The seven most expensive words in business are…

By Catherine DeVrye

‘The seven most expensive words in business are: “We have always done it that way!”

How often do you hear those words around your organisation? Wasn’t it only last month that a senior manager blocked a new employee’s suggestion with that exact phrase, adding:

“You just don’t understand how we do things around here.”

Or, worse still: “We tried it that way once and the guy who suggested it is no longer here.”

If all this sounds overly familiar, it’s time to seriously examine the way in which your organisation operates in today’s rapidly changing environment. Certainly, it’s important to build on your past success and not simply change for the sake of change, which is a costly exercise in itself. But, never forget that even if you don’t change, your competitors and customers may.

Too often people confuse necessary change with change for the sake of change. That is not to say that you throw out the baby with the bath water but any organisation, regardless of its past success, should always remain open to new ideas. It’s a recipe for disaster to continue to do things the same old way without at least occasionally assessing if that mode of operation is actually working or you simply think it’s working for you.

Past success is no guarantee of future success. Of the Fortune 500 companies at the turn of the century, only 3 exist in their present format today. And, since 1986, only 46% of the Fortune 500 companies are still in business. When Tom Peters wrote “In Search of Excellence” in 1982, he applauded companies that were innovative, quality focused, and growing exponentially. Today, many of them are no longer in business, when only a few years ago, they were considered invincible!

Take a look at a computer company that dominated the world for generations. IBM had incredible market share, rising stock prices and amongst the highest paid employees in the world. When I did my sales training with them in 1982, we were told that only 3 computer companies would be in existence by the turn of the century. Never was it considered even a remote possibility that IBM might not be one of them.

It was widely agreed that personal computers were only a fad and wouldn’t be a serious contender in the market of the future. And, customers would always buy IBM because they’d always bought IBM! Yet, in the mid-‘80s, the share price fell from $US142 to $US42 and over 200,000 employees left the business of the once invincible company.

Meanwhile, a little backyard company-Apple- was on the rise and seemed to be the new force in the PC business of the early ‘90s. Yet, Apple’s share performance has also fluctuated. Both Apple and IBM are excellent organisations but change happens particularly quickly in information technology. Fortunately, IBM adapted and at the time of writing, I’m pleased to report their shares were at an all time high. But, no high tech organisation will even have a parking place on the super highway (or super hypeway) of the future unless they constantly look at new ways of doing things.

This applies not just to computer companies but every organisation as technology, among other factors, continues to have an ever-increasing influence on the way business is conducted both domestically and internationally. Can you afford to be complacent that the Internet will have no impact on your business?

To succeed, enlightened managers will always look at better ways to run their organisations, rather than comfortably resort to that deadly phrase: The seven most expensive words in business today…

“We have always done it that way.”

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Catherine DeVrye is a best selling author and speaker on customer service, managing change and turning obstacles to opportunities This is a modified excerpt from ‘Hot Lemon & Honey-reflections for success in times of change’. Other best sellers include Good Service is Good Business, ‘Hope Happens!…words of encouragement for tough times’ and Who Says I Can’t? Past winner of the Australian Executive Woman of the Year Award, Catherine can be reached on www.greatmotivation.com

More from Catherine DeVyre here at Your Success Club ]]> http://www.yoursuccessclub.com/blog/2009/10/02/catherine-devyre-7-most-expensive-words/feed/ 0 http://www.yoursuccessclub.com/blog/2009/03/20/creativity-in-business/ http://www.yoursuccessclub.com/blog/2009/03/20/creativity-in-business/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:54:22 +0000 Yong-Long Lai http://www.yoursuccessclub.com/blog/?p=446 Creativity in Business is always something business owners are thinking about to get ‘ahead’ of the game or to get an edge over the competition.

I thought I’ll share a Joke to tickle some of your brain cells to get things going… Hopefully things sparks some creative ideas in your mind.

Young Jack bought a horse from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. The next day he drove up with no trailer and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.’ Jack replied, ‘ That’s OK then just give me my money back.’ The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I went down town and spent it already.’ Jack said, ‘Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.’ The farmer asked, ‘What are you going to do with him? Jack said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’ The farmer said, ‘You can’t raffle off a dead horse!’ Jack said, ‘Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.’

A month later, the farmer met up with Jack and asked, ‘What happened with that dead horse?’ Jack said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00.’ The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’ Jack said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.’ Jack eventually grew up and now works in a town near you.

Hope you had a good laugh and maybe even some creative ideas! Obviously, it’s a good idea to have integrity and honesty when you’re doing business. Creativity in business is not always about coming up with new ideas or doing something new. Creative ideas can come from doing existing things differently or presenting it in a different way.

Here’s some other Business related topics which might help with your business innovation – Business Resources