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It’s Only Common Sense: I Should Have Thought of That

What do all these companies have in common: Disney, CNN, MTV, Hyatt, Burger King, FedEx, Microsoft, Apple, AT&T, IHOP, Eli Lilly, IBM, Merck, Hershey’s, Coors, Texas Instruments, Fortune, GE, and Hewlett-Packard? They are all very successful companies with names that you recognize, but that’s not the most important thing they have in common. Can you guess what it is? Give up?

Each of these companies was founded in times of adversity, during an economic recession. Further, each one of their stories proves the theory that “chaos creates opportunity.”

From the book Create the Future + The Innovation Handbook: Tactics for Disruptive Thinking, author Jeremy Gutsche wrote, “Innovation is about creating an idea that fulfills an unmet need, and often, people need urgency to spot those needs.”

Who would have imagined a few months ago, when we first heard about the coronavirus in China, that we would be where we are right now in such a short time. Who could have imagined our world order changing so rapidly—restaurants, stores, schools, and universities closed; product shortages; double-digit unemployment; people walking around in gloves and masks; and news outlets constantly discussing COVID-19 and the statistics. It makes one realize what a fragile world we live in. Even in these times where we take pride in insulating ourselves with the security of insurance, good jobs, and large portfolios, it can all be threatened or even disappear in just a few short weeks. Who knew at the turn of the new year what 2020 would be like?

But if we do nothing else, we have to gather up our courage, look at the future with clear-eyed optimism, and say, “We did it before, and we can do it again.” But for now, let’s move on and trade on another popular saying—"It’s a shame to waste a good crisis”—and start doing what those great companies did before us in their own hard times. Find a way to innovate, and find a new way to do things. If nothing else, let it not be said that we wasted this crisis.

Let’s take a look at the obvious needs of today. These are all markets that are going to change drastically because of the pandemic, and some of them are changing right now: medical electronics, onshoring, consumer goods and shortages, remote meetings, medical testing, homeschooling, new product introduction, disinfectants, online universities, streaming, strong broadband, remote voting and campaigning, take-out services, e-tailing, remote religious services, car buying, remote routine medical care, elderly care, municipal services, car registrations, and more and more areas where we are already changing what we used to call standard operating procedures.

The thing to do is to look at everything that is changing and find a better way to not only change them but change them in a way that will be even better than the way we used to do—which, ironically, until now, we thought was the best way.

These times are not for the faint of heart, those who hate change, or those who would rather fight than switch. No, these are times when innovation will rule, and great innovators will thrive. If you are a creative person, this is your time. If you are one of those people who look at things the way they could be and says, “Why not?” this is your time. The old way of doing things is the most powerful enemy of your culture.

Our job as innovators, team leaders, and company leaders is to study what is currently going on in the world today and do something about it. Capitalize on what we are seeing during this our own darkest hour and find ways to improve our lives, not only temporarily today, but for the future as well. In fact, our job right now is to study the needs of today and match them with the solutions of tomorrow; by doing exactly that, we may even come up with our own version of a “change the world” product.

As I review the list of things that are changing right before our eyes, I am tempted to look at one thing that is obvious as well as pertinent to our space of interconnect products, and that is NPI. There has never been a better example of a time when we all need very rapid NPIs than right now. Just as the pandemic is fast-moving, so is the need for fast-moving NPIs in terms of medical electronics. Companies are frantically working on ways to produce better, cheaper, and more-effective ventilators, medical device disinfectant ovens, and testing devices.

Who is going to design and build these devices? We are—those of us in the electronics PCB and PCBA areas are the ones who have to support these new products. Are you prepared? Can you build products from schematic to reality in a matter of days? Here’s a very broad hint. If you are the company that comes up with the fastest NPI time to market, then the name of your company might join those names that I mentioned at the start of this column, instead of the one standing there ruefully saying, “I should have thought of that.”

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.