The Business You Built Still Works – The Market Around It Has Not Stopped Moving

Issue #11 Failure to Evolve: What the arrival trap costs a business that mistakes Stability for destination

BY 

PETER S. BERGERON

• Failure to Evolve

Issue #11 Failure to Evolve: What the arrival trap costs a business that mistakes Stability for destination

Eighteen months ago, one of your longest-tenured clients mentioned, almost in passing, that a competitor had changed their delivery model. You noted it, thought it was an interesting development, and moved on because there was a client problem that needed handling that afternoon. Last quarter, that same client mentioned the competitor again, this time to explain why they were reducing the scope of their engagement with you. The competitor had built something your client now valued more than the additional scope represented.

You had 18 months to look at that signal and decide what to do about it. The business was running well at the time, which is exactly why the signal did not register as urgent. Stability has that effect. When the business is holding, urgency belongs to operations, not to what is changing in the market. The problem is that markets operate on their own schedule regardless of what your operational urgency is telling you to focus on.

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