Make Yourself Obsolete

Dear Team

Some 40 years ago , Theodore Levitt  wrote an essay titled ,
“ Marketing Myopia “
In that , he summarized ,
“ If you don’t make yourself obsolete , someone else will “
And , after 30 years , it is obvious that , that someone need not even be a competitor from your industry
3 years back , none of us anticipated that , a web site called LinkedIn , would pose a serious threat to Recruitment / Headhunting Industry
But , today it does – and it was not even a brick-and-mortar competitor !
Client companies , under tremendous pressure for cutting costs , are now bypassing the middlemen ( the headhunters ) and approaching candidates directly
Can you guess what next ?
Imagine the following scenario :



Sharad Nandurdikar ( SIMON ) walks into a seminar wearing Google Glasses ( I believe , launched yesterday @ $ 1,500 /- for select customers )
Also walks in Mr Pandit ( imagined name ) , General Manager - Erection , of Essar Projects , also wearing Google Glasses
Even as the two are introduced by a common friend , each is looking at the LinkedIn profile of the other in his own Google Glass
Sharad also reads ( of course , in his Google Glass ! ) that Pandit has been reported in some newspapers as being unhappy at being superseded in a recent organizational reshuffle in his company
And , on his part , Pandit is reading news about the massive orders that SIMON received recently and that it is out recruiting for a Vice President, Engineering
Instinctively they strike up a discussion and , within a few minutes , retire to a sofa outside the seminar hall , to explore the possibility of joining up
By the time, they meet up again in a hotel room in the evening , Sharad has managed to make necessary “ Reference Checks “ on Pandit , as also his Credit Rating with a reputed Agency ( specializing in this work )
As soon as the Compensation negotiations are concluded , Sharad whispers to his Google Glass , which , instantly emails the Offer Letter to Pandit’s Google Glass
In turn , Pandit whispers to his Google Glass , which transmits his Acceptance of Offer to Sharad’s Google Glass



Does this seem far fetched ?
 Does even LinkedIn anticipate obsolescence from a piece of extremely intelligent , Omnipresent , Omniscient , Omnipotent hardware ?
In a normal course , I would have added ,
“ I may not be around to see this happen “
But , the rate at which , Innovations are surfacing – and making entire industries obsolete , for all you know , I may still be around to see this !

Moral of the story :

Don’t wait to be forced by your clients or your competitors to “ Innovate “
By then It may be too late
40 years back , when Admiral Rickover of US Navy floated a tender for the first nuclear submarine , he made it a condition that companies making an offer shall incorporate a PERT chart , clearly specifying all the activities and the Critical Path for project completion
Thereafter , this has become a Standard Condition for all US Defense Contracts
Do you want to wait till ,

Ø Either your client starts insisting on a simple Gantt Chart along with your offer

OR

Ø One of your competitors starts doing this – and you have to meekly “ follow suit “ , having missed the opportunity to make your competitor “ Obsolete “ ?

Regards

hcp