A business is only as strong as its next idea. Apple’s Steve Jobs reminded us that business sustainability depends on a company’s ability to project its worth far into the future.
The sustainability of any endeavor hinges on a clear vision of its future state.
I considered that premise this morning against the backdrop of the Wall Street protests that have enlivened downtown Manhattan for the past few weeks. My inspiration came from an NPR interview featuring Amy Kremer, the chairman of the Tea Party Express group. Whatever your political affiliation, Kremer’s point seems unassailable: Raising one’s voice in protest is healthy, but in order to create a sustainable movement, a group must coalesce around a vision of the future.
We can apply this maxim to manufacturers, too. The vision we’re talking about here does not involve forecasting next year’s sales or predicting the share price 90 days out. It is this: Imagine the world in 10 or 20 years. Then define the role your company will play in that world. Sustainability lives on that far horizon.
Consider Apple, which might have lost its rudder with the passing of founder Steve Jobs. But for all that Jobs accomplished in creating beloved products, he did more for Apple by laying out a vision of its future. He sensed the importance of the cloud and developed the iCloud. He anticipated the convergence of the Internet and TV and launched Apple TV. Now, even as his co-workers, family, and fans mourn his loss, his long-term plans fill the pipeline in Cupertino. These are the seeds of sustainability.
Apple did not ensure sustainability, for instance, by linking its future to the wildly popular iPod. No doubt, Steve Jobs foresaw a day when the iPod’s capabilities would migrate to other Apple devices and make the original obsolete. Some people speculate that Apple will soon sunset some versions of the iPod. Steve Jobs envisioned the future state, and developed new products with it in mind.
Too often, manufacturers think of the future in terms of SKUs. Sustainability isn’t found in a SKU. It comes from meeting needs—those present and those imagined. And that foresight needn’t reside in a lone visionary like Steve Jobs. Strong business leaders are important, of course, but so are the ideas that percolate among the rank and file. Try crowdsourcing your company’s future state. You may be surprised at what your employees have already imagined.
In today’s volatile markets, the investors you have today may not be the investors you have tomorrow, let alone 10 years down the road. But your customers will surely be there. Figure out where you will fit into their lives then, and you will sustain your place in the future.