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Five Ideas that Can Spur Your Company's Growth

Tech Entrepreneur, Web Guru & Investor #science #technology #innovation #telecom #internet #gadgets #lifesciences

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In addition to a human tragedy of epic proportions, Covid-19 has proven to be a a huge business challenge and -- for some -- a growth accelerant. The outcome all depends on how you orient yourself to what I call external trends.
Below I have listed 5 ways on how to fight complacency -- particularly in regard to external trends -- could help leaders trying to decide how best to position their companies to capture the growth opportunities and avoid the threats presented by Covid-19.

1. Sustain intellectual humility.

The most fundamental element of a company’s strategic mindset is the realization that a leader should not assume that what worked for a company in the past will continue to work in the future. Unless a leader looks at every day with a fresh mind the company will begin to fail.
What should business leaders do about this? First up is to admit how they are feeling about the Covid-19 -- namely, admit they are afraid, feeling pressure to come up with solutions, and that they have no roadmap on the right way to respond.
After that, leaders should make a list of all the key questions for which they lack answers and form a team of experts to investigate the answers and come up with options.

2. Obsess over customers.

A leader's primary focus on adapting the company to changing customer expectations - rather than being on the cutting edge of technology or obsessing over competitors.
The reason customer focus is so important is that we see customers as a source of corporate vitality because they are "always beautifully, wonderfully dissatisfied...they always want something better."
An essential process for a company with a right mindset is to keep trying new things. That means companies should "experiment patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, protect saplings, and double down when [they] see customer delight."
Leaders should focus their experiments on how to delight customers coping with the Covid-19 pandemic.

3. Fight bureaucracy.

If your company has been around for long enough, it has developed processes and routines that may have had a useful purpose when the company was started.
But if those processes are keeping your company from finding and capitalizing on new opportunities -- especially the ones created by how customers are changing their lifestyle to respond to the pandemic -- then find out what's wrong with the current processes and make them better.

4. Embrace external trends.

Leaders should position their companies to turn strong trends outside the company into tailwinds that propel a company's growth.
From Windows by Microsoft to Alexa & Autonomous Drone Delivery by Amazon. A vast majority of brilliant innovations embrace external trends and then perfect their adaption.
Covid-19 is the latest such external trend. To turn it into a tailwind, position your company to offer customers an irresistible value in a world where people are staying socially distant.

5. Make high quality decisions quickly.

Decisions are the primary product of senior leaders. Make good decisions quickly -- with 70% of the information they need -- and then learn and improve on those decisions after executing the decision and getting feedback from customers.
While you may not have clear answers to how your firm can compete during the pandemic, you should use your knowledge of your customers evolving needs to focus your brainstorming process. Try out the ideas that top your list, get feedback, build on what works and fix what doesn't.