Some Ideas From Seth That Feed The Process
Change
In down economies, the only thing that’s going to change things is changing things. This is hard for a lot of marketers who are used to defending the status quo, but it’s truly the best option.If you’re not happy with what you’ve got, what radical changes are you willing to make to change what you’re getting?
The telephone destroyed the telegraph.
Here’s why people liked the telegraph: It was universal, inexpensive, asynchronous and it left a paper trail.The telephone offered not one of these four attributes. It was far from universal, and if someone didn’t have a phone, you couldn’t call them. It was expensive, even before someone called you. It was synchronous–if you weren’t home, no call got made. And of course, there was no paper trail.
If the telephone guys had set out to make something that did what the telegraph does, but better, they probably would have failed. Instead, they solved a different problem, in such an overwhelmingly useful way that they eliminated the feature set of the competition.
The list of examples is long (YouTube vs. television, web vs. newspapers, Nike vs. sneakers). Your turn.
Leading – Initiative, Intuition & Ignition
In a time of forecast and present economic recession – the temptation is too much to streamline, restructure and do whatever it takes to maintain the “status quo”. That is, rather than leveraging a time when people need a boost of inspiration, a creative new solution to a previously unthought of problem, a sense of confidence and hope… we “manage” rather than lead.
Obviously, a simplistic overview but still appropriate to consider – we manage our response to the changing market – creating our own focus on maintaining a steady approach- we aim for consistency rather than ebbing and flowing on the wave of economic tide.
However – at Solafida, our approach is a little different. Sure, we’ve streamlined and we’re looking at the future with as much wisdom as we can gather from places like here and here. But we’re also looking at what new opportunities (problems without current solutions) there are for us.
Our number one rule : if responding to the market with the status quo solution, simply results in the status quo – that’s not what we want to do. So we are looking for opportunities to lead, initiate, innovate, ignite and use our intuitive creative sense to propel us forward.
In this time of overwhelming fear of failure – we have the opportunity to leap forward with confidence, for if the expectation is failure, then what’s the worst that could happen?
For example; some of our clients are re-budgeting and trying to figure out how to get the same results with less money. In other words, how do we use the same solutions to get the same answer, but with less investment?
Our response : Let’s choose a different solution, to a different question.
The same here is true for our churches and social organisations as we face decreasing tithes, donations and a more localised view of poverty and economic crisis.
THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL TENACITY
“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered. The greatest fear a man has is not that he will be damned, but that Jesus Christ will be worsted, that the things He stood for – love and justice and forgiveness and kindness among men – will not win out in the end; the things He stands for look like will-o’-the-wisps. Then comes the call to spiritual tenacity, not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately on the certainty that God is not going to be worsted.
If our hopes are being disappointed just now, it means that they are being purified. There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience.”
Remain spiritually tenacious.