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Scarcity Disease, The Plague of the Industrialist

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Day 15 of 21 days with Chuck’s new book, Why Employees Are ALWAYS a Bad Idea

“You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar. You either live in a world of abundance or in a world of scarcity, and whichever one you choose effects every decision you make.

Companies that live in a world of abundance will flourish in the Participation Age.

Conquest Destroys the Conqueror
The 21st century Industrialists are wrong. Business is not a zero sum game. They believe there is only so much to go around, so the game is to get yours before the next guy gets his. And in its worst form, the objective is to get it all and leave none for anyone else, as the early Industrial Age monopolies demonstrated.

Industrialists also believe there are only so many good ideas or great potential products out there, and after that, it’s over. So if we have to buy out or destroy the other guy who invented something cool, we’ll do it.

Cash Cows, Not Creativity
Rather than being built to create, innovate, and move us all forward to the next great thing, Industrialists build companies to take over the world by living off the creativity of others. To do so they build incredible cash cows that squeeze every last dime out of existing products and services.

And because they are so heavily invested in the present, they naturally resist change. They work hard to maintain the status quo, especially if innovation threatens their status quo products. It’s no wonder that people don’t like Industrialists, they just need to stop mistaking them for Capitalists.

Crony Industrialists, Not Crony Capitalists
Banks and most financial institutions on Wall Street suffer from the attributes of an Industrialist. Scarcity is a powerful driving force amongst them. They are not “crony Capitalists”, but “crony Industrialists.” Nobody hates Capitalism, which has driven local economies for centuries. They despise the scarcity-minded Industrialists who abuse Capitalism for their own gain.

It is unusual for one Industrialist to learn from the downfall of another, and the fact that the publishing industry has not yet seen their future in the demise of the music industry or similar Industrial giants being dismantled in front of them is not at all surprising. The drive for world domination, eliminating competition, and maintaining the status quo are so ingrained in some industries that they will be arranging the chairs on their various Titanics even after the water is over their heads.

For the Capitalist, Big is a Result of Great
True Capitalists live in a world of abundance. They focus first and foremost on creating, innovating, solving problems and moving the world forward through their creativity. They get big if that serves them in being creative and making a contribution. But for a Participation Age Capitalist, getting big is a RESULT of being driven to create, it is not the main motivation, as it is with an Industrialist. Capitalists have no fear of destroying the present for the future, and regularly introduce advances that make existing products and services obsolete.

Where You Start is Where You End Up
GM, which at one time was the largest company in the world, almost all through Industrialist acquisitions, has struggled to find an innovative way to move into the future and would have gone bankrupt if it were not rescued by another Big, the government. At the same time Ford reached back into it’s creative Capitalist DNA and innovated its way to profitability without outside assistance.

The lesson is that companies which focus on being creative and innovative (two attributes of abundance) are much more likely to build a lasting presence than those whose founding DNA is scarcity. GM, whose DNA is more Industrialist than most other modern companies, has been stuck like a fly in a spider trap, while Ford has moved on ahead.

Scarcity is a Mirage
Most Industrialists truly believe they sell in a limited market with finite boundaries, and that since there is not enough to go around, they have to get theirs before the greedy people do. It’s a Darwinian world, and the scarcity-minded intend to be the last man standing. It has to be that way. If someone else is left standing, their presence might destroy ours. It’s a zero sum game.

But the scarce world the 21st century Industrialists are so afraid of doesn’t exist. The markets are always expanding and new products and services are being created at a dizzying pace. Scarcity thinking is just a lousy excuse for being lazy, uncreative and boorish in a world constantly expanding with new ideas, new markets and new generations of people.

The slow and long-term decline of companies like GM, United Airlines, and other stolidly Industrialist companies is a direct result of this scarcity thinking. It causes them to focus on acquiring the other guy’s creativity, eliminating him, and then maintaining the status quo so they can milk the existing market, instead of creating the next market. When you think about it, it’s actually a lot more childish than macho. The “great Industrialists” were doing a lot of compensating.

Abundance – Hard-core Capitalism
Abundance isn’t kum-bah-ya stuff. It is a hard-core Capitalist success habit. It builds a culture of trust, credibility and service to the world around us. People want to work with those companies, and will go out of their way to find them.

Do you live in a world of abundance? Are you committed to helping others in your industry get to their goals so you can get to yours? Whichever one you choose, scarcity or abundance, effects every decision you make.

Which do you choose?

This is a summary of a chapter from Chuck’s new book, “Why Employees Are ALWAYS a Bad Idea (And Other Business Diseases of the Industrial Age)”. Click here to pre-order this new ground breaking book at a discount on IndieGoGo.com until July 28.

Business Diseases of the Industrial Age

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Great Toys. Bad Karma.

The Industrial Age lasted a very short 150-200-ish years in the ten thousand years of recorded human history. It brought us a lot of cool toys and a cushy life, but we’ve been afflicted with a lot of Business Diseases that came from the Industrial Age. Here’s just a few of them:

Big Disease
I’m addicted to big. I can’t help it. Giant Corporation, Inc., giant government, giant megalopolises, giant houses, giant movie stars, giant cars, giant malls, giant markets – it’s all so very alluring. I know my ancestors use to live in small, committed communities, but I’ve got a garage door to hide behind.

Employee Mindset Disease
It’s not my job. Tell me what to do. I leave “me” at home. I don’t think at work. I work at work, I play somewhere else. It’s not my fault. I’m a victim.

Employee Contribution Disease
I’m not significant. I believe what the Industrial Age taught me – Shut up. Sit down. Live invisibly. Go out quietly.

Retirement Disease
I’ll wait until I’m 65 to live significantly. I’ll go through the motions for the first 65 so I can get there. Until then I’m just marking time.

Scarcity Disease
I live in a world of scarcity. You either live in a world of scarcity or a world of abundance, and whichever one you choose affects every decision you make. Industrial Age scarcity rules. Abundance doesn’t exist – it’s woo-woo crap.

Competitor Disease (symptoms are similar to Scarcity Disease)
Everything is finite and I need to get mine before I help someone else. If someone gets the work and I don’t, then I “lose”, because there is only so much to go around.

Me First Disease (just another name for Competitor Disease)

Complexity Disease
The more complex things are, the more impressive they are. Surely they must be better, too. Just because the profound things are always simple doesn’t mean I should embrace them. Complexity is good.

Planning Disease
I don’t move unless the entire route is planned out. I’m waiting for all the lights to turn green between Chicago and New York, then I’ll start moving.

Cognition Disease
I’m a thinker. My 3rd grade teacher applauded me for it. So did my college professor. I’m really good at it. I’ve heard that committed people make history and thinkers write about them later, but that’s just crazy talk by committed people. I’ve thought about this a lot, and I can come up with 100 reasons why they’re wrong.

Safety, Security, Stability Disease
My mother told me to put my mental galoshes on before leaving kindergarten. I’ve had them on ever since. It may not ensure I’m safe, and it does ensure I’ll never do anything remarkable, but she has to be right and Maslowe was wrong – safety, security and stability are the pinnacle of human experience.

Money Disease
You give me money and I’ll give you the best 50 hours of my week and the best 40 years of my life. I’ve heard that time is the new money, but I’m not buying it. I’ll retire on cue at 65, then live significantly if I have any time or energy left.

The Cure
The cultural carnage of the Industrial Age was broad. It will take us a few decades to fully recover. But identifying the diseases will help us get there faster.

What Industrial Age diseases have you been afflicted with? Add yours.

Your Competition, Isn’t.

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Scarcity thinking will keep you poor.

I’ve sold millions in big contracts and small and never once thought about “competition.” It’s NEVER a factor. I don’t think I have any. I don’t believe you do, either. If you think you do, you’re probably not thinking straight.

Big business loves to teach us to do “SWOT” analyses” where the “T” is for “Threats”, those evil competitors who are going to swoop in and steal our clients any day. The only threats you should ever be worried about come from within your own company and your own head.

The problem is bad thinking and bad strategies on your part. Here’s some examples:

You either live in a world of abundance or a world of scarcity, and whichever one you choose affects everything you do.

This isn’t woo-woo crap. This is hard-core success thinking. If you live in a zero sum world then there’s only so much to go around, and you better get yours before the next guy gets his. If you live in a world of abundance you figure out how to help other people be successful so that you can be, too. I do a weekly lunch with 50-60 business owners and regularly have “competition” there who “steal” potential clients. I’m glad they find clients there. I do, too. Everyone says it’s the best weekly lunch environment they’ve ever been around, because it’s based on living in a world of abundance.

People who focus on trying to figure out what makes their competition successful don’t have enough good ideas of their own.

We don’t have time to figure out what others are doing – we’re too busy trying to breathe life into our own ideas. Focus on getting better, not on your competition.

Focus on your client’s needs, not your competition’s products.

I expend a lot of energy figuring out what my clients need (which isn’t necessarily what they always want right away). If you do that, you won’t have time to focus on what other providers are doing.

You’re a terrible guesser, anyway.

I’ve seen companies dissect the products, services or marketing of other companies, then mimic it, only to find out they were mimicking the worst part of what the others were doing. The mimic thought it was what made them successful, and so did they. They’re thanking the mimic for helping them see it clearly while the mimic goes out of business.

The two last words of a dying company are “Me, Too.”

The best way to ensure you are irrelevant is to mimic other people’s successes rather than creating your own. That strategy is fundamental to a world of scarcity, but worse yet it shows a complete lack of originality, passion, cause, mission, or joy in what you do. And it means you’re only in it for the money. And people who try to make money make a lot less than people who birth something the world can use.

If someone “beats” you, they simply have something the customer needs that you don’t.

Rejoice for the customer. If you also have things other customers will want, you’ll attract those relationships and the other guy won’t. When you try to be all things to all men you become nothing to anyone (a wandering generality vs. a meaningful specific – Ziz Ziegler).

If you have something meaningful to offer, you will get customers. If you don’t you won’t. Blaming “competitors” for “losing” contracts is nonsense. Just get better in a few things and go deeper, not wider. If you’re not losing a lot of opportunities, you’re too wide and likely are delivering on the edge of mediocrity. Not a great long term strategy.

The bottom line

Get the idea of competition out of your head and focus on being the best at whatever great idea you’ve birthed. And while you’re at it, try to figure out how to make the other guy successful, too. You’ll make a lot more money and have a lot more fun.

Abundance and Significance – Making More Money in the Participation Age.

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For almost 200 years we were in the Industrial Age, followed by four “Ages” in less than 40 years: The Post-Industrial/Service Age. The Technology Age, the very short 5-10 year Information Age, and what some including me are now calling the Participation Age.

The hallmark of the Participation Age is “Sharing”. Shared technologies, shared information, shared resources, and shared participation in developing new products. But most of all the Participation Age is identified by the re-development of the concept of community – people living and working together toward a common goal.

Linux, Druple communities, interactive media, blogs, and social media such as Twitter and Facebook are all examples of shared community. Independent programmers are meeting for a weekend and developing an application in just a few hours together.

The results? A big one is that we are now in the age of Two-Way Marketing. You can no longer afford to have a one-way “push” message. You must be listening as much or more than talking, asking more questions than you answer, and participating with your community in the development of your brand, not telling people what your brand is.

The Age of Participation – Social Entrepreneurship

An even bigger result is that the best companies will be focused on creating abundance and significance for the owner, the employees and the world around them. They will be returning to what we were taught in kindergarten, to re-learn how to share and participate with others in building a better world.

Besides two-way marketing, alert companies will understand that they can no longer afford to be interesting, but that they now must be interested – finding ways to promote the interests of their customers and their community to increase their profits.

It’s not a foo-foo idea anymore; it is becoming a staple of business. Social entrepreneurship is not a fad. It’s a result of living in the age of participation and the information sharing that is possible as a result. And those companies that put the interests of their customers and community first will make more money.

Selling a product or service doesn’t cut it anymore. Last year Wired Magazine ran a cover story on the need for people to reconnect with the concept of “meaning”. In the eighties the bumper sticker was “He who dies with the most toys wins” and in the nineties we got to try it and found it wanting. In the last ten years we have begun to reconnect with the idea that it’s not “He who dies with the most toys wins”, but “He who lives with the most significant goals wins.”

Great companies in the 21st century will move from Survival, through Success to Significance. And they will do so by changing the business mindset from one of scarcity – “I need to get mine first because there is only so much to go around”; to a mindset of abundance – “I will get mine as I help others get theirs.”

Use your business to do more than make money; you’ll make more money if you do. All the best businesses are growing as they give back. It creates the right leadership mindset for a business to grow.

You either live in a world of abundance or a world of scarcity. Whichever one you choose effects every decision you make.

Have a great finish to 2009 and an abundant and significant start to 2010!