Welcome to our week of Reinvention for Business—Day 5! The Ho‘ohana Online Community has graciously agreed to some hale-sitting in Talking Story this week for me, and they are sharing their thoughts with you on our March Ho‘ohana, a challenge for us all to reinvent ourselves in business.
Yes, the name of this post is a different R: how perceptive you are. Leave it to our Guest Author today to mix it up and challenge me … The one and only K.Todd Storch of Business Thoughts.
In my own reading on the web, I anxiously look to Todd’s Business Thoughts for his views on customer service and market innovation. He also has this wonderful way of coming right to the point of things, as you will soon read in his article. Strip away the business suit (wonder if he even wears one? I don’t think of radio guys that way, but he is a GSM”) and you’ll find that Todd’s true loves are his ‘ohana and stretching his limits as a triathlete. Todd’s a true connector; People You Need To Meet is but one example. Meet Todd for yourself: match the voice to the man here.
I know, I know. I’m taking the contrarian view to this topic, but let me explain. The definition of reinvent
There are many processes and things that we and companies do that need to be improved dramatically (ie. customer service for one
But when asked to write this post, I began thinking about "what needs to be reinvented" and how does this affect my life?
I could look at the radio industry, which is where I make my living; I could look at the world of blogging, which is where I contribute; I could look at any number of processes that I deal with each and every day. But as I really challenged myself with reinvention, I began to realize that the word that fit the best is relevant
Relevant. Yes, that is it. The radio industry and television, cable, newspapers, etc. need to be relevant. Consumers are more informed than ever thanks to the Internet and being relevant is what is needed. Consumers are also demanding programming when ever they want it (thank you TiVo!). All of us want relevant content when ever and where ever we are.
If companies spent more time making their processes relevant to how the customer will actually use or interact with a product or the company itself, there is a much better opportunity for success. iTunes and the iPod are excellent example of this.
Many will say that iPod’s "reinvented" .mp3 players. I disagree. I’ve had a .mp3 player for years, but they were too difficult to use. Too difficult to really make listening fun. iPod’s made the experience relevant to consumers. Like the definition of the word, the iPod and iTunes made a connection with the matter with the matter at hand, which is/was "I want to listen to what I want, when I want and it needs to be easy and fun!"
iTunes didn’t reinvent downloads. It didn’t make over music downloads completely. iTunes made the music download experience relevant. It made it easy. It made it fun. It made it relevant to the lifestyle consumers want and demand.
What can each of us do to make our jobs, careers, lives more relevant?
Mahalo nui Todd!
Do you have questions for Todd? Would you like to add your voice to his? The comment lines are open, and ready for your thoughts.
— Rosa
Tag: Reinvention. Relevance. Customer Service.