In This Issue Oh Canada! LES Annual Meeting Takes A Global View President's Message: Power Networking Hits The Mark Licensing Foundation Graduate Student Business Plan Competition Healthcare Sector: CEMC Activities Atlanta Recap: A Traveler’s Guide To LES Local Chapters LES E-vent Resource Center—Have You Tried It? Sponsorship Program Enhances Meetings And Education Book Review Slate Of Officers And Trustees For 2007 Introducing The LES Certified Licensing Professional |
Are You Ready To Be A Deviant? 
The Deviant's Advantage offers readers a compelling look at how ideas, individuals, innovations, and events have made their way from the fringe of society to accepted social convention (or mass market) and how you and your business can benefit from taking a deviant approach to remain competitive in today's ever changing world. The authors, Watts Wacker and Ryan Mathews, are futurists, often hired by companies to assist them in taking a deviant approach to determine how they can stay viable and competitive for years to come. Their book is based on their beliefs that, (1) "deviation is the ultimate source of growth and innovation," and (2) "changes in society drive changes in business, and that as society becomes more and more deviant, businesses in turn have to become more deviant to prosper, even survive." In this book, they coin any example of deviance that was formed somewhere on the fringe of society and traveled the path to social convention, as the devox. The first part of the book explains the evolution of the devox. It is a fascinating journey, and as the authors explain, the path from the fringe of society to social convention is always the same. (But, bear in mind that this path is not guaranteed, and many devox will live permanently on the fringe or edge of society.) For those that are destined to become socially acceptable, the path goes like this: fringe, edge, realm of the cool, next big thing, social convention. Each stage of this path is different, and each is important for businesses and possesses a chance for profit. As the authors point out, businesses spend billions trying to determine what is on the edge. So, once the devox has reached social convention, what's next? This gets a bit trickier. Though the path to social convention is singular, there are many possibilities once the devox has hit the mass market. It can go on to become cliché, icon, archetype or into oblivion. Here, while you read the book, you will be hard pressed not to start thinking of many current examples. iPod, BlackBerry, Starbucks, and Dunkin Donuts, all live somewhere today in this spectrum of the devox's path. The second part of the book, Deviance in Life, focuses on the subtler voyage
of the devox in the The third part of the book, Deviance and Business, looks directly at how deviance impacts business and underscores the importance of deviant marketing, branding and staying in touch with your ever-changing consumer's needs and wants. They use several examples of companies that have successfully used deviant thinking to surpass their competitors. Just one example the authors refer to is Wal-Mart and Kmart. While Kmart viewed their consumers in a traditional demographic way, they failed to stay in touch with their changing market. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart stepped away from the traditional demographics, and did a much better job of reflecting their consumer's needs and wants, and consequently winning many of KMarts customers. Kmart is just one of many examples of companies that refused to accept the changes happening in their industry and had to face the inevitable consequences. In the most action-oriented chapter of the book, The Deviant's Toolbox, the authors give the readers some ideas/exercises on how to start thinking about their company and market in a more deviant manner. This book is about challenging you to think differently and not getting too comfortable, because the world is changing around you so quickly. Your current business formula might be very successful today, but tomorrow anything can happen. Furthermore, thinking in a deviant manner can help not only your business, but you personally. Considering innovative approaches and tackling problems from different angles and new viewpoints, both at work and at home, can lead to greater success. But maybe you are not convinced, and you feel comfortable in your career and with your company's success to date, so you don't need to read a book like this. However, though you may not be interested, the authors would remind you, "at least one of your potential competitors is." |
|
| Copyright© 2007 Licensing
Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc. |
||
areas of sex, language, art, science, religion, war,
and the media. Through many examples, the authors delve into each of these
subject matters, supporting their hypothesis that changes in society affect
how a company must run its business to stay competitive.