Daily inspiration: “What’s your tin can?”

“What’s your tin can?” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Are you stuck in a tin can rut?

Have you seen the StarKist Tuna plastic re-sealable pouch? That little package – a new product innovation if there ever was one – was responsible for almost $200 million in new revenue since it first hit the shelves years ago.

That’s not displaced revenue, but entirely new revenue that didn’t exist before.

It’s a big change – and it took a long time to come about.

After all, StarKist sold tuna for 110 years in the same old way – in a tin can.

Yet they finally managed to come up with something new, and the results are stunning.

So what’s your tin can?

How many people do you know who are stuck in a 110-year old rut? Still delivering a tin-can day in, day out, with no desire to change?

Quite a few, I would guess. Maybe not for 110 years, but at least for the last few years.

Many people lose their drive, their courage to go forward, and their willingness to change. They end up still making tin cans, when new re-sealable pouches could revolutionize who they are and what they do!

That’s why the StarKist story is so important.

Here’s an organization that has somehow shaken away the complacency that enveloped it for over a century. It woke up to the opportunity that comes from real innovation, and the ability to change.

Is your organization stuck in a tin rut? Is your culture representative of an industry that is still making tin cans? If so, what are you doing to try to wake them up? It’s an important question, and with a world that continues to evolve at an ever-increasing pace, one that needs to be addressed.

What’s your tin-can? Think about it!