The Amazon Cure: How Businesses Can (and Should) Create Long-Term Value and Leave the Island
You haven’t read about it in a travel magazine, or seen it in a commercial on TV, but many businesses have been vacationing on a new island. “Uncertainty Island,” that is.
This undesirable destination is marked by the inability to innovate and think with a long-term perspective. Excuses about politics, Wall Street, and global recession serve as diversions on this island. The result is a plague of short-term thinking that is spreading rapidly across company cultures today.
Fortunately, I have the solution in my latest video – The Amazon Cure.
A few months ago, you may have seen Tompkins’ video on the Amazon Effect, which talked about how e-commerce giants like Amazon are transforming the market. The Amazon Effect really hit a note with companies across the globe, and this year I wanted to offer a remedy for companies who are feeling this impact.
The Amazon Cure is all about promoting innovation and investing in your company’s future. Don’t get caught up in short-term “solutions,” whether they be firing some of your best executives or letting your decisions go adrift. The Amazon Cure follows the model steered by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, which values risk-taking and investments that promote sustainable growth.
Companies need to stop making excuses and follow the Amazon Cure with these four steps:
- Focus on the long-term investments and innovation that bring you real value
- Make mistakes and learn from those mistakes
- Have the persistence to keep working
- Focus on the customer
Check out the full Amazon Cure video, and also take a look at Tompkins’ most recent paper, Leveraging Supply Chains for Increased Long-Term Value, which explores the value creation framework to tap into new areas of innovation.
It’s time for businesses to catch a plane away from the horrible Uncertainty Island and look at long-term ways to be successful.
The plane is boarding — is your business coming?
Best,
Jim
