“We shall not cease from exploration…”
This time next week I’ll know whether the decision to ditch a successful formula, one that had served me and my team really well for 15 years, was right or not.
Retiring the Estate Agency & Lettings Agency of the Year Awards wasn’t easy, there were many who thought we were mad, but for me just carrying on in the same old way wasn’t right. It was time for a change and to create something new.
The EA Masters has been a year in the making and will be unlike any event we’ve ever put on, or anyone else has for that matter. Nine speakers, a further 9 industry leaders & legends, 13 supplier presentations from 40 companies showing off new products and services in the Innovation Hall plus the unveiling of the Best Estate Agent Guide and Best EA Supplier Guide – it will be a day and evening of learning and celebration of all that’s best in this industry. And yet we will still want more, we won’t be satisfied and nor should we be. Or you either.
Netflix wasn’t the reason Blockbuster failed. Their outdated terms, late fees in particular, did for them.
Uber didn’t cause the taxi crisis. Failure to adapt to mobile was their principle undoing.
Apple’s not the reason the music industry has had such an upheaval. The dinosaurs were wedded to their bricks and mortar model.
Amazon isn’t the reason the High Street is dying. It’s the failure to deliver a 24/7/365 high quality service that’s caused many a retailer’s demise.
AirBnB isn’t the villain of the hotel industry. The failure to evolve what had become a near ubiquitous product and service offering, that’s out of touch with modern travellers, is the main cause.
Autotrader, Monster and Rightmove didn’t kill the local newspapers. It was not recognising that people didn’t want to wait till next Thursday to buy a car/get a new job/move home.
A quote attributed to Jessie Potter, (and also incorrectly Henry Ford, Tony Robbins and many others), that winds me up good and proper is:
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.”
Nonsense! Even if you don’t change, everything else is and therefore the results you get from last year’s strategy will be different. On the other hand, a quote I love and use regularly, by TS Eliot, has become my watchword:
“We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
Replacing bad habits/people/strategies is easy. But do you recognise what is truly the handbrake on your journey to exceptional? Is this the time for you to cast off the good so you can pursue the great? Leave it for too long to change and someone else will do it for you.
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