The Road to Reinvention

In a world that is ever-changing, businesses need to be prepared to adapt and reinvent. Successful businesses are particularly at risk because they can get complacent and rest on their laurels. Whether you’re struggling to stay afloat or to keep up with demand, it’s vital that you constantly look for ways to reinvent your business. Keep in mind that reinvention is not limited to your product or service offering – you can reinvent internally by improving operations, management, processes, and so forth.

In Josh Linkner’s book, The Road to Reinvention: How to Drive Disruption and Accelerate Transformation, Linkner provides step-by-step instructions on how to reinvent a business. He stresses the importance of making reinvention a part of business culture, and he shares numerous examples of how businesses have succeeded (and failed) in applying this technique. If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book.

Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:

“Companies, communities, and individuals fall for many reasons, but one of the most common – and easily avoidable – is the failure to reinvent. When people and organizations rest on prior successes rather than driving purposeful transformation, they discover too late that they have lost their market position altogether to competitors and external forces. The most successful companies, brands, and individuals make reinvention a regular part of their business strategies.

“Transformation demands an ongoing process of discovery and imagination, and The Road to Reinvention lays out a systematic approach for continually challenging and reinventing yourself and your business. Venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur Josh Linkner identifies six elements in any business that are ripe for reinvention and shares examples, methods, and step-by-step techniques for creating deliberate, productive disruption.

“Throughout The Road to Reinvention, Linkner also explores the history – the great rise, unprecedented fall, and now rebirth – of his beloved hometown, Detroit. First rising to greatness as the result of breathtaking innovation, Detroit had generations of booming growth before succumbing to apathy, atrophy, and finally bankruptcy. Now, the city is rising from the ashes and driving sustainable success through an intense focus on reinvention.

“Linkner brings an insider's view of this incredible story of grit, determination, and creativity, sharing his perspective on Detroit's successes and setbacks as a profound example of large-scale organizational and personal transformation. Change is inevitable. You need to decide: Will you drive that change, or be driven away by it? Will you disrupt or be disrupted? By choosing to deliberately reimagine your own status quo, you can secure a strong future for both your company and your career.”