Research In Motions Missteps Present Real Lessons for us
By Craig Wilson
About a decade ago I was visiting my client, Mike, at his “world headquarters”. I put that in quotes because his world headquarters at that time was his house in the Cannon Falls area. A couple of years before Mike owned a successful IT consulting firm. He had gotten tired of managing it and I had the privilege to lead the negotiations in the sale of the company to publicly traded company in Boston. Mike used some of the proceeds to buy some acreage and build his dream home, which also functioned as his workplace in the extremely slimmed down new company he started. Most of his work was done with clients on the East Coast, but Mike could work remotely and only traveled to the clients about once a month. So, this leads me to my story.
I walked in and the first thing Mike says is, “You’ve got to see my Blackberry.” Now Mike had become a gentleman farmer on his new land. On previous visits he had shown me his goats, his chickens, and even his catapult – yes catapult! But this must have be some fruit. But he didn’t say blackberries, he said blackberry. As you know by now it wasn’t a piece of fruit but a phone, not just any phone – you could send and receive email with it. This was truly revolutionary. Soon the BlackBerry ruled the infant smart phone market. It wasn’t long before new competition entered the market. Research In Motion’s (RIM), the company that makes BlackBerries, next act set in motion its decline.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the BlackBerry held nearly 50% of the US smart 
phone market, now its share is now only 3.6%. This decline can be attributed to the “tyranny of success”. Authors Michael Tushman and Charles O’Reilly describe how often successful organizations dismiss new innovations as irrelevant or a passing fad, after all we’re number 1. Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android brought new applications to the smart phone market, and touch screens as opposed to typing. A number of years ago when asked if BlackBerry’s were going to color screens RIM’s CEO and Founder, Mike Lazaridis, showed signs early on of the tyranny of success by saying at an analyst meeting, “Do I need to read my email in color?” (Wall Street Journal). With this attitude, the BlackBerry soon fell behind its rivals and shows little chance of recovering it now.
How can we apply these lessons in our own careers?
- Embrace change
Kevin Cashman says being open to change allows you to be open to the possibilities presented by each situation. Maybe it’s to start your own business, learn a new technology, or just try a new restaurant. Change challenges your current reality to allow you to see a
new reality.
- Scan the horizon
Stanley Gryskiewicz says out on the periphery of organizations is innovation comes from, if you embrace the change early you’ll stay ahead. I started my own CPA firm in 1994. I saw the world of technology making huge changes to how future business would be done. The changes made it possible for me to work right out of my house without all the support staff necessary in the old paradigm. I had freedom to work when I wanted, take time for my family, and be more productive than ever before.
- Be a life-long learner
I asked GEN’s own octogenarian and founder of “High-Five Tuesday” George Teagarden to share his wisdom on being a life-long learner. Here’s his advice:
In marketing you must stay abreast of the latest trends in our industry or you no longer have any value and bring nothing to the table. In order to bring value to the organization I have had to stay qualified in technology by having an iPhone, an iPad and a desk top computer.
Life-long learning is a never ending process and must become a way of life. I don’t believe one should ever quit, the desire must always be there for personal fulfillment.
- Look for organizations that strive to continually improve
When you’re interviewing remember it’s a two-way street. You need to be interviewing the company as well. Ask a lot of questions that help you decide whether or not the company is forward thinking – questions such as, “Where do you think the company will be in 5 years?” Do your research and ask about the future of a particular development in the company’s industry. For example, “I’ve read that the next generation of widget presses are going to revolutionize your industry, how are you going to take advantage of this new development?”
Don’t worry about you doing the asking, most employers will love to see your interest and knowledge of their company. If they don’t like it, then you have your answer – they aren’t focused on the future and how to continually improve.
Here’s a link to the Wall Street Journal report on RIM:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304458604577488610583090408.html
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I like the section about being a life-long learner. I think it is valuable to set goals and continually challenge yourself to not only educate yourself, but to take advantages of learning opportunities. I believe that one reason some people fail to recognize the ‘next big thing’ and it’s potential impact is because they have limited their thinking and fail to see that this lack of vision would create a possible downfall. Necessity is the mother of invention and many of our modern conveniences have originated because someone had the courage and forward thinking to put their idea into action.
Well said Kris. I look back over the 30 years of being a CPA and see that what work looked like then versus now are unrecognizible. Just think about us communicating through this blog for example. But it’s not just technology that has changed in my career. What I do for my job I had to learn as I went along. As you progress in you career, it’s much less about doing the work as it is about relations with people. Client or customer relationships, managing projects and staff, teaching and growing staff, being visionary about how to be more and more efficient in running a practice. All these things require life-long learning.
I think that it is always important to look toward the future, not only in business, but in life. When an individual or company stops looking toward the future they can get in the rut of always doing things in the same way they did yesterday. It is important to be open to change and other people’s ideas.
I couldn’t agree more. That was one of the driving forces behind why I started Life without Limits. I looked at what I was doing and how I was living and projected the path that it was most likelty going toward. I saw my life’s path growing smaller and smaller and decided to change my lifestyle now to give me the greatest chance to life life to it s fullest!
I believe is better for companies and indiviuals to continually improve or adapt to things that are changing. I think that is the best way to grow as a company to be more open to changes and improve the ways you can make money. Blackberry was used to what they were doing and didn’t see the benefit to improve what they had and now they are suffering from those decisions. It is also like the individuals that refuse to use technology because in the past they didn’t have it. Now they may be struggling more with certain tasks because they choose not to adapt to the new ways and new technologies available to them. I believe we are continually evolving as a world with many innovations that it would be stupid for companies to not do the same.
I have to admit I fell into the category of people who let techology pass them by. In 1984 I was on the cutting edge of techology, first using Visicalc – the very first spreadsheet, then Lotus 123 in my work a lot. But over the next decade I let others do the techology for me. In 1994 when I went out to start up my own CPA practice I had to do a crash course in Windows, MS Office, tax, accounting, planning, and depreciation software.
By the end of my crash course I had pulled ahead of most of my compatriots and had a real efficiency advantage. The experience made me never want to be behind the curve as new innovations come into the marketplace, from remote VPNs, to a paperless office. I need to constantly be learning and scanning the horizon. Not all technolgies are useful, but we need to evaluate them and incorporate the ones that are sooner than after everyone else has already done so.
What a great blog, particularly the “How can we apply these lessons in our own careers?” section. However, the last part of this section is a great reminder for especially those of us who are going to be graduating fairly soon and already in the process of looking for a job or an internship. It is really helpful to remember that being well prepared for an interview doesn’t only mean to have a great cover letter, a fancy resume or having all the right answers that might be thrown at you during the interview, but also means doing your research about the company or even the industry that you want to work for and interviewing the interviewer, as the article said “interviewing is a two-way street.” Personally, like most of others, I would rather work for a company that is future oriented than a company that is stuck in the past, reluctant to change, and will eventually fade away.
As an interesting point to you asking the questions in an interview, my daughter Krista just had an interview and said that the interviewer asked her straight out of the gate, “What questions do have for me?” Krista asked is this a normal thing. I said, no but I like it!
As a note to you asking questions of the interviewer, my daughter Krista just had an interview where she said the interviewer asked her right out of the shoot, “What questions do you have for me?” Krista asked me if that’s normal. I said, “no, but I like it!”
I think this is interesting because I was a former blackberry user and I switched an android when they came out because they had so many more applications, even though I didn’t know exactly what I could do with them at the time. The Blackberry was useful though because I was able to connect my e-mail to my phone which was the main purpose I had for using it. The point you made about “who needs to see their e-mails in color” is really just covering up for the fact that you like what you have now and think people really won’t want “the next big thing” even though, as humans, people always do. Looking into the future and the future of technology is extremely important in a business because technology moves so quickly and things become obsolete.
Do you wish you had your BlackBerry back?
I myself can relate to not changing with the times, in all forms. In relation to business, job and money, staying ahead of the curve is monumental. But at the same time it is also possible to lose yourself by attempting to beat the rush towards new technology. I believe everyone has the ability to find a niche that they are great at and can succeed with it. So I myself will continue to evolve and try to maintain myself why embrassing new technology, in hopes of finding my niche and succeeding with it.
I am probably dating myself. However, when I think back to how technology has changed since I began my accounting career back in the early 90′s it is mind boggling. I have worked for companies that are slow to embrace change and never update there software or servers until they became so outdated that they are no longer being supported. This can cause a tremedous loss of labor when you think about how much time can be saved every day using the newest technology. Many of the mundane processes which used to be done by hand, can now be done with a click of a button. Then when the company would finally decide to make the change from one system to the next, it always involved months of transition time and frustrated employees as they mindlessly rekeyed data from one system to the next.
Even though it is sometimes very difficult to keep up with the everchanging technology it is very important to keeping your business successful and keeping employee labor cost down
I call this water skiing behind a pontoon boat. It can be done, but it’s so inefficient. I still have one client that’s still using a DOS based accounting program. They don’t want to spend the $2000 to upgrade to Windows. I can guarntee you they spent many, many times more than that in inefficient labor time.
The part about this I find most interesting and perhaps hits home to me the most is the part about embracing change. Change allows us to challange our current thinking habits and can allow us to see things in so many different ways. It is so easy to become wrapped up in our own worlds and often times people become afraid of change. I say embrace it, you never know what is on the other side of the door.
This is a great blog for everyone, especially those in the work force. As times and technologies change you must continually learn to keep up with the changes. If you fail to do this you may lose your job to someone else, or have trouble finding a job. Those looking to advance in their companies not only need to continually learn, but they need to work for a company that is forward looking. Advancement opportunities will only come if your company is successful and still around at that time. Change is also good for everyone. In order to live life to the fullest you need to try different things. I have been using my cheap, old phone for the last couple of years. My excuse was that I don’t have enough money to buy a smart phone. After reading this blog I’ve decided I’m going to start putting aside money so I can purchase a smart phone within the next couple months. Truth is I’m used to my simple old technology and think it is time for a change.
Good luck – now you have a big decision – Android or iPhone?
I remember the days of the Blackberry. When I got my Blackberry Pearl, I felt awesome even though I purchased mine after it was already a big thing. When the androids came out, it took me a while but I finally did change over after putting up a bit of a fight about it. I’m usually not a big embracer of change, I like to stick to my routine thing; but when it comes to technology I try to keep up. Technology and new innovations are extremely competitive these days, and if a company fails to keep up, they will most likely have an unfortuante fate just like RIM.
I really enjoy reading this article, I like the section Be a life-longer learner specially and this reminder my dad. He is a 50 year old guy who always said “technology is with me whetever I go”. This seems to be funny but he is always buying the latest stuff out in the market because it appears help him trough his business. My dad is a busy business man that is always looking to do business, he brings a proyect into the table out of nothing. He is a very smart man and always brings his iPad and smart phones with him whetever he goes. Yes I said smart phones, more than one because believe me or not he has three smart phones that he is answering all day everyday. If he lose or forget one of those he is not him. Eventually the technolly help us do businesses, work better and find out information easily. If a person wants to work in the business field these days needs to be very close to the technology and be smart and creative to know how to bring something into the table.