THE DANGER OF INNOVATIVE ARROGANCE

Here we go again. Another icon of industry, RIM, on the verge of collapse. What is it that causes companies like RIM, Nortel, Blockbuster etc. to be innovative and market leaders, just to crash and burn.

It is what I like to call Innovative Arrogance! The high and mighty sit there and say, hey, we are so great and have developed a product, service etc., that is so great that we can just sit here, spend our money like drunken sailors and not have to worry, because, well of course the rest of the world is just going to sit there and accept our superiority and bow down to us. 

Yes, that is the same attitude that resulted in many civilizations collapsing in the past, not seeing the encroaching armies, ready to take power.

Such is the case in the companies mentioned, but many others as well. They were innovators and then they become fat and happy and don't realize the rest of the world is moving on and surpassing them, and that they have become irrelevant.

There are other industries on the precipice today. Publishing is one that comes to mind. How about office products? And cable TV (as most content is now easily accessible through computers or Apple TV?). Think of how quickly the world is changing and how slow these bureaucracies are to respond.

In Canada there has been a lot of complaints from exporters that the strength of the Canadian dollar is harming their ability to sell into the US. I have no sympathy for this. Why don't these companies look at their processes and how they do business and come up with a more effective way to do business? Because that would be harder than just relying on a weak currency.

The protectionism that we've had in Canada has spawned a raft of irrelevancy in industry -- publishing for example (a lot of money from Heritage Canada goes toward the publishing industry meaning they can have poor processes and business approaches because the government pays). Without competition being allowed to challenge the status quo...like in cellular communications...the fat cats just sit back and only seem to wake up when there is a potential competitive threat to their status...and meanwhile they aren't looking at rejigging their model to be more competitive in the event of competition from outside Canada. In the case of wireless, Canadians pay one of the highest costs in the world...you can't tell me that this is appropriate....I would be happy if more competition was allowed across the borders and these companies live or die...and if they die it is their own fault...again innovative arrogance.

You can tell I am somewhat angry at the stupidity that the corporate heads are exuding, because of the impact on so many lives. RIM has already laid off lots of people and now another third of their workforce. These aren't just numbers...these are real people and their families who now may be at a horrible financial crossroad. It's wrong and it could have been avoided, if these companies didn't have their head down in the trough.

I was recently in the Galapagos Islands where Darwin came up with a lot of his theories on natural selection and survival of the fittest. This is happening in corporations around the globe. The problem is it is the leadership that is not adapting and it is the rest of the people employed in the organization that are left to suffer and figuratively die.

Yes, I am angry...stupidity always makes me angry.