We’d created strategic plans for over ten years. We’d been through a $3.5 billion expansion, the dot-com bust, 9/11, and the Asian flu, and we’d triumphed. Now, here we were rolling along, and everyone on the Senior Staff felt that we lacked direction. After much conversation the team decided that what we needed was THE NEXT BIG THING. It made me wonder how many teams and organizations lack a NEXT BIG THING and, as a result, have lackluster performance?
Business 2.0 interviewed Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson who says that he sees the NEXT BIG THING as alternative fuels. Business 2.0: Branson's Next Big Bet But how does Branson consistently discover the NEXT BIG THING?
He says that first you must choose something that interests you. But it’s not enough to be interesting, you have to be able to make money in order to be successful. So to see if an idea is feasible, he goes out and talks to everyone in the field. Then, when a breakthrough comes, he’s already in place and ready to go (now that’s tapping the collective wisdom). This formula along with sheer willpower and really hard work have paid off for Richard over 200 times.
What do you think?
THINK TANK Questions:
DO TEAMS AND ORGANIZATIONS NEED A NEXT BIG THING?
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR NEXT BIG THING?
ARE ALTERNATIVE FUELS THE NEXT BIG THING?
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