Adaptation

I was talking with a guy the other day who has been running a successful video editing business for many years now.  His company specializes in corporate shoots, which can be anything from commercials to internal office videos used for training.

He was telling me about their methods and why they’d been able to do so well, when he said something that really surprised me:

“We’re stuck in our ways.  The video editing business has taken a pretty hard hit this year, and we’re not doing very well.  But our methods are tried and true, and we stick to them year-after-year.”

Those weren’t his exact words, but they’re pretty close.  The thing that surprised me was that his voice swelled with pride when he said that.

Why on earth would someone be proud that they’re stuck in their methods? A company that doesn’t test, experiment, or take any risks is a company that will never be the industry leader.  He might think that the recession is the cause of his business’ downturn, but there are still opportunities out there that he’s missing.  So why not try something new?  Why not venture more into online video?  Or better yet: he could market his business as the best online video company in the state.

Why don’t more companies have an evolutionary mindset?  Force a mutation into your business’ DNA to differentiate your company from all the others, instead of just playing it safe.  Because if there’s one thing that’s become very clear to me over the past few years, it’s this: playing it safe will always yield mediocre results.

If you don’t adapt to the changing environment, your business will die.