No Change is Good

In an HBR interview with Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, he stated that Amazon ties their strategy to things that don't change versus things that change. This may seem counterintuitive. With change ever present we are told we need to adapt to change or perish. Jeff says Amazon focuses on things like helping customers make faster more informed buying decisions about which book to buy versus selling more books. Whether people buy new books, used books or digital audio books, Amazon helps people find the right book at a good price and in a format that they prefer. This will not change for a long time. If their strategy was focused on moving as many hardcover books as possible they would be in trouble. The format people will prefer will change with ebooks. How people share information about books will change with social networks. The warehousing, printing and distribution of books will change. Providing a service to help people make better decisions will change much less.

Are you focused on selling more ink on paper or providing project critical content logistics? Is your value "printing" or helping customers control and deliver important information? Printing will change. The need to control and deliver important information in the construction industry won't change much.