![]() ![]() Promoting from within isn't necessarily a good idea. Inertia, breathing your own fumes, will spell disaster. Once you've managed to create a killer app, a giant market opportunity that never before existed, you need to do three things: scale to keep up with demand and growth, continue to innovate, and look out below - competitors are coming after you. Former Intel ( INTC) CEO Andy Grove had it right - only the paranoid survive. When it comes to strategic oversight and corporate governance, as with so many things, a little diversity is essential.Īlways respect the competition. You can read their bios here.) Like minds think alike and are subject to group-think. All eight of RIM's outside directors, including its chairman and lead director, are accountants, economists, and finance people. A board populated entirely by bean-counters is a bad idea. Because it took five years for RIM's executives to wake up and realize their predicament, the company may very well bite the dust.ĭiversity is a good thing. There simply is no excuse for a "wait and see" approach when you're dealing with a company like Apple and a breakthrough like the iPhone. There are only two types of companies - the quick and the dead. Highly competitive global markets are brutal and unforgiving. There are powerful lessons here for all of us. While this sort of thing happens all the time in the business world, rarely, if ever, has there been such an impressive example of one company's leadership doing so many things so terribly wrong, one right after another, causing the premature demise of a once-great brand. Now, was that so hard? If only it hadn't taken five years. Last week, Heins finally came to his senses, declaring what investors, employees - indeed, everyone - wanted and needed to hear: "It is now very clear to me that substantial change is what RIM needs." The company also announced the departure of two key executives, that Jim Balsillie will step down from the board, and that it's reviewing "strategic opportunities," meaning it may not survive as a standalone company. In his "coming out" conference call, Heins wasted no time breaking out the company Kool-Aid, boldly announcing his plan to simply stay the course, "I don't think that there is some drastic change needed." In January, Lazaridis and Balsillie stepped down and, of all things, appointed a little-known insider, co-COO Thorstein Heins, to replace them as CEO. Even after another Apple breakthrough, the iPad, hit the market.įinally, after RIM had lost $70 billion in market value and was forced to take a $485 million charge on unsold PlayBook tablets, enough was enough. And they never once admitted they were in trouble, even as the iPhone and Android decimated BlackBerry's market share. ![]() First, there was disbelief, then mockery, and finally, agonizingly slow, grudging efforts to catch up. RIM co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie responded with a remarkable imitation of two deer caught in the headlights. Turns out a smartphone could have other killer apps. ![]() Google ( GOOG) followed shortly thereafter with its own Android platform. RIM was caught completely by surprise when Apple ( AAPL) launched the iPhone in 2007 and took smartphones to the next level with an advanced web browser and third-party app support. But the thing about disruptive technology is it can work for or against you. ![]()
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