Tag Archives: change the rules of the game

Weekend innovation tip: Don’t out compete your rivals, change the rules of the game

Posted on August 16, 2009 by Jorge

Backbeat film On his way to becoming the greatest military genius to set foot on Earth, Napoleon Bonaparte broke the rules on how military campaigns were waged. From a young age he was always overlooked, to get the respect of his peers he understood he had to fight differently. In doing so he went on to rewrite the rules of military history.

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Just like Napoleon we too can learn to fight ‘differently’ than our opponents, because doing so is the only way you’ll ever stand out in a world full of ‘me too thinking’.

Here are a few ways that can help you to start thinking about how to change the game in your industry:

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  • Do what others are unwilling to do. Established companies have a strong incentive to maintain the status quo, it’s to their advantage to keep doing ‘what’s working’. Don’t compete on their terms, do what they’re unwilling to do and define your own rules.
  • Look where your competition is not. Go out to the fringe, where’s things are changing. Stepping out of the mainstream is the only place where you’ll get unconventional insights. What’s happening in another part of the world that you could adopt and adapt in your environment?
  • Challenge industry orthodoxies. Time and again, the strategy innovations that radically change customer expectations, competitive rules and industry structures come from questioning beliefs that everyone else has taken for granted. What drives success in your industry? Could you imagine alternative ways of doing things?
  • Collaborate. Innovations that matter arise from cross-boundary perspectives.
    • Posted in competition, Innovation tips, Strategy | 5 Comments

    How do we find game changing strategies?

    Posted on June 20, 2009 by Jorge

    It’s easy to spot game changing strategies from the likes of , , and .

    In a world of fast changing dynamics where before the next morning; strategies that change the rules of the game are difficult to find.

    I would be surprised to find out that these companies came up with their game changing strategies after an all-hands-on-deck strategic planning session where they’re exploring growth opportunities.

    It could’ve come from a major brainstorming session to spot game-changing ideas but most often game changing strategy comes from an .

    It comes from quickly spotting an opening, gaining a temporary advantage over the competitors and then building from this advantage a platform for combining advantages into a rule-changing strategy.

    It comes from actively with the willingness to abandon past successes in the pursuit of something new and more exciting.

    Most of all the companies that have redefined their respective industries adopted and and through a series of (experiments) ended up changing the rules of the game.

    How else do we find game-changing strategies? What other patterns have you seen that lead to a rule changing strategy? Fire away!

    Posted in Strategy | Leave a comment