PonderThis: Opportunities in the Gap
No one knows what the outcome will be of the changes we are undergoing... not for certain anyway. What is certain is that the changes are creating gaps.
In those gaps is a combination of opportunity and difficulty. In many ways, as old structures break down, the relationships that feed them have a lag time in adjusting. It is often not a pretty picture.
Here are some examples I have seen this week:
As more individuals leave corporate jobs, and the job market tightens, there will be a predictable increase in the demand for resources needed by solopreneurs and very small businesses. Yet in a risk averse environment, both health insurance and credit are an ever increasing challenge.
Mid-tier and large companies have reduced workforce, so will rely on outside resource for specific projects or programs; however, that same belt tightening makes it more difficult for managers to justify contracting costs. Meanwhile, risk aversion has made contracting terms less attractive to those who can do the work. A perfect storm.
On the altar of "too big to fail" we focus attention (not to mention money) on large organizations; however, their numbers of employees are not larger than those who are and will soon be in small business environments- just more concentrated.
In these gaps is a challenge for those who must find health coverage, customers and a sustainable business model. But in them is also opportunity for the leaders who are both visionary and courageous enough to find and offer solutions. Yet the ultimate irony is that those who have the resource and scale to take advantage of the opportunity seem to be those most focused most single-mindedly on the difficulty. Of course, the newly created small business does not have to answer to a board or shareholders: only to protect a mortgage, college fund and retirement.
So here are my PonderThis questions for the weekend.
Where is your attention, and that of your organizational leaders focused?
Are you an agency for the kind of innovation and courage that will help to pull the world through the current economic challenges, and in-so-doing benefit yourself and your company?
What has changed in the way you do business that creates a gap (or at least lag) of opportunity- and what are you not doing about it?
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