Why Organizations Fail: The Danger of Standing Still | Designers of Change Podcast Ep. 26

Many organizations are not failing because of one major mistake. They are failing because they stop growing.

In Episode 26 of the Designers of Change Podcast, Natassia and Jamar Wright discuss the danger of an organization standing still and why businesses must continuously evolve to survive.

This episode explores:

• Why an organization is either growing or dying
 • The dangers of stagnation and resisting change
 • How Kodak missed the future after inventing the digital camera
 • Why Nokia and Blackberry lost their dominance
 • The importance of innovation, adaptability and curiosity
 • How leaders can create a culture of continuous growth
 • Why long term success requires courage and change

If you are a business owner, leader, entrepreneur, manager or aspiring executive, this episode will challenge you to evaluate whether your organization is moving forward or standing still.

Watch now and learn how to avoid the costly mistakes that cause organizations to become irrelevant.

Subscribe to the Designers of Change Podcast for more conversations on leadership, personal growth, business, mindset and transformation.

Hosted by Natassia and Jamar Wright, leadership consultants, corporate trainers and founders of Mind Food International Limited.

#Leadership #BusinessGrowth #Innovation #ChangeManagement #OrganizationalDevelopment #BusinessPodcast #LeadershipPodcast #DesignersOfChangePodcast #Entrepreneurship #CorporateLeadership 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Coming up on this episode of the Designers of Change podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

So you're going to be irrelevant if you stand still in any market or any industry, you are going to become irrelevant. So we don't want you to become irrelevant like Blackberry. Blackberry is not around today.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Absolutely. And you know, you have to embrace um growth and change. And once you do that, then what it does is open doors for more opportunities in the future, right? Because if you are stuck at one place and you're not looking at what's happening in the market, who are you serving really? What are you doing? Because you're not changing, you don't have your business, it's not on social media, you nobody can find you. Are you truly in business at this point in time? The Designers of Change podcast is so happy to have you. Welcome to episode 26, where we're going to be discussing the danger of an organization standing still. Now, why would you want to do that? This is the world of ever-changing technology, landscape, economy. How could we possibly stand still? But before Mr. Wright starts the deep dive into this conversation, we have to say a huge thank you to our amazing sponsors who make this production possible. Uh, Jace Myri Media, Mind Food International, Super Letive Auto, Amanda's Kitchen, Grace Create, Jesse's Home Decor, SK Catering, Mag 24 Hours Wrecking Services, Regional Consulting Services Limited in K-Man, the Self Care Bar and Caribbean Gospel TV.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

So we're going to talk about the danger of an organization standing still in in changes and in face of competition. We see where Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airline is one of our favorite airlines. And we normally take Southwest Airline when we are traveling from Orlando from Montego Bay.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Orlando.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

So for a company to have 47 consecutive years, they must be doing something right. Yeah, great. But guess what? South Southwest found themselves standing still with companies such as Spirit Airline who introduce an bundling package. That means you can when you buy your ticket, you get the beer fear, but you have to pay for everything. You pay for your carry-on, you pay for your check-in, you pay for your seat, you pay for your water, you pay for your food. But guess what? The other legacy airline found out. Guess what? We can make money by charging you for your check-on bags and your carry-on bags.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

So, in other words, spirit opened a can of worms. They opened a can of worms and unlocked another opportunity for other airlines to tap into making more money.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

So, Southwest on the other hand, they they don't they usually don't charge you for bags. No, they don't they they don't charge you for seat.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

There's no seating assignments you just go and sit down.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah, so they were known for that. There are no seating assignments, they don't charge you for bags. But guess what? Airline has been finding a way out to make money from from charging you for bags, and so they make billions of dollars. But guess what? The airline industry continue to change, they update their IT infrastructure. Southwest didn't do that. And guess what? I think it was in 2002 or 2003, they have a major meltdown during the hurricane period. They they have over 2 million of their customers were stranded during those periods, and they were fined millions of dollars by the America Airlines Association for so many cancer flight. And guess what? Because Southwest Airlines stood still, they run they they were caught sandwiched between the ultra carrier and the legacy carrier. And guess what? The activist investor they did not like what they see, and so they they they came in and say, you know what, we have to change up the culture of Southwest. And today, the very thing that Southwest despised of not charging you for the bags, because I remember one time Southwest even run a hard during Super Bowl to say we are the only airline something to the tune at something to the tune of that that we don't charge for bags. But today, Southwest is now introducing fee for bags because they realize that they have to change, and we have seen so many companies they stood still in the faces of change, and some of them they are not they are no longer here, such as Blackberry, Kodak. We can list those organizations that stood still in the face of change and the face of competition. And when you stand still in the face of change and competition, there are so many consequences because as a leader, as an organization, in this modern world, you can't stand still when we were going to university, babe. My lecture used to say product lifecycle is usually five years, but in today's era, product life cycle is not six years anymore or five years anymore, it is now two years because we see iPad now iPhone, we see Song Some Galaxy, they bring a new phone every single year. Your app is your phone is your phone update almost every day, and so as a leader, you can't stand, you can't stand still. And so if you if you stand still today, you are going to face you're going to face the consequences of stagnation.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Absolutely. And you know what's important for us to understand is that Southwest wasn't a new airline. Understand this, they were around and they made consecutive profits for 47 years.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

And so that says a lot. It doesn't matter how much experience you have, you still have to change because the world is constantly changing. And so the underdogs, remember, we had a whole episode about the under the underdogs, the spirits and the frontiers of this world and the flares, and you know, these airlines that are looked down on, frowned upon, because they're cheaper, we're making money and making profit from what they decided that they did not want to do. And so when we look at even the consequences of standing still, the truth is, as Jamar would always say, a company is either growing or it's dying. There's no in-between.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yes, that's true. So so if you're if you're a leader and you're a team member of an organization, if you are standing still, I can tell you this. Which one which one is my camera? That camera, your company is dying slowly. It is, babes. I was talking to somebody recently. We went to five gas stations Looking for a newspaper, and it's only until we went to the fifth one that we found a newspaper. Here's the thing newspaper circulation today is dying. Four out of the five gas stations told us they do they did not sell the physical copy of the newspaper because no one was buying it. And so if you are leading an organization and you are not making the transition today, your organization is dying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you can't stand still in the face of change, in the face of competition. You are not going to be here today. And so many companies have found themselves in hot water. They are like Titanic, they are sinking.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Absolutely. Absolutely. And then a lot of companies would think too that all right, fine, you're not growing, but you're at a particular level and you're plateauing. That's not a good sign. No, it's not a good sign. Maintaining your market share is not a good sign because all it means is that one company is gonna come with some kind of idea and you're going to lose the market share that you thought you had for this period of time, it's going to keep dwindling.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, because here's the thing, babes. When an organization is growing, you are going up. But when you when you plateau, you hit an era and then you flat out like this. But here's the danger. Here's the thing about life there's no there's no such thing in life as constant as change. You are not going to remain on this plateau level for forever. You are either getting better or you are either getting worse. When you eat plateau, if you are not intentional about growth, then you are going to eventually go into a decline. And so many companies die slowly. Blackbuster didn't die in two decades. Well, no, it wasn't immediate. It wasn't immediate. It took years, it took years and years. And so if you're if you're look look at me now, or or if you are listening to me right now, if you are a leader and you are leading an organization, if your organization hit plateau and you are not doing anything to get out of that rot, you are going to go into a decline. And the thing about when an organization is dying slowly, it is very, very difficult to see it. But you are dying very, very, very slowly because the market is changing and you are becoming obsolete. Absolutely. Yeah, Kodak didn't become obsolete overnight. And matter of fact, Kodak was the one who found the digital camera, but they did not want to cannibalize your film market that it was so dominant. And so, guess what? When you stand still um stagnant, you miss opportunity like Kodak. Kodak was so big, they sell the film, they sell the chemical, and so when they invented the digital camera, that scientists within Kodak discovered the digital camera. Kodak said, you know what, we are not going to roll out the digital cameras yet because we don't want to lose.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

They were doing too well. So they were saying we're gonna lose money not just from um selling the cameras, but also in the filmmaking, because the chemicals used to process the film to convert to the pictures, they were the ones who were selling them too. Yeah, so they were saying to themselves, we can't put this out because then this new idea is gonna take over and we're gonna lose money. Yes, they missed that opportunity. Excellent point, Mr. Right. But can we just stop here? We're gonna come back, we're gonna pick up right at this Kodak moment. Priceless. We're gonna pick up at this Kodak moment. Just stick and stay with us here on Designers of Change. Staying still, keeping still, standing still, not moving, not growing. And we were just having our picture perfect Kodak moment a while ago. Um, we want to say a huge thank you to our sponsors, which are companies that are growing, they're not standing still because guess what? They're supporting us. So, our sponsors, a huge thank you to Jace Marraie Media, Mind Food International, Super Lative Auto, also Amanda's Kitchen, Grace Creates, Jesse's Home Decor, also to Regional Consulting Services in K-Man, Mag 247, Wrecking Services, the Self Care Bar, SKatering, and to Caribbean Gospel TV.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yes. So we're talking about when an organization stands still, you miss an up, you miss opportunity. Just like Kodak. Yes. Kodak missed the opportunity of revolutionizing the camera industry because they had the digital camera with them.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

They literally sabotage their own.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Sabotage sabotage their own society.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Really, they hid it. They say, you know what? I'm not going to put out my new invention because the current one is doing too well. So let's let's what they ended up doing was um allowing patent um patents to get royalties, you know, to get royalties and then ended up selling themselves out, yeah, which is just so crazy. But that's the reality um of what's happening in the market right now. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

So, one thing I want to say before we dive into the next point. If you are successful right now at anything, I want you to do an autopsy on your success. Because you're you here's the thing e who worship the past, remain in it, never let your last big thing be your last big thing. So always there's a saying never reinvent the wheel, but that is not true. You must reinvent the wheel, you must review your own success, you must analyze your own success, and sometimes you have to change what worked yesterday might not work today. You can ask the you can ask the legacy media today. The legacy media today is going into a new nose dive for the last two years in America streaming has passed cable TV. We are on a decline now. MTV is no longer around because they stand still and change is change is always constant, things is always moving.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Indeed, indeed. Now, another reason um companies sometimes go into this period of stagnation or they can't move is because they're in a financial decline. So the markets, as we know, you know, the markets is constantly changing. What do you do when you're losing customers? Like, for example, here in Jamaica, we experienced Melissa last year. Companies are still grappling with you know making ends meet. Yeah, and so you know, it does affect the them moving forward or growing.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

When when you stand still, you it you will eventually move into a state of financial decline because the market is moving away to the next new shiny thing. True. I remember in 2008 when we were at when we were at Disney World, babes, and we came outside, we were waiting on uh on our and our Uber to come and pick pick us up. And I was so shocked to see so many people at the ride shear stand. And when I looked, there were so many red, red plate, what do you call it? Yellow cabs. The yellow cabs were outside Disney and nobody was going into these yellow cabs, and there were so many there were so many yellow cabs out here, and every every few seconds, a Uber come pick up someone, a Uber come and pick up someone, an Uber pick up and it simply means that those taxi person now, those yellow cabs, they are not making any their revenue would have gone into a decline. And guess what? Uber Uber finance would be going up because when you stand still, the market has changed and people have moved away from your product to somebody. We we don't buy we don't buy cassette tape anymore.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

No, and that that leads to another point when businesses fail to evolve. This is what happens standing still equals no growth. So if you're not evolving, if you decide that as a mechanic you're not going to learn about EV vehicles, then soon you're going to be left behind because who exactly is going to be coming to you? Yeah, what what problem will you solve later on in life? So they have to be making sure that they're constantly educating themselves.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Yeah, so you're going to be irrelevant. If you stand still in any market or any industry, you are going to become irrelevant. So we don't want you to become irrelevant like Blackberry. Blackberry is not around today.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Absolutely. And you know, you have to embrace um growth and change. And once you do that, then what it does is open doors for more opportunities in the future, right? Because if you are stuck at one place and you're not looking at what's happening in the market, who are you serving really? Yeah, what are you doing? Yeah, because you're not changing, you don't have your business, is not on social media, you know what it can find you. Are you truly in business at this point in time? So you have to be looking at all these different things.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

So so as an organization, you have to embrace change. Do not resist change. As you see, this we the podcast is called the designers of change. So you don't want change to happen to you, you want to design the change. Absolutely. That's a great model. That's a great order. And so you can when you design the change, it you you you are taking charge. And so you can design a preferable future for you. Now, let us take the newspaper industry. Many of them they did not embrace change, and some of them they are no longer in business. Some, you know what, we are not going to print any more physical copy because this their the circulation has declined, but we can offer online read it, right? Probably we can offer a podcast, but you have to embrace change. You have to do something.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

You have to do something because sitting down is not going to help. Hoping that the older generation will um will will buy more of your products, you have to be constantly moving, and so you know what I love about this topic is as much as we go around and we preach the change, you do have companies who refuse.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

But yeah, but if you refuse to change, you you're not going to be in business for long.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Yeah, we still see companies, you go into stores, they're still using some very archaic system that can't even work well. And you're thinking to yourself, a simple tablet could be helping you right now as a cash register. You know, instead they're using this huge thing and it's not working, and you know, it causes so much chaos. Yeah, but you know, if we are really to look at sustainability and sustaining long-term success, you have to have a constant wheel of growth, yeah, a constant wheel of how can we make sure that we are improving our processes, our function, we're hiring better people, all these different things because that is what is needed in today's society.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Yeah, babes, I want babes, because the world shrinks so much because of social media streaming that when you do anything anywhere in the world, if you are selling clothes in Jamaica right now, 20 years ago, you don't be competing with the person next to you or in close proximity. But today, if you are selling clothes in Jamaica, you are competing with Sheen, you are competing with Temo, you are competing with Alibaba, you are competing with Amazon. This podcast right here, we are shooting it right here in Jamaica, in Kingstone, Jamaica, and this podcast is competing with every single podcast there is on this planet, and so you have to make it as best as possible. Jace production is not just competing with producer here in Jamaica, right? It is worldwide, and guess what? If as a leader and as an organization you stand still, you can just kiss what you are doing goodbye. Because growth, my friend, is intentional. Garner the days when you can sit in your on your laurels, garner the days when you can just be comfortable. Oh my god, my organization hit a goal ten years ago, and we are just defending our market shares. Read my lip. Change is here, and the future is now. We are actually living on the edge of tomorrow. There are so many things that is happening, there are so many changes, and if you are not intentional about your growth, you are dying slowly because there's no in between. You are either getting better or you are getting worse. There's no in between.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Powerful, powerful final words there on the Designers of Change podcast. We are so grateful if you're already. Following us, you're already subscribed. Go check us out on another platform, share with a friend, and just ask them to subscribe to our podcast. But we want to say a huge thank you to all our amazing sponsors to Jace Mary Media, Mind Food International, Caribbean Gospel TV, Super Lative Auto, Amanda's Kitchen, Grace Creates, Jesse's Home Decor, The Self-Care Bar, Mag247 Wrecking Services, Regional Consulting Services Limited in K Man. And also a great big big shout out to everybody who is here. Thank you guys for always putting in the work. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Yeah, and come on board, sponsor us.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

As we as as the saying go, we must pay Jays to keep this thing going. So come on board and so we can continue to teach, we can continue to inspire.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

And we can help to bring transformation and bring the kingdom of God into the world and worldwide.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

See you next time.