Page 212 - Free the Idea Monkey

THOSE IDIOTS BROKE THE RULES!

You could almost hear the things that people in the music, movie

rental and auction business (just to pick three examples) were say-

ing when iTunes, NetFlix and eBay came along. “What are these

people thinking? Don’t they know about the existing rules, the chan-

nel headaches, the legal hurdles, the technical hurdles, what’s been

tried before and failed, the demands of the sales agents, the way our

products and services are purchased, the demands of our customers

and their customers? ... ”

Uh, no, they didn’t. And neither will the competitor who will

seemingly come from out of nowhere to upend your industry. And

that is your takeaway.

“You can’t read the label when you are “It says here, Miss, that
sitting inside the jar” (see Chapter 4). This you have abosolutely NO
is how we like to describe the myopia that
industry experience.
When can you start?”

comes with being an expert. And odds are

you are a myopic expert. That not only

makes you vulnerable to people coming into

your industry from the outside, it limits

your ability to come up with revolutionary

new products, and it often keeps you from

making the decisions that, to others, may

appear to be ruthless, but to an entrepreneur are just plain obvious.

One solution? Think of intentionally infusing a bit of beginner’s

luck into your program. Here are a few ways you can do it:

Recruit for the challenge. Ask recruiters to look for a specific

problem-solving ability instead of industry experience. Strive to hire

leaders from outside your industry who have created the results

you want in a unique way. For example, if you are being faced with

disintermediation issues—and all service companies are—look for

an expert who has tackled disintermediation. It’s likely better that

they know nothing about sump pumps or whatever your business is

because it will enable them to solve your problem and challenge your

paradigms. Beginner’s luck.

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