Innovation/Change

At a recent panel, a professor of International Business discussed the topic of the "Innovators Curse." He spoke of several businesses which innovated, and in some cases discovered something new,  who now are gone, or relegated to just surviving - assembly lines, personal computers are two prime examples.

Why this happened, he believes, is that they innovated, but failed to be open to change, as new technologies were coming into the mix.

For Canadian business aficionados this might remind you of Blackberry, the company who created the world's first push email - an incredible edge; but an edge lost over (very short) time. 

Another presenter agreed with this sentiment and is cognizant of it. In response, his company is structured quite differently.

At his company, they use change to keep themselves dynamic, looking beyond their own industry to find new technologies and business models that will shake up how they operate. “We are changing every day and that makes us innovate,” says Koo.

For horse racing, this is clearly a problem. Changing the industry was once described by former Woodbine (and now Western Fair) exec Hugh Mitchell as "turning around a 747 on a tennis court."

How can you innovate if you can't change the core dynamics of your business fluidly, quickly and with self-determination? According to the above panelists, you can't.