The motto used to \u201cslow and steady win\u2019s the race.\u201d Applied to a business perspective, it taught entrepreneurs to build their business brick by brick \u2013 that success meant waking up everyday to do the same thing, and once you\u2019ve made it you keep doing the same thing. This is the \u2018elephant\u2019 mindset; the mindset of the company that keeps moving forward with one set goal, a company that isn\u2019t thwarted by changes in the landscape.<\/p>\n
Today, taking on the elephant role exclusively guarantees business failure. Sure, the elephant business model works if there weren\u2019t as many competitors. If yours was the only shop in the neighborhood and people relied on you exclusively, then the elephant\u2019s the way to go. Now, however, we\u2019re seeing business competition at its most aggressive rate in history. Calling the new marketplace a competitive jungle, innovation experts Vijay Govindarajan and Srikanth Srinivas would argue in favor of a jaguar model of business.<\/p>\n
Having recently published a piece in the\u00a0Harvard Business Review<\/i>, \u201cFinding Your Place in the Competitive Jungle,\u201d Govindarajan and Srinivas advocate the need for business innovation based on the value of a company\u2019s speed in terms of innovation. In an x-y graph they showcase they correlation between a company\u2019s speed and the direct link with innovation; when a company excels, their rate of innovation is high while conversely low if they\u2019re lagging in the marketplace. Following an animal model, the article cites that an elephant is the most difficult model for any company today, with words like overconfident, complacent, and even arrogant, attributed to it. On the other hand, a jaguar by nature if far removed from these attributes. A jag is always on alert because it recognizes its position relation to every other animal in the jungle. It knows that if it doesn\u2019t observe and move forward, it\u2019ll end up on the lowest link of the food chain. In a business framework, if you\u2019re not innovating, you\u2019re not moving forward.<\/p>\n
Govindarajan and Srinivas also direct companies to realize two-fold challenges they face: shortened product life-cycles and increased business technology that can impact core business models. If for no other reasons, these two pivotal challenges are enough of a call to action for companies to shed the elephant model and adapt an ever-vigilant jaguar model that uses speed to push a rate of innovation.<\/p>\n
The two push through several models before resting on the jaguar as pivotal for today\u2019s thriving business. They mention the rabbit model, noting a high speed of innovation that doesn\u2019t translate into size. This means that rapid innovation itself can be destructive if it customers can\u2019t keep pace with the company. If this is your problem, they suggest asking yourself key questions like:<\/p>\n
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This isn\u2019t to say that the elephant model is completely obsolete. In a different context, the elephant offers stability in a climate that sometimes can be too fickle, whose landscape casts so many shadows and plays with light in a deceiving way that makes us believe we should change our direction when staying on course is really the better move. The elephant model also shouldn\u2019t be confused with the tortoise model, the real snail\u2019s pace animal in the jungle analogy. Success today doesn\u2019t mean being one thing or another. It means being a chameleon. It means adapting when we need to adapt, and being smart enough to realize the need for change. In this case, it means realizing the urgent role innovation plays in keeping your business afloat and thriving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The motto used to \u201cslow and steady win\u2019s the race.\u201d Applied to a business perspective, it taught entrepreneurs to build their business brick by brick \u2013 that success meant waking up everyday to do the same thing, and once you\u2019ve made it you keep doing the same thing. This is the \u2018elephant\u2019 mindset; the mindset…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":12160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2186"],"yoast_head":"\n