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Better ideas can completely change the face of your business and that’s not a bad thing!

Better ideas can make or break a business plan.  After all, success is based on the ability to come up with better ideas.  At the same time, bad ideas can take a successful business model and drag it down into the ground faster than you can blink.  Trust me.  I have the scars to prove it. […]

Phil McKinney
Phil McKinney
1 min read
better ideas innovation

Better ideas can make or break a business plan.  After all, success is based on the ability to come up with better ideas.  At the same time, bad ideas can take a successful business model and drag it down into the ground faster than you can blink.  Trust me.  I have the scars to prove it.

Be careful what you wish for since a better idea can change your business to the point where it's unrecognizable from what it is today.  Take Nintendo as an example.  Nearly everyone knows who the video game giant is.  There are few twenty-somethings who haven't played a Nintendo game of some sort.

Success is based on the ability to come up with better ideas than the competition.

Phil McKinney

What most people don't know is that Nintendo is over a hundred years old and that Mario hasn't always been part of the company.  In fact, the company's first venture was in the manufacture of playing cards, and from 1889 all the way up until the late 60s, that's all they marketed.

Nintendo eventually realized that that playing card business just wasn't very lucrative.  In fact, the business was struggling to stay ahead.  Did the company quit?  Of course not!  They came up with better ideas and started creating board games in addition to the playing cards.  Suddenly business was booming again, and a few decades later, they helped launch a new industry in the form of video games.

The failing card company went on to become one of the biggest video game conglomerates in the world.  Today, Nintendo is a household name.  None of that would have happened if the people running the business back in the 1950s hadn't realized the need for a better idea.

So remember, don't settle with what you are doing today.  Always be on the lookout for better ideas.  You just might discover the next big thing!

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Phil McKinney is an innovator, podcaster, author, and speaker. He is the retired CTO of HP. Phil's book, Beyond The Obvious, shares his expertise and lessons learned on innovation and creativity.

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