company president three or four times. Every time he told me how great the company was, how valuable it was and how it was about to get a big payday. All because of their technology; but as the old saying goes, “You can build a better mousetrap (but if nobody knows about it…”). This firm wasn’t relevant to their [potential] customers because not enough of them knew about this great technology or the value just really wasn’t there.
- While in Antigua on my Rotary project I saw a headline that Bill Gates said Microsoft underperformed on their mobile phones. Duh! In a world of iPhones and Android they became irrelevant, and that’s never good.
- The other night we were watching an old episode of Seinfeld. It’s one where Jerry dates a deaf lady and his friends all want to “borrow” her to lip read people they suspect are talking behind their (Jerry’s friends) back. When Jerry tells Newman “no,” Newman responds with, “…When you control the mail, you control (pause) information.” Well maybe 20 years ago, but now?
You can’t rest on your laurels, technology, methodology or anything else. You have to stay relevant and that takes smarts and effort.
“…When you control the mail, you control (pause) information.” Newman
