Business Innovation: Shoot First

General Christian Theology
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mike
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Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by mike »

I came across the following excerpt from an article in an Anabaptist Financial publication.
We don’t have a choice about whether innovation is coming, but we do have a choice how we relate to it. Listen to this quote from business writer Gary Hamel: “Out there in some garage is an entrepreneur forging a bullet with your company’s name on it.” You have one choice—shoot first. You have to out-innovate the innovators. Innovation is coming to our market. We can choose to champion innovation, or be its victim. Let’s be a champion of innovation. Innovation positions our companies for long-term success and preserves the values we treasure most.
I'm wondering whether folks would agree with this way of thinking (bolded part in particular) about business innovation, and whether it reflects a Christian and/or Anabaptist view of doing business.
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MaxPC
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by MaxPC »

The "ammo" reference aside, I hear him saying:
Don't stagnate.
Look for more efficient ways of producing the product.
Look for a better financial plan.
Create a new/better idea whether it's a service you're selling or a product.
Don't become complacent.

I think it's possible for Christians to be successful in business without the dangers of becoming wealthy. Successful can also mean a steady income or an idea that helps others. A successful Christian businessman has an opportunity to expand his witness to Christian living.

By creating a successful business, a Christian can support his family and contribute to the community around him thus creating both a witness to Christ and stabilizing the community.
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mike
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by mike »

Should the goal be to outdo all competitors? I see the danger of complacency in business, but is there any place for contentment in business? I am afraid of doing things purely motivated by fear of competition, or desire to "shoot first" in order to hamstring potential competitors. Firstly I am not sure that is a sound business plan anyway, and second I'm not sure it is a Christian motivation.

A salesperson told me that in his experience, businesses that are not constantly growing are shrinking. One has to wonder why that is the case.
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appleman2006
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by appleman2006 »

mike wrote:I came across the following excerpt from an article in an Anabaptist Financial publication.
We don’t have a choice about whether innovation is coming, but we do have a choice how we relate to it. Listen to this quote from business writer Gary Hamel: “Out there in some garage is an entrepreneur forging a bullet with your company’s name on it.” You have one choice—shoot first. You have to out-innovate the innovators. Innovation is coming to our market. We can choose to champion innovation, or be its victim. Let’s be a champion of innovation. Innovation positions our companies for long-term success and preserves the values we treasure most.
I'm wondering whether folks would agree with this way of thinking (bolded part in particular) about business innovation, and whether it reflects a Christian and/or Anabaptist view of doing business.
It is an interesting choice of words and I might of worded it a bit different but I think I more or less agree with the premise,

I do think however that our reason for being leading edge in innovation matters. I do not think the motive should be to have our competitor's company in our sights. Rather it should be with the understanding that it is our goal to stay competitive as possible and to be able to return the best value possible to our customers while at the same time also being able to offer a fair return to our partners be they our suppliers or our employees. That ultimately is what staying in business is all about.

One of the best talks I ever heard on innovation was given by an OO Amish man who had a company that built horse drawn equipment. Yes I saw the irony in that but he had innovation down as pat as any business man with a business degree has ever had, IMO.

I do not think that business must be the dog eat dog world that some make it out to be. I do however believe that healthy completion is always a good thing and tends to only make us better at our craft whatever that may be.
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appleman2006
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by appleman2006 »

mike wrote:Should the goal be to outdo all competitors? I see the danger of complacency in business, but is there any place for contentment in business? I am afraid of doing things purely motivated by fear of competition, or desire to "shoot first" in order to hamstring potential competitors. Firstly I am not sure that is a sound business plan anyway, and second I'm not sure it is a Christian motivation.

A salesperson told me that in his experience, businesses that are not constantly growing are shrinking. One has to wonder why that is the case.
Innovation does not have to mean growth. It can simply mean doing what you do, better. I do not think that a company must always be growing. But I do believe that if you are not updating and changing and bettering yourself in some way you will eventually die. In some cases innovation may actually mean shrinking in some or all areas of your business. In my experience some of the toughest decisions we have ever made in business is knowing when to stop doing something or to shut down a particular arm of the business. Especially when that arm is still making money.
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Peregrino
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by Peregrino »

mike wrote:I came across the following excerpt from an article in an Anabaptist Financial publication.
We don’t have a choice about whether innovation is coming, but we do have a choice how we relate to it. Listen to this quote from business writer Gary Hamel: “Out there in some garage is an entrepreneur forging a bullet with your company’s name on it.” You have one choice—shoot first. You have to out-innovate the innovators. Innovation is coming to our market. We can choose to champion innovation, or be its victim. Let’s be a champion of innovation. Innovation positions our companies for long-term success and preserves the values we treasure most.
I'm wondering whether folks would agree with this way of thinking (bolded part in particular) about business innovation, and whether it reflects a Christian and/or Anabaptist view of doing business.
That quote makes me uncomfortable. It reminds me of what Stephen Covey has to say about the scarcity mentality and the abundance mentality in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Think Win-win

Abundance Mentality versus Abundance Mentality

The idea that our success has to come at the expense of someone else reflects the scarcity mentality and is not in line with Jesus' teachings, IMO. The abundance mentality says there is enough pie for everyone to have a slice. We should acknowledge our interdependence and lift others with us as we rise. With that said, I believe our real competition should be our past self and we should constantly be striving to deliver a better product or better service than we have in the past.
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by Bootstrap »

Much of my career has been on the technical side of innovation. I agree with what Peregrino says about Win-Win.

In general, I think the best paradigm is not "beat your competitor", but "find something really useful that needs doing, and find a way to get paid to do it". Or "find someone to serve in a way that also results in an income". Find a value proposition that your customers care about, make sure that's what's being marketed, make sure that's what's being developed, and you can do business with integrity.

Even better: "What is my calling, and how does God provide for that?" Perhaps God supports your calling via a day job. Perhaps you calling is your day job. Perhaps your calling is to earn money and support other ministries. But beating some other company is definitely not your calling, why would God call you to tear them down?
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appleman2006
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by appleman2006 »

Bootstrap wrote:Much of my career has been on the technical side of innovation. I agree with what Peregrino says about Win-Win.

In general, I think the best paradigm is not "beat your competitor", but "find something really useful that needs doing, and find a way to get paid to do it". Or "find someone to serve in a way that also results in an income". Find a value proposition that your customers care about, make sure that's what's being marketed, make sure that's what's being developed, and you can do business with integrity.

Even better: "What is my calling, and how does God provide for that?" Perhaps God supports your calling via a day job. Perhaps you calling is your day job. Perhaps your calling is to earn money and support other ministries. But beating some other company is definitely not your calling, why would God call you to tear them down?
I agree. Some of my best friends are some of my closest competitors. Our attitude towards each other is that there is more than enough business to go around for all of us. We sell and buy from each other. We ask advice of each other. We even at times will send each other customers if we think it will be better for that customer.

There are lines of course that we do not cross out of respect but as a rule the only competitor that I fear is the one that actually finds me to be a threat. Generally when I hear a business running down their competitors it makes me question their own business practices.

I remember years ago we were getting a quote to do a major addition to our house. I had only got two quotes and the second person I asked to quote asked me if I was planning on getting a quote from a particular third company. He then proceeded to run them down big time with a whole bunch of what I deemed to be petty things. I had not even considered this company but I immediately called them up and they actually got the job.
To his credit the sales guy from the other company actually called back and apologized. He stated that it was not normally the way he did business. But he lost that job at least partly because of that.
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mike
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by mike »

appleman2006 wrote:One of the best talks I ever heard on innovation was given by an OO Amish man who had a company that built horse drawn equipment. Yes I saw the irony in that but he had innovation down as pat as any business man with a business degree has ever had, IMO.
The quote I referenced was from an article written by an old order Amish man.
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mike
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Re: Business Innovation: Shoot First

Post by mike »

Bootstrap wrote:Much of my career has been on the technical side of innovation. I agree with what Peregrino says about Win-Win.

In general, I think the best paradigm is not "beat your competitor", but "find something really useful that needs doing, and find a way to get paid to do it". Or "find someone to serve in a way that also results in an income". Find a value proposition that your customers care about, make sure that's what's being marketed, make sure that's what's being developed, and you can do business with integrity.

Even better: "What is my calling, and how does God provide for that?" Perhaps God supports your calling via a day job. Perhaps you calling is your day job. Perhaps your calling is to earn money and support other ministries. But beating some other company is definitely not your calling, why would God call you to tear them down?
I like what you're saying. There is a tendency to operate a business out of fear. I am afraid if business declines that I will struggle to make payroll for example. And fear can be good in that it grounds us to reality. But fear of failure of fear of competition can lead one to make rash and unwise decisions in my opinion.
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Remember the prisoners, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily. -Heb. 13:3
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