Entrepreneurs - your time has come

Many large businesses talk about how agile they are, and how quickly they can adapt to changing market conditions. As someone who spent far too many years spending far too much time in far too many meetings with far too many executives wasting far too much time in far too many meetings – I disagree. Businesses only move quickly when they are doing things like closing factories or laying off staff. Then it’s just a great big mess. We’ll be hearing a lot more about that in the year ahead.

Over the last years it’s been far easier to get a job than it has been to develop an idea, so we’ve taken the easy way out and just got a job. The changes looming are invisible to some, but forced changes are on the way.

I liken it to a situation in the late 80’s when Telecom New Zealand laid off thousands of staff. I well remember the sheer panic and grief that many felt, and the worry regarding their futures. Whilst many of them then contracted back to Telecom at vastly inflated rates (it wasn’t the money that was the problem for the company – it was the headcount) many discovered new careers, new skills and new ideas that made them a lot of money. Redundancy was the making of them.

Telecom is still a cot case, though.

I’m convinced 2009 will see the rise of the entrepreneur – the person with the idea, no overheads, and an enquiring mind. If you’re fast, agile, and make it in a shed, this could be your year.

But to really get the economy going – we just need a sodding great war.