Back the Right Horse
One of my close friends lost his job today as a patent lawyer. His division specialized in printing presses and since being hired, my friend has become an expert in the intricacies of the printing press and its patentable components. He’s a smart guy and, with his experience, will hopefully find another job soon.
Two things came to mind after my conversation with him. My friend mentioned that, in the future, he hopes to not focus on just one client. His previous position pigeon-holed him into becoming an expert in a dying industry.
While not all of us are able to diversify our expertise amongst multiple industries, I think my friend brings up a good point. Don’t get stuck backing the wrong horse. The world is changing. Companies are having problems keeping their current customers. Companies are having problems reaching new consumers. We’re seeing a shift of power in the world of marketing from company-powered to community-powered. Where do you stand? Are you working for a dying industry? Is your company the “printing press”? I got a good piece of advice today. Back the right horse.
Is the world really changing? There are many analysts out there who feel this is yet another downturn in a rather predictable and logical trend of ups and downs. These analysts site the history of the US economy over the last 100 years. They note that about every four to six years since the Great Depression (although this can really be traced back as far as the boom after Ford came out with the model T, which by the way, also revolutionized the American economy)there are ups and downs. If one follows the trend, we should be right in the middle of a depression.
They key today however, is how devastating this depression will be. There seems to be no way to predict the severity or expanse of any cycle. I might argue that each cycle brings with it varying degrees of change – we saw tremendous change during the internet boom and collapse in the last downturn, and today, we seem to also be seeing this change.
I wouldn’t run out to start changing the way we do things. America, and the world, is a very different place than it was even 10 or 20 years ago, however much of this cannot be pointed to a specific downturn or rise in our economic strength. Change happens naturally, it’s part of advancement. I would argue we should always be adapting, who needs a depression to start it?
Yehuda Farkas