Daily Inspiration: “When the world gets flat, put a ripple in it!”

“When the world gets flat, put a ripple in it!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Check out the hair! It’s flat! And so this one is here as a shout-out to my hair guy, Fehmi @preludesalonandspa ! I figured he would wonder – what happened to Jim’s hair???? (The photo is from an event in London, England last year. I know it was early in the morning, and I was suffering from jet lag, so maybe there was some of that…) Ignoring the hair, there is a real business issue here that I’m speaking about – what to do when the world gets flat! I’ll often talk to global organizations about opportunities for innovation when so much of their market is determined by the “China price” -and competing in a world which has suddenly and dramatically changed.

I’ve realized that once people get the ‘flat’ part of this new economy, they are quite mystified as to what to do next. To me, the path forward is simple: if your world has become flat, put a ripple in it! Take a different path by stirring the waters!

Change it! Do something different. It’s not just cost that is important — there’s lots more….. such as focusing on service, value, changing your role or nature of the product.

That’s what innovation is all about — taking inertia and turning it into velocity. And so, I have a list of what to do when the world gets flat – read it here:

This ‘post-flat’ strategy It’s a frequent theme – I even spoke to the issue at my event in Tokyo last October. In this video, I speak about the mindset and strategies to avoid this vicious hell – in this case in front of a group of optometrists!