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Innovation Tip: Kill the Company

Survival of the fittest

Herbert Spencer was certainly on to something when he drew parallels between his own economic theories and Darwin's biological theories of "survival of the fittest" way back in 1864. Only the strong survive—that applies as much to organizations as it does to amoeba. How can your company remain competitive in order to survive over the next five, ten, or twenty years? More importantly, how is it going to evolve and grow? Start the year off strategically by trying this exercise with your team to find out:

Invite your team together for a Kill the Company brainstorm. The challenge: brainstorm as many ways as possible to ‘kill’ your company (put it out of business). Prior to the brainstorm, have your team members come up with a few answers to the following possible scenarios: What might your competition do to steal all your customers? What decisions might ultimately lead to your downfall? What could happen in the larger marketplace that would crush your operations?

Once everyone is together, share your ideas on all the different forces or events that would "kill" your company. Next, figure out how you’ll survive these events. What can you do to prepare? How could you react in order to ensure your survival? What backup plans will you have in place?

You’ll end up with a set of new ideas for the future of your business—ideas that will not only help ensure your survival, but that will help you adapt (and succeed) in an ever-changing world.

By Jennifer Wang on January 12, 2011 at 10:47am |

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