Slay the Dragon
Why do some businesses disrupt, and others don’t? It’s because people in those organisations are scared. And it is this fear -the dragon- that you have to beat to start disrupting. Here’s how to slay that dragon.
I’m an advisor at Tam Tam, a Digital Agency in The Netherlands. And in my job I do these strategy sessions with clients. Let me take you on a typical morning with a session like that…
I’m at the clients office presenting to the clients’ team. They sit around a big table and we discuss their business, their target groups and so forth. And I show them some examples. Examples of:
- Great websites.
- Beautiful app’s.
- Cool campaigns.
- Disrupting new business models.
And then it happens… there’s alway this one guy who asks:
“Please show us examples from our OWN industry, not examples from OTHER industries.”
He means: if they are a movie theater he doesn’t want me to use examples of a car maker. This always happens. This really frustrates me. For one thing because I made an effort to search for these great examples and he doesn’t like them. But there’s a more important reason why this frustrates me and why I’m sharing this with you: He’s wrong! Don’t use examples of your own industry, use examples outside of your industry.
This is why.
If I would use examples from within your industry, then this example would be your competitor. And he would doing better than you are. You would already be defeated by this company. So there are no real good examples from within your industry.
Yes of course there are some things you can copy from your competitors. But it only enables you to keep up with the competition, not beat your competition. And I want my clients to win, to defeat the competition. I want my clients to innovate and make new products and services. I don’t want my clients to fine tune yesterday’s business model, I want my clients to invent tomorrow’s business model. That’s why I use these examples outside of your business. So you will be successful.
Fear
OK, I understand why that guy asked me for examples out of his own industry. He’s afraid:
- He’s afraid for the unknown: for that other business that he might not understand.
- Afraid for the big idea or challenge: for starting something big in a big company that takes a lot of effort to achieve.
- Afraid of his boss and colleagues: they might disapprove these big ideas.
I don’t blame him. This is scary shit.
Fear. Everybody got some. It is in yourselves, in your body, in your head and in your stomach. And as everybody knows you have to face your fears to overcome them and achieve big things. And I want to achieve big things with my clients. But it’s this fear that keeps you away of succes.
You have to fight this fear. This fear is your enemy. This fear is your dragon.
You have to slay that dragon. You have to be brave and think of yourselves as a knight. Put on your armour, pick up your sword and fight that dragon! Fight for the treasure that that dragon is keeping you away of. That treasure of success.
Now, I’m not just using the word dragon because it sounds cool. You really have to do frightful things to achieve succes. Companies actually go bankrupt because they didn’t act when they should have. Because someone in that company was afraid at that decisive moment. So let’s face that fear and fight that dragon.
How to slay a dragon?
But how to slay a dragon? I’ve got these three rules to do that.
- Strike at the right moment.
- Watch your back.
- Choose the right weapon.
I’ve got 3 examples to explain these rules. These examples are probably outside of your industry. And these examples will question what industry you’re actually in.
Strike at the right moment.
Netflix is this service for streaming video on your Smart TV or Apple TV. But Netflix actually started as a subscription service for DVD’s. You didn’t have to go to a store to get the DVD, it was sent to you in this big red envelope.
In 2005 they had around 4 million subscribers, but the DVD market was starting to die and Netflix acknowledged that. They saw that streaming media was the future and they acknowledged that. They looked the dragon in his eyes. They decided to not be afraid and fight the dragon.
They made a very bold decision at that specific moment: they choose to use all the money they earned with their “DVD-customers” to build this streaming video service. So early 2007 Netflix started with this service of streaming videos to subscribers. At the end of 2007 they had more than 7 million subscribers. Now they have more than 61 million subscribers. And they are just going international.
Their bigger competitor -Blockbuster- started 2 years later than Netflix with streaming video. Their knight wasn’t bold. Their knight followed Netflix. And Blockbuster doesn’t exist anymore. They lost the fight with the dragon.
Netflix did something big. Really, really big. You know they weren’t a small flexibel startup, they were a big company. And they turned their company around in a few years from sending envelopes to streaming entertainment. But the biggest thing they did was act at the right moment.
They struck the dragon at the right moment, and slayed that dragon.
Watch your back.
A few months ago I a met the strategic advisor of the Board of Directors of ING Insurance. He told me they aren’t afraid of their current competitors. They know their current competitors very well. And they are as traditional and slow as ING. They are afraid of the new kid on the block they don’t know very well.
One of those new kids on the block that they are afraid of is Google Insurances. Google partners in some countries with local insurers and offers insurances directly to customers. ING is afraid that the big Google comes in and will blow them away.
But if you ask the big innovative Google where they are afraid of, they say: two guys in a garage inventing the next big thing.
So don’t only focus on your current competitors that are in front of you, those from within your industry. But watch your back for others too. They might be big, they might be small. But watch your back.
Choose the right wapon.
Amazon is a webshop that started with selling books. Now it sell’s everything from shoes to toilet seats. At one point they also looked that dragon in the eyes and they asked themselves: what are our best skills? What are we really good at? They discovered they were good at 2 things:
- Manage a webshop: design and build that website.
- Manage the logistical process of getting that product you bought to you.
They said: if this is our business then selling books isn’t. So they made a bold and smart decision and they gave other sellers -their presumed competition(!)- access to their store. They decided that their competitors could be their clients too. Can you imagine?
Now as a consumer you know that if you search on Amazon.com you’re searching the biggest catalog in the world and you’ll always find what you’re looking for. The consumers are happy, their partners are happy and Amazon’s revenue is higher than ever and everybody talks about them.
Amazon looked really good at the weapons in their armoury. And said: these are the weapons we are best at, and we use these ourselves. And these other weapons we give to our allies and together we will fight the dragon. So choose the right weapon.
3 rules.
I’ve shown you 3 examples, 3 rules:
- Strike at the right moment.
- Watch your back.
- Choose the right weapon.
I used examples that are probably outside of your industry. Again, there are no good examples in your own market. And you might be wondering what industry you are actually in. And if there are still any borders between industries. That’s how you slay a dragon. Do you see that that dragon looks a little bit afraid now?
How to start this fight?
But how to start this fight? I know a good first move. Imagine: tomorrow your boss comes to you and says to you: we have to increase sales with 1000% with in 3 months otherwise we will go bankrupt and you and everyone else loses their job.
After your primal fear ebbs away, what are the things you can think of to achieve this? What happens in other industries? Start with these ideas and plan a brainstorm with your team with that question in mind! That is your start of the fight.
Slay that dragon!
Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed it, please click “recommend” below and you’ll help me to get some attention for my carefully chosen words. Appreciate it!
