Xerox CEO Ursula Burns said, “If you don’t’ transform your company, you’re stuck.” Yet, 75% of transformations ultimately fail. How does a company transform for longevity? Obviously, Studebaker, Atari, Wang Laboratories, Kodak and SocialNet did not.
Reid Hoffman started SocialNet in the 1990’s, which is a perfect name for today’s popular term “Social Networking.” It was an avatar-based virtual world of simulated reality. We now know that Facebook won the social networking preferred platform due to its similar application with one key dimensional fundamental breakthrough…it captured the user’s real identity instead of using an avatar.
While SocialNet may have been an “innovation failure,” Mr. Hoffman leveraged that “real identity” lesson and founded LinkedIn!
Does your organization transform for longevity? Learn from failures?
