Yes, I know the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket. There's not a whole lot we can do about that. But there must be things we can do to creatively hunker down and weather the storm. I recommend doing something absolutely, certifiably, ridiculously kook-a-nutty.
Here's the deal: You're combing through your budgets, trimming this by 20%, getting rid of that department, abandoning initiatives...and then what? I mean, what happens next? Now you're a lean mean machine. What's the machine going to do? Are you just going to keep trying to do the same things you did before, but now with fewer people and less money?
Why on earth would you try to do that?
Isn't now the perfect time to try something impossible?
Like, I dunno, some kind of wacky 'return it until you find the size that fits just right' policy? Or let your someone else design your next product? What's the one thing that would really surprise and delight your existing customers? And isn't that one thing worth the pain it will inevitably cost to get that one thing done?
One of my favorite certifiably kooky people is Jeff Bezos. I just can't stop thinking about that time, 'lo so long ago, that he sliced off the entire marketing department and spent all that extra money on setting up Super Saver Shipping - at least, that's how I heard the legend--it was all way before my time. (An aside here...one of the most interesting and annoying things about working at Amazon is that you never know when you're going to be smacked right in the stakeholder with a "Jeff Project." It will throw everything off, scatter your schedules to the wind, and you'll be running. The idea will inevitably sound completely crazy. People in other groups will back away slowly when you tell them why they can't borrow your resources. And the most annoying thing is that the idea will usually turn out to be brilliant. It's all very frustrating.)
Jeff wasn't the only one who went bananas. For example, other etailers started to let you pick things up and return them... in actual stores. Zappos started having free returns. And then Endless came along with overnight shipping that cost negative $5.00. There's nothing on earth you could possibly do that's wackier than those things.
And don't start whining about how much it will cost.
I'm not saying everyone has to have free shipping (though I bet you ten bucks that in several years, everyone will have free shipping). Look, you either keep doing the same old stuff that hasn't been working so well or, while you're cutting all the fat out of your organization, you put some of it aside to be a loony. I vote for the loony option.
You'll have to find your own ridiculous project based on your own customers and business and brand and goals (assuming, of course, you know who and what these things are, which is a topic for another time). But I bet you already know what you should do. Something that won't just move the needle--it could possibly move the whole entire pincushion.
Be insane. What's the worst that could happen?
Err, don't answer that. Instead, keep sending your comments and topics! I can't wait to see you all in Phoenix.
