I have been thinking a lot about technology lately.  We feel like we are in a world that is changing in ways one cannot possibly keep up with, and wonder if it is going to get away from us. This can feel worse in the business world, where you do not want to get left behind and find yourself sympathizing with Kodak and Blockbuster.

Perspective can help one from being too overwhelmed by these feelings, so take a quick look at this article from MacLean’s (a weekly Canadian news magazine) that mentions how writing and the printing press also represented changes that some felt challenged the world’s natural order. We should not cower from technology, but a little fear of how it will play out is natural.

So, yes, there are changes in the business world that you cannot avoid. The advent of email, websites and cell phones are all in recent memory, but have already become indispensable to keeping just about any business current. Now the way that those new ways of communication and how we access information is still evolving at a rapid level.

Again, some perspective may help. Here is a quote from HBO executive Michael Fuchs from (all the way back in) 1982:

“We were sensitive to what was around the corner-that explosion of television channels and other forms of entertainment. We knew we would have to be unique. We wanted our programs to be different, even to look different. We wanted people to glance at our shows and say, ‘That looks like HBO.’”

Even something that now feels as normal as cable television is only a bit more than a generation removed from being new. HBO was at the head of many of those changes, and the way that they handled it is key to how to continue navigating through similar waters.

Note that the company did not find their place in that explosion and ride it out. Fuchs urged that they had to be different in that world. It is one thing to be in emerging technologies, but it is another to stand out within it.

Most good businesses should start with the conviction that you can offer something better than anyone else. After all, it is difficult to envision long-term success if you are offering something indistinguishable from your competitors. That is a setup for entering price wars where you are competing for bad clients who aren’t paying enough.

If you can be different, though, you can thrive. Think of HBO, which continues to offer a quality of programming that has a certain cachet and feels different than similar offerings. It embraced technology, then stood out within that world.

So stand by what it is you know you can do better than anyone else. Remaining true to the vision that gave you the passion to start a business is key to any endeavor and extracting happiness from it. At the same time, though, be aware that there can be new ways to do it and remain open to embracing them.

That is much of we strive for here. We believe that we offer services that will suit your needs better than our competitors, and are willing to embrace new ways to steadily improve them.  Hopefully, as our client, you share that perspective.