This just in: the future is inventible!

“When the book is finally written on how Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) found itself in this mess, it will be a story of miscalculation and delusion. The first mistake – the original sin, if you like – was the false belief that the competition was light years behind. That seemed true until about 2007, and then suddenly it didn’t.

When the iPhone came along, co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis deluded themselves into thinking that it wasn’t a threat. Unlike the BlackBerry, Apple’s shiny glass box was an inefficient data hog with no keyboard and a bunch of trivial and pointless software applications. It seemed like a stupid product, until it turned out to be exactly what consumers wanted.”

That’s not me talking.
That’s Derek Decloet talking in his recent column for Report on Business Magazine (Apr 26, 2012).
The future is not inevitable. We have to work hard to avoid the fate of RIM.

How do the best brands prosper?
Through innovation and marketing.
A quick reminder: Peter Drucker gave birth to an incredibly empowering idea that every business has only two functions that create value—marketing and innovation. Now-famous Dyson vacuum cleaners are an excellent case in point: They’ve designed and delivered a genuine promise compellingly through innovation and marketing.

My 2¢: The future is not inevitable; but the future is inventible. It’s easy to forget that.