A few weeks ago, in a stimulating interview in The Wall Street Journal, Clayton Christensen said the bad times will bring out more innovation. “If you give people a lot of money, it gives them the privilege of pursuing the wrong strategy for a very long time,” he said.
“In an environment where you’ve got to push innovations out the door fast and keep the cost of innovation low, the probability that you’ll be successful is actually much higher,” he went on.
I buy that. Too much money and too many people can slow things down. But with key employees missing, the reality is that getting to innovation may take a lot of imagination.
In the past few weeks, we’ve been noticing all the bounce-backs from the people who aren’t there. They aren’t all in “non-vital” areas such as accounting, either. Some of them have been keynoters and speakers at our conferences.
The layoffs certainly won’t make things easier. For instance, an exec from a major newspaper chain told me he really doesn’t know anymore if colleagues are still there to work with him or not. That makes it hard to plan new projects. I believe that’s happening all over the board, at the newspapers, agencies, Yellow Pages, verticals, vendors, networks, portals and bankers.
If you are among the laid-off, thanks for your continued interest. It is appreciated, and we hope you stay part of the local community.