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Have you ever heard about “Okafor’s Law”?
Our Nigerian listeners would have probably heard it at one time or the other. Okafor’s law is the law of “repeatable” action: If you have done something once, you can do it again. If you have been somewhere before, you can go there again. Although it is often mischievously applied to the sexual relationship between a boy and girl, Okafor’s law is actually a principle of life.
Many businesses owners feel that since a business strategy worked for me yesterday (or over time), the same strategy will remain effective tomorrow and in the future. This leaves us with a lot of businesses/companies stagnant, failing to compete with more innovative companies and dying off slowly.
Although, there are certain principles that stand the test of time and can be retained as long as you want but do not build your business and processes to be rigid.
Examples of companies that stuck to their guns and failed to innovate quick enough include Blackberry, Nokia and even Barnes and Noble.
Below are key points from our discussion
- Innovation doesn’t have to be about your product/service offering, it should also be focused on processes
- Customers are not loyal, they will jump ship once they see a better product / service.
- Constantly listen out for your customer’s feedback, understand what they want
- Train you staff to carry and live the ‘brand’.
- Don’t fight change, embrace and make change
- Your competitors are not resting, so why should you?
- Always evaluate and analyze your strategy and numbers. It will help you identify the right time to innovate.
- Innovate the process, not just the product
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