When life was hard and we had to shovel dirt with a stick, welcoming innovation in technology allowed for large jumps in productivity and happiness. Maybe people then were thinking about how to make a better stick and work harder with it. The task at hand was pretty simple – make a hole.
We do far more than make holes today. The speed of technology advancement makes what is remarkable today boring in a few months or even a few weeks. And within this amazing world we live in, we can innovate because platforms, tools and preceding knowledge allow us to shortcut towards innovation.
If a third world country wanted to provide a communications system for their citizens, you won’t see them putting in telegraph wires first then land lines then old rotary phones and big coiled handsets.
Innovation has allowed onlookers to simply step in with current technology at a low price point. Those new connected countries would bring in fiber, cell towers and satellite. They can skip the steps and partake immediately because of current, cheap technology.
The tools are not out of reach any longer. You get to use the same tools of top executives and leaders everywhere.
However, if you walk into an organization that is using Salesforce.com, marketing tools and even email, you will see a wide range of competency and misuse. It’s not surprising to see 10,000 emails in someone’s inbox. It’s pretty common to see a team of people continually chiding each other to put the information into a CRM so everyone can see what has happened.
We have the tools to get the work done today. The gap is in the talent and leadership to make technology work. New and shinier platforms will continue to launch in the marketplace with the difficult task of getting attention and people to switch from something they are already using. We can only handle so many more apps, logins and interfaces. And yet, the technology will continue to pour in bottlenecked by humans that can only absorb so much.
Strategy, training and leadership are the crux points on whether you or your team will actually be innovative towards growing, making money and changing the world.
Is that where your thinking is? Make these powerful tools matter.
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