Without A Nimble Competitive Advantage Design is Meaningless

It is really all about competitive advantage. Truthfully, designing and strategizing aren't that different. Both activities include methods to create a plan in order to achieve a specific goal. And design(-ing) goes into everything: isn't someone (designer or not) constantly creating something in an organization? Design is all around us, and there is no way around it. Of course, in this volatile age, it is encumbered upon designers to disrupt their fields and niche with insatiable products. Without a plan to innovate competitive advantage in design and strategy a product if you will, remains anemic at best where owners lament an ecnomoy laced with opportunity more than disruption.  

Since design is there to stay, the challenge really is about designing not well, but obsessivley well:

• Strengthening the significance of design strategy at the leadership level and throughout organizations
• Be competitive. Create designs that speed to market
• Create designs that are adaptive and responsive to change faster than competitors. 
• Applying its methods consciously and effectively during decision-making, problem-solving, and co-creation
• Including design in investment and optimization efforts
• Hiring design talent that can support change in culture and business models

Together with management, design should be an essential part of the overarching force of a holistic system and trickle through the entire organization. Designing right from the inception is crucial in achieving differentiation and a competitive advantage, wowing customers by engaging on an emotional level, and ultimately creating stakeholder value.

 

 

Note: Be different isn't enough today. You have to find something new to say and a better way of saying it. Jim Woods

Jim Woods is president and founder of InnoThink Group. A global management consulting firms specialized solely in helping organizations of all sizes in all industries catalyzing top line growth through strategic innovation and hypercompetition. Jim has over 25 years consulting experience in working with small, mid size and Fortune 1000 companies. He is a former U.S. Navy Seabee and grandfather of five. Jim is board president of a charter school located in Colorado Springs whose sole purpose is to prepare otherwise disadvantaged students more competitively for college. To arrange for Jim to speak at your next event or devise an effective hypercompetition strategy email or call us at 719-649-4118 for availability. Subscribe to our innovation and hypercompetition newsletter.   

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Speed and Agility: Verizon and Redbox More Than Meets The Eye

Commoditization: When a competitor usurps the once seemingly insurmountable strengths of a chief rival with intentions of making them (Netflix) inconsequential. Who benefits? Everyone. Including Netflix providing they respond swiftly and unconventionally. 

 

 

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Jim Woods is president and founder of InnoThink Group. A global management consulting firms specialized solely in helping organizations of all sizes in all industries catalyzing top line growth through strategic innovation and hypercompetition. Jim has over 25 years consulting experience in working with small, mid size and Fortune 1000 companies. He is a former U.S. Navy Seabee and grandfather of five. To arrange for Jim to speak at your next event or devise an effective hypercompetition strategy email or call us at 719-649-4118 for availability. Subscribe to our free innovation and competitive advantage newsletter.   Don't miss a single new business idea!

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Be a Innovation Tactician Not a Strategist.

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“Innovation” is a word CEOs hear all the time. Your company must be innovative. In order to stand out in a tough economy you need to innovate. It’s a buzzword that you can’t escape, but what exactly does it mean? How exactly can create an innovative environment? Fast Company’s editor-in-chief Robert Safian thinks he knows the answer.

Here are Safian’s 8 principles of innovation:  

1. Growth should be a tactic, not a strategy: quality over quantity is a principle Starbucks has used to revitalize its brand
2. Big companies need to be as nimble as startups: agility is key if you want to keep up with new technologies and a constantly changing marketplace
3. Tech is disruptive in unexpected places: technology affects all industries, Safian gives the examples of LegalZoom (legal documents), KivaSystems (robots in warehousing) and Polyvore (fashion)
4. Design is a competitive advantage: don’t ignore the user experience
5. Social media makes products and services better: all organizations can benefit from social media, just look at the National Marrow Donation Program as an example
6. Data is power: compiling and storing data makes (and keeps) you highly relevant
7. Money is flowing: banks aren’t the only place to find funding anymore, just look at Kickstarter and Y Combinator
8. Copycats are history: you need to be original across all markets, new ideas are coming out of BRIC countries too. chief executive

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Jim Woods is president and founder of InnoThink Group; a global innovation, growth and hypercompetition consultancy. He is an author and speaker on strategic innovation, education and competitive advantage. To hire Jim to speak to your organization - Call 719- 649- 4118 or email us for availability. Subscribe to our innovation and hypercompetition newsletter.