Have You Learned from Volkswagen’s Mistake?

Several years ago I purchased a Volkswagen Passat. It was my first Volkswagen, and although I’ve moved onto a different car, I’ve continued to admire VW’s ability to rapidly grow their brand and sales.

I was in disbelief when I first heard the news of VW’s misstep (to put it lightly), however, upon reflection it should come as no surprise that their rapid growth was not built on solid ground.

Consider for a moment that when it comes to cars (a commodity) there is some pretty heavy competition in the market, and all of the players are offering the same product. One might argue that the only possible outlier is Tesla.

My point is not about brand loyalty, nor to make an example of Volkswagen, but to drive home the fact that in order to dominate a market, the only real solution is to enter with something that is uniquely different – like Tesla, Apple’s iPod in conjunction with iTunes and Facebook. In these instances there have been few companies that have been able to challenge Tesla, Apple or Facebook in their respective niche.

If you want to do something big in an existing market, you’ve got to be creative and bring about products and solutions that others have yet to realize or invest in. This isn’t a matter of improving on what already exists, but instead making something that doesn’t exist.

Fortunately, this isn’t as difficult as it might seem IF you consider how to initiate creativity in your organization. You see, some of the most successful new products of our times haven’t come from just one person, but from a collective group with a single vision and complimentary skills. Is it possible that you have these ingredients within the four walls of your business today?

The answer is absolutely!

With this in mind, consider the following questions as it pertains to your business today:

1. How are you enticing your employees to be creative, bringing the most valuable ideas forward to you and those who can act on them?

2. What methods do you have in place today that will nurture a creative environment with your employees? Put another way, what’s in it for them to bring ideas forward?

3. What is your track record for acting on employee ideas to make your products or services better? How might you improve?

To dominate your market, you must nurture an environment of creativity. Start here and build a product or service that your customers truly value.

In my book from McGraw Hill, entitled Operational Empowerment, I discuss exactly how you can increase creativity in your organization. You can grab a copy by clicking here.

© Shawn Casemore 2015. All rights reserved.