The Unknown

16/05/12 17:54

The discussion has been going on for two years. What is going to happen when Greece has to leave the Euro? All sorts of scenarios were on the media except one. What if nothing is happening or put it this way, what if it will be a relieve, if it will release recourses for innovation and growth? For what reasons are only negative scenarios spilled all over the media and nothing positive? Pulling on a dead horse will not bring the horse back to life. It’s a waste of energy. Letting go will free resources for innovation and growth. But something like the Greece case had never happened before. So we don’t know.
Last weekend I was visiting a tourism show. I walked through the halls quite quickly. I didn’t spot something new and I mean some new content, innovation. A lady put it quite right. She said that the people had seen enough bathrooms. A few years ago it was new to pay attention to the bathroom design at hotels and lodges. The guests loved it. It gave a new feeling to their stay. But now they have seen pretty much each possible bathroom design. Where is the innovation? Some exhibitors thought, lets present our product on an iPad. Well the iPad is the innovative product, unfortunately not what you are presenting. What makes your product different from the product of your competitor? Innovation!
And then I read this article today about the downfall of Flickr since it was bought by Yahoo. Flickr was the first big photo sharing social network, highly innovative. It looks like Yahoo bought it to destroy innovation and to get access to the gathered data on Flickr. They choose for integration instead of innovation and that killed Flickr. Does Yahoo realize that it is also working on its own downfall? No innovation means no growth and stagnation means downfall. Ignoring that fact will only accelerate the downwards process, just like in Greece.
For what reason do people and organizations ignore, deny or repress the need for innovation and change? Something is innovative or new, because it hasn’t been there before, so we don’t know it. Is it the fear of the unknown?

Article “How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet is available here: http://gizmodo.com/5910223/how-yahoo-killed-flickr-and-lost-the-internet

Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com