Turbo Leadership Systems^™

Innovation & change - Friend or foe?

A few days ago I received an email from my friend, Craig Latourette. The subject line said “3 -D Copy Machine.” I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. I saved the email and when time permitted this past weekend, I opened it. What I saw, and what you’ll see when you click on this link is space age technology that is shocking. My head is still spinning. I can’t quite believe what I saw. The implications are profound. As this 3-D copy machine process continues to be perfected, all new product models can be made with it. It is a game changer. It seems that the only limitation is the size of the object being copied. This innovation, this invention will save countless hours of engineering, reduce costs, and bring to market new, improved products in a fraction of the time that is now required. When I told my friend Bruce Richardson DDS about the 3D copier, he said, “I’ve read about something similar being used to replace the side of a person’s face where the bone structure had been severely crushed. A picture was taken of the healthy side of the patient’s face and a ‘plastic’ bone structure was created directly from the picture to replace the damaged side of their face.”

This 3-D copy machine confirms once again that we live in the most exciting time in human history. There’s never been a better time to be alive. And so long as the “enemies of the future” are kept at bay, as long as the defenders of the status quo don’t stop progress, this march forward will proceed at increasing speed. History is on the side of progress, growth and improvement. This has been the story of the human race over the past 200+ years. The “enemies of the future” can slow progress and drive up the cost of innovation. These “enemies of the future” can drive the innovator out of your company, out of your town, out of your state, and even out of your country. Beware of these “enemies of the future,” those who worship “the way it has always been done,” “the way we have always done it,” “the way we do it around here;” they are not your friends. Like Borders Books, Schwinn bicycles, IBM typewriters,

Packard cars and Indian motorcycles, your company has no divine right to remain in business. The future belongs to the nimble, those who live outside of the box of self-imposed limitations. Stop saying, “This is how we do it.” Instead ask “what if?”, “why not?”, and “how can we?” The future belongs to those who have given up all hope of things remaining the same, “the way it used to be” or “always has been.” The future belongs to those who do not feel entitled to their job, think they own their job, and are not afraid of competition, whether the competition is next door, across town, or across the ocean.

In the final analysis, we either copy or create. Creators are the friends of the future; creators invent the future.

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