Built to Last and Not Built Too Fast

'Yeah dude, its a great idea but someone has already implemented it'. I've heard this comeback at least a dozen times from this friend of mine. And just in case you are wondering, I am referring to business ideas. :-)

Okay, now everyone wants to be the next Edison or his modern equivalent. People want to invent the 'next big thing'. Just look at the books that management gurus are peddling these days. People seem to think that you can 'manage innovation'. Well, thats an oxymoron if I ever saw one. The best ideas do not come out of DMADV processes or workout sessions. They hit you on a thursday afternoon, just after lunch and probably just before a horribly boring meeting. I think the world of business would be a lot more creative if we took books like Blue Ocean Strategy and .... thats right.. threw them into the deep sea.

One of the greatest myths that managers seem to believe these days is that you have to have a truly radical idea in order to succeed in business. B schools teach you that you have redefine the paradigm. Well, I think that is hogwash. And let me prove to you why there are no Blue Oceans out there. (Even if there are, they will get polluted by your competitors in no time).

To begin with, the first big idea was fire. Now, if we were to avoid copying someone's (great) idea most of us would be shivering in the cold, eating raw food and bumping into the dark. Lets not even get started on the wheel. How many of us would be willing to walk 10 kms to work, or whatever it is we would be doing in the New Stone Age?

Buildings, machines, printing press, aircraft, bulbs, computers, MP3 players, Search Engines. All these inventions go to prove that there is no great benefit to be derived from redefining the paradigm. Or whatever you want to call it.

My way of looking at things is that once an idea has worked and proved itself, there will be more people willing to fund and ,more importantly, willing to buy your product. Why blaze a new trail when you can follow someone, learn from their mistakes and then... woo hoo.. overtake them?

Think about it. The Japanese and the Koreans have built their economies around this simple principle. For every Phillips (who invented 100s of things including the CD) there are a dozen Sonys and LGs and Samsungs and Panasonics.

So Old Man, you ready to try something?