From Apple to Tesla, the Best Brands Always Ask 'What's Next?'

From Apple to Tesla, the Best Brands Always Ask 'What's Next?'
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As the markets continue to roil and fluctuate, I'm struck by the fact that anyone watching the yearlong decline in oil price or China's decade-long currency manipulation could have seen this coming.

But a year of modest economic gains effectively blinded many to the potential market correction we are now seeing. It gets at the heart of one of the toughest questions we must ask ourselves: "what's next?" Success breeds complacency, and complacency can spell disaster for franchise owners. Forward momentum should never result in a resting position.

The past year saw positive economic indicators, from consumer confidence to job growth to the performance of the markets. But as we've seen in recent weeks, those indicators can be fleeting. It is acceptable to appreciate - even celebrate - when progress and growth is made. However, this is not a time to lose focus. We should strive to push on, full steam ahead, and always allow ourselves to see what is coming down the road.

The Apple Case Study
Consider the year that the largest company in the world, Apple, has had. The Mac and iPhone-makers have grown to dominate the market in terms of innovative products. Apple knows that innovation is more than just a new product. It can be a new iteration of an existing product, or a new use for an existing product. Tim Cook, and Steve Jobs before him, developed a culture that runs contrary to complacency, wherein the status quo is discouraged and always pushing for more is rewarded.

So after Apple enjoyed record opening sales following the launch of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, it would have been easy for them to continue into 2016 relying on those staples to drive revenue. Instead, they saw what was next, realizing that the record iPhone sales in Q4 2015 would result in a softer market in Q1 2016. They slowed their production orders, limited product to match lighter demand, and began development on new product iterations to bridge the gap before the next big release.

Copying Success
Xerox, meanwhile, has not enjoyed the same 20-year ascendance as fellow tech leader Apple. Their market has shrunk, and it would be fair criticism to say they missed opportunities to ask "what's next" in recent years. Their own CEO said as much in 2012.

Though admittedly late in the game, Xerox earns points for finally getting the message. Beset by activist investors and the understanding that its business will not be viable in coming years, the copy giant has spun off its profitable services arm into a new company whose name has yet to be determined.

Experts were asking Xerox what's next as far back as 1974. It's a positive sign that, 42 years later, a strategy is emerging.

Sharing Their Code
In 2014, Tesla had earned a critical mass of attention and was on the brink of dominating the nascent electric car market. So, critics collectively raised their eyebrows when founder Elon Musk released all of his company's patents in June of that year, effectively open sourcing all of Tesla's intellectual property and engineering.

Musk knew that leading a thriving, growing, transformational market-leader is better than cashing in on a short term gimmick. To get the rest of the auto industry to follow his lead, Tesla would need competitors, just as Ford needed General Motors and Chrysler to make the automobile ubiquitous. Releasing Tesla's patents was the fastest way to achieve that ubiquity, and in the subsequent year the global market for electric cars grew by 76 percent.

Staying ahead of the curve, as we've discussed before, is crucial for franchisee success. Hedging against the consumer trends that have yet to trend is the key. Leaders must challenge themselves to see past their immediate successes and not just ask "what's next?" but actually know the answer.

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