The Next Big Thing

As a follow-up to my last post, The Day Traditional Media Died, I wanted to offer an example of the kinds of stories business media should be covering and you should be searching for, whether online or in print. Because if we don't search for the next big thing, we will arrive late for the party.

As I said in that article, covering or discussing topics driving today's businesses are old news by the time most of us read them in a print publication and even most online publications. Not to say that those stories don't have a place within the editorial calendar; however, they will not drive business forward nor do they represent the future of business. And if we are to be great consultants and businesses, we need to start looking for the next big thing(s) and begin understanding how we will adapt and implement those things within our business model.

Large corporations and small to mid-sized  businesses that are savvy know that they must reinvent themselves regularly to remain relevant to consumers. But it is hard to steer the big ships onto a new coarse, and small and mid-sized businesses often fear getting too far out front of their bigger cousins, lest they are wrong in their visions. That leaves it to a small group of businesses, often headed by entrepreneurs, to be change agents. But one has to ask: Can they be the influencers, as well?

The short answer is yes; the long answer is far more complex. Often, by the time C-level executives trust creatives and innovators, it is too late for their business to take advantage of the work these entrepreneurial risk-takers champion. And the businesses that snooze lose and fade away or spend all their time just trying to catch up. By then, the next big thing is happening and they are replaced by new big things that need to be paid attention to. In other words, timing is critical.

This is where business publications that currently exist have an opportunity to grab readership by covering innovations and their innovators, and by offering analysis of how the changes being driven by the creatives will soon drive consumer demand. More important, it is up to us bloggers and online publications to take the lead and force traditional media to catch up with us or get out of the way. Furthermore, we consultants must recognize, test, utilize and write about what we believe to be the next big thing, if we are to remain relevant and in demand.

We won't always agree, but that is a good thing, as we drive businesses toward change and toward visionary thinking instead of following-the-pack thinking, which leads to such business calamities as the American auto manufacturing industry, which after three decades is still chasing after their foreign competition, all because they refused to be visionary and innovative in the early '70s, when the Japanese and Germans were the innovators.

In my role as a consultant and writer, I spend much time listening, watching and thinking about what I believe are the next big things. One of these things is beginning to happen, and it is the premise of my newest book and the reason I wrote such a book. One of the next big things is a business paradigm based on putting people first.

What began about two decades ago with companies such as Starbucks who learned from small European cafes the not-so-secret recipe for retail success, is becoming a reality. Today, it it driven by the new /entrepreneurs, consumers,  and employees now in their 20s and 30s. It is a business model built on the premise that we must put Main Street ahead of Wall Street in every strategic instance because it is a matter of business survival. We must put people first, not profits. We must always know their wants and needs, and then work diligently to meet or exceed them. Here's why: Although boomers and Gen Xers seem willing to put up with today's poor service and products that don't meet their specific wants and needs, Gen Y won't.

Generational differences are often hard to pinpoint, but in a review of articles over the past 5 years, I believe we know some things.

• Gen Y is willing to make sacrifices for society and community.
• They seek a balance between material goods and spiritual happiness.
• They are compromisers who believe in community and group.
• They see a boss as a mentor and coach, not a manager.
• They value balance and moderation. They want time to be with friends.
• They are conformists and team players.
• They want and need: flexible work  schedules, sabbaticals to travel or do community service, and project- or group-focused work with measurable outcomes.
• They respect leaders and want someone to look up to.

Does this look like a future based on companies producing mediocrity and providing products and services they dream up rather than asking what customers want and need and then working to exceed those wants and needs. I don't think so. Gen Y's put people first, as they want to treat others as they want to be treated. It is unlikely they will be loyal to a business that puts greed above their employees or their consumers.Furthermore, they expect businesses to understand and to exceed their wants and needs, whether as an employee or a consumer. And most important, they expect to be asked, listened to and then responded to by having those wants and needs met.

Since Gen Y represents our future executives, community leaders and, with 70 million members (Generation Y is almost as large the baby. who total about 76 million individuals) the future of consumerism, businesses must today begin changing to be ready to address that generations wants and needs. In fact, if they aren't already in that process, they are falling behind rapidly. Those businesses that continue to shape their strategic focus on today's business models will lose out to those businesses that recognize that the future is in people, not in targeting audiences with marketing messages that are irrelevant and often little more than SPAM.

The time to begin changing is Now! And If I ran a business or a publication, I'd get ahead of the curve before it hits the catcher's mitt and the umpire calls me out.