Blockbuster saw Netflix coming and did nothing to defend their position. Blockbuster was the category killer of local mom-and-pop video stores, expanding to over 9000 stores at its peak. They were the VHS and DVD behemoth, but they were also blind (arrogant?) to the way video could be delivered and the irritants they caused their customers. Saul Kaplan coins the result as Blockbuster getting "Netflixed" in his great new book, The Business Model Innovation Factory.
So much of what Kaplan wrote is 100% congruent with my own business innovation philosophy, I didn't know whether to be happy or pissed. Happy because he was able to delineate much of what I've preached for so many years. Pissed because he even expanded on some of my key tenets AND because he wrote the book before I did. (I guess it's just another one of life's many disappointments my fragile-macho-male-author-speaker-consultant ego must learn to deal with.)
Bravely setting my personal feelings aside, I contacted Saul and interviewed him. You can listen to our conversation by clicking the Play button below. You should also get the book.
I've said it before here in my blog and in my webinars — incremental improvement simply isn't good enough anymore. Getting better than your competition is a short-term situation, at best, and we all must look for new, uncopyable, innovative paths if we expect to still be around in the near future. Saul believes that path is well-served by disrupting your own business model…i.e. "Netflixing" yourself.
Saul heads up the Business Innovation Factory, in Providence, RI, and hosts the very way cool sounding Collaborative Innovation Summit every September. Check him out.
Listen to my interview with Saul Kaplan:
Thank you for your informative posts. I enjoy that you can personalize them as well which only helps to keep it “real”. I just received my orange shoelaces today and am looking forward to learning how to tie my shoes!