Successful Entrepreneurs – Bananas or Bouquets?

Bananas on my mind.  Sorry.

In these trying times its always good to be reminded of the successful among us.  It will either inspire you or tick you off, either way it gets the blood flowing to those extremities that don’t appreciate the thermostat set to 65. Entrepreneur.com covers four well known rule breakers you should have already heard about. 

So what’s the best way to create a successful company? Break a paradigm, nudge it, or simply copy it?  We hear a lot about the innovators who change the world. But the majority of transactions are done by companies that are in the business of copying existing business models.  Life’s safer that way.  Because we all know that for every inspiring story of success there are hundreds of failure that provide a chuckle or a lesson — because who could possibly imagine THAT idea would work? (It’s always stupid, till it’s not.)

We’re back to – if you succeed brilliant, if not – sucker. 

  • It’s easier to get a program through if you’re a banana innovator (Thought process: “They’re doing it and making money, so we can too.”)
  • You’ll never end up on the stupid list. (Thought process: “No one ever got fired for buying IBM.”)
  • It’s working as is, why change now? (No thought process at all)

Look around your office.  Stand up, you can see over the cube walls easier that way. See many huge risks? See many folks putting it on the line to take your company to the next level?

Do you remember the last person who tried? They get put on a special project? They go to a competitor? They waiting to jump out of the business jungle and say gotcha?

Innovation big and small comes with a price. It is filled with false starts, wrong turns and outright failures.  The innovators that change the world bully through each miss-step. They shoulder criticism, adjust and move on. 

When your organization slips on small innovations, what likelihood is there that a big one will go anywhere at all?

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