When Will The Web Overturn Your Profession?

Not unlike travel agencies, record
stores, post offices, encyclopedias, newspapers, movie rentals, yellow pages,
television, bill paying, book publishing, photography, pornography, video games, terrestrial
radio, real estate and journalism, there’s no reason to think your industry
won’t be completely flipped on its head too.

But if you help the industry make
contact with the future, if you skate to the where the puck is going to be, you
might be able to pivot enough to save yourself.

Netflix, by virtue of its very brand,
showed the world that their model was the future. Forget about going to the
video store, their flicks stream through the net. The name says it all. No
wonder their company made money so quickly. No wonder their company disrupted
the movie rental and cable industries forever. Instead of marketing
without outdated language, Netflix embedded words into their branding that
painted a picture of what could be.

If you want to apply the same thinking
to your organization, train your staff to turn feedback into inspiration. Seek
out complaints. Embrace anger. Document what your users, employees, customers,
vendors and colleagues are telling you. They will tell you how to serve them
better. They will tell you how to ride the digital wave to a better future.

Without that kind of listening
platform, the web is going to overturn your profession too.

It’s only a matter of time.