The Perfect Storm Factors |

Do you remember as a kid watching the legendary Bjorn Borg? At the time Borg played with a wooden racket, like everyone else. And he won a lot of major titles. Then he retired. A couple of years later he came back, but by then all the top tennis players were using more powerful rackets (metal, graphite, etc.).

It wasn’t pretty what happened to Borg. Inferior players with better rackets creamed him. He stayed loyal to his wooden racket never to win another major tournament. Obviously, Borg knew the rules of tennis. He still had the same winning strokes. But the context and, consequently, the rules for winning changed. The more powerful rackets gave a competitive advantage to anyone who used them. Borg with his weaker wooden racket didn’t stand a chance. That’s why he was never successful again.

What Happens When You Change Before Everyone Else? Here’s the flip side of Bjorn Borg’s story. It’s a great way to illustrate the advantages you can gain over your best competitors by recognizing and leveraging the changes in your marketplace. If you’ve studied any business history at all, you’ve probably come across one of the very first “business gurus” of all time. His name was Fredrick Taylor. He is perhaps best described today as an “efficiency engineer” and a significant amount of his work laid the groundwork for the mass production methods used by Henry Ford.He studied many different methods of working in order to determine the best way to achieve maximum efficiency on the factory floors. Many of his ideas at the time were quite revolutionary. In fact, many are still widely practiced today. In his book, Principles of Scientific Management (1911), he argued that companies should install precise procedures to maximize the efficiency of the work being done. His system became known as Taylorism, which dealt with people, machines, and processes that would speed up work.

The reason I bring him up now though has nothing to do with his contribution to modern management whatsoever. You see, his story is the exact opposite of Bjorn Borg’s. Even though Taylor wasn’t the best player at the time. He won the US Tennis Open with the invention of a unique oversized racket. There were no standards regarding the size, shape, and design of tennis rackets back then. So Taylor designed himself a bigger racket that was big enough to make winning a lot easier but small enough that it wasn’t too noticeable by other players. His oversized racket made it easier for him to return tough shots his opponents thought were winners. The racket also gave him extra power turning his shots into rockets that were difficult to return.Even though Frederick wasn’t the greatest player, his new advantage proved too powerful when competing against the better players with weaker rackets. He ended up taking home the US Open title because of his unfair advantage. Leveraging everything you’ve got is your competitive advantage.

The business opportunities arising from leveraging social networking technologies is creating a storm…..The Perfect Storm.

“The Perfect Storm” is this very unique combination of events that is currently creating significant momentum and will cut across all market segments. The Perfect Storm is where all the necessary elements converge together and the dynamics create waves of change that many will not adjust to rather they will drown in thinking and processes of the past. The Perfect Storm I am referring to is the emergence of the Relationship Economy.

In a Perfect Storm the tide rises so fast that it doesn’t lift all boats rather many get destroyed because they aren’t fit to maneuver through the waves of change. Others rise because they quickly learn to adapt to the environment and use the storm surges to survive and prosper. Where will you be when the Perfect Storm hits? Are you prepared or will you be using an old racket in a new game?

What say you?

About Jay:
Jay Deragon’s professional career includes providing strategic management consulting services to Fortune 500 companies as well as local small businesses. He has consulted with numerous industries spanning over 25 years of professional experience globally. His current professional endeavors are all centric to the disruptive nature of the social web. He writes at Relationship Economy and provides social media strategic services to businesses large and small. Jay Deragon is an avid student of the emerging landscape of all things social and the subsequent impact on business dynamics. Since 2004 Mr. Deragon has been actively studying, sharing and learning how business as unusual is changing business methods, models and relationships. Life is a journey and the experiences along the way provides learning that furthers the experiences if we know how and what to learn. for more info go here http://www.relationship-economy.com/?page_id=2