Complacency and fear are two of the biggest obstacles to business success, according to a new book.
In “The Business Model Innovation Factory: How to Stay Relevant When the World is Changing,” author Saul Kaplan preaches anticipating market trends and creatively reinventing and changing your organization to take advantage of them.
He notes several mistakes that companies commonly make:
- CEOs and other C-level executives are too afraid to fail and too isolated to know what’s really going on
- There’s too much focus on products and not enough on finding new business models
- Decisions are based on faulty projections and assumptions; for example, return on investment (ROI) for a new business model shouldn’t be projected by looking at the old model
- Compensation for line managers is too often based on making the existing model work, which stifles innovation
Among Kaplan’s recommendations: Embrace radicals and innovators at your company; don’t shun them or force them out.
Adapted from Eight Reasons Why Business Plans Fail at Baseline Magazine.