Last week I spent a few days in Belize (cheap flight on my own dime!) with about 30 incredible women from around the world. One was a futurist who talked a lot about looking at things from alternative perspectives.
Have you seen the black & white illustration of a vase -- that when you're forced to look at it another way, shows the profile of two faces?
So while so much of the world is mourning what has changed, consider if we look at the change in a new light.
In the last recession, we at EMC got over ourselves and our fancy offerings and for the first time truly embraced our lower priced offerings and led our discussions with these low priced products. The result? Customers appreciated our helping them with what they needed at that time -- lower prices to fit smaller budgets. In addition: tremendous market share gains, and a turn around that BusinessWeek dubbed, "one of the most remarkable in tech history."
I caught up on some reading today, notably BusinessWeek's January 19 edition on "Managing Through a Crisis."
I loved how Emily Thornton started this article on "The New Rules":
"What do Carnegie Steel and Hewlett-Packard have in common? Both were born at a time when people thought the world was falling apart. Andrew Carnegie launched his first steel mill during the Panic of 1873, the start of a long depression. He took advantage of low costs to build an industrial giant that made him the world's richest man. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard showed similar courage when they launched HP from a Palo Alto garage toward the end of the Great Depression."
Imagine the Possibilities.
--------------- Talk Back --------------------
Can you see any potential out there by shifting perspective?
This futurist friend of mine recently did a workshop with the top execs at a big, multi-national company. She went through a few alternative perspective exercises including "right of way" revenue opportunities akin to the popcorn money making machine at movie theaters or the warranties sold with your new electronic device. By the end of the day they were brimming with new ideas that they were excited to go tackle. Then she said, "All you have to do is pick one."
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