The change junkie

Zachary Aldwin Milkshake in the Boardroom
I’m an information junkie. If you have ever watched a cartoon where a vacuum cleaner goes out of control and starts sucking up everything in the room, well that is me and information. A glorious blend of books, blogs, podcasts, newspapers all get devoured in order to dig out gems of wisdom that may be lurking inside.

You will be amazed at how much free data is out there. Podcasts and TED talks are free in the main and you can find some incredible ones if you just dig deep enough.

My current favourite is Stanford University’s DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series. It sounds a mouthful, but every week during the academic term there is a guest lecture from some of the current big names in entrepreneurship and creativity.

Listening to it, and other podcasts, helps me avoid stagnation when it comes to ideas and trends.

This week I would like to share with you some of the nuggets that have stuck with me in the last two weeks.

Many of them are from multiple sources, when you hear the same idea from two or three different successful people it is worth taking note of.

Where you start is not where you will finish.

There are two types of running races in the world. There is the circular track type (think 400m Olympics) where your finish line is pretty much the same place where you start running from.

Then there are the ones with a destination far from the start; that is what creating a business is like.

As you grow, as you develop your company you may find that your initial idea morphs and changes into something else, something better suited to the people you serve.

Think of cellular phone companies that were set up to provide a telephone calling service becoming the main backbone of wireless internet technology.

Learn to let go. Do not become bound to your initial degree too tightly. So you majored in physics why should that stop you from founding a company if you have an amazing non-physics idea?

University should be a place where you learn how to think at a higher level, learn to solve problems and enhance creativity.

While you may pick up some specific skills along the way, do not let them bind you down.

Consider this bio from author Sebastian de Castell: “Sebastien de Castell had just finished a degree in archaeology when he started work on his first dig.

“Four hours later he realised how much he actually hated archaeology and left to pursue a very focused career as a musician, ombudsman, interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor and product strategist.

“His only defence against the charge of unbridled dilettantism is that he genuinely likes doing these things and that, in one way or another, each of these fields plays a role in his writing.” Be wary of classifying yourself by the title of what you studied.

With all this potential to change, both within yourself and your business you need to pick a few core areas of no compromises.

With a product it may be a core value in the design. If you are creating something “durable” and make that your area of no compromise, for example, and you are offered a cheaper option on material but it is weaker that what you would be using then, despite the cost, you use the more durable option.

Many successful companies started because someone solved a problem they and some friends were having.

They did not have to solve it. They could have stayed exactly where they were; frustrated and disappointed. Instead of stagnating they moved forward and chose to be agents of change. They found a better way, and then they shared with others, for a price.

The team at Emerging Ideas compares stagnation to cold soup. Soup, in most cases, is meant to be served hot, well blended and with breadsticks.

Let it settle and it will be a lukewarm mouthful of gunk that is better off poured down the sink. Playing it too safe can result in stagnation.

Change, not being complacent, is the reheating of the soup of your business into the tasty, nutritious food it is meant to be. Turn on the heat in your organisation today.

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