[font=verdana, 'Bitstream Charter', serif]What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself recently, and it’s encouraging me to look at business solutions using exponential, rather than linear, thinking. Exponential thinking is a result of the profound influence of technology on the rate of growth and change in the world. Geoffrey Shmigelsky, the CEO of thinkexponential.com, explains it this way: “10 steps linearly is still 10 steps. 10 steps exponentially is about 1,000 steps.” The disruptive technology behind exponential growth has resulted in companies like Kodak underestimating the importance of embracing digital photography, with dire consequences. It’s also responsible for the rapid, multi-billion dollar rise of companies like Uber and Snapchat. Nowadays, it is more important than ever to embrace the kind of bold thinking needed to keep up with change, and even set the pace.[/font]
[font=verdana, 'Bitstream Charter', serif]The difficulty is that as the CEO of an established, almost twenty-year-old company, I also have to be responsible to my employees and customers by being consistent and stable enough to avoid unnecessary risk. The more people you employ, the more reasons there are to tread carefully in making decisions that impact both jobs and lives. If you consider the Kodak example, however, NOT innovating can also impact jobs and lives.[/font]
[font=verdana, 'Bitstream Charter', serif]My solution is to go down parallel paths. I’ve got years of experience and expertise shaping the choices I make for my company, many of which are sensible and conservative. From implementation of clear processes to emphasizing customer service to harnessing the energy and knowledge inherent in teamwork, St. Louis Staffing has benefitted from the tried-and-true. And we will continue to keep doing what works.[/font]
[font=verdana, 'Bitstream Charter', serif]Yet I’m also taking the time to research what others are doing, and using their examples to get inspired. I get inspired on a local level by teenagers like Paige Randazzo and Joschula Page, who I sponsored last year to attend an entrepreneurship program at Saint Louis University’s Allsup Academy, and whose creative ideas and level of focus were impressive at any age. I get inspired by people like Chris Motley, Founder and CEO of Better Weekdays, an innovative job matching service that helps universities improve job placement for its graduates. And I get inspired by the ultimate big thinker, Peter Diamandis, innovator, entrepreneur, and founder of the X Prize, which awards the development of radical breakthroughs in technology for the benefit of humanity.[/font]
[font=verdana, 'Bitstream Charter', serif]As Diamandis writes in his recent book, Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World, “Right now, and for the first time ever, a passionate and committed individual has access to the technology, minds, and capital required to take on any challenge.”[/font]
[font=verdana, 'Bitstream Charter', serif]If you’re a leader in your organization, how are you breaking out of linear thinking to take on your biggest challenges?[/font]
