Dan Sullivan: Technology – Multiplier Or Menace?

Image courtesy of cooldesign at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We live in a technology-centric world. It’s become part of our everyday personal and business lives, our reality. For entrepreneurs, technology can be an extremely useful tool, or it can leave us feeling left behind, in The gap, and overwhelmed.

But by shifting your thinking about technology, you can simplify complexities, gain an advantage over your competition, and set yourself up for some big breakthroughs.

You don’t have to be the expert.

Look to your team for support. There are lots of skilled people who are happy to do the research and trials for you. Take some time to consider what areas of your business could benefit from simplified complexity through technology or what technologies are currently piquing your interest that you think would help to simplify your business. Then, delegate the rest.

Never put technology at the center.

No matter how great a technology is, it’s never good enough, fast enough, powerful enough, or useful enough. So, don’t put technology at the center of anything you’re doing as an entrepreneur. Instead, use it to support and accelerate specific areas of progress without it being the main focus or strategy.

Maintain your relationships and value creation.

If you continually strengthen your relationships with clients and prospects—and your understanding of how you create value for them—you’ll constantly be aware of what you need to do in order to navigate technological change.

Your perspective on this may be different depending on the nature of your industry. Some specialties aren’t technologically based and will exist no matter what networks, systems, or machines are invented.

Be discerning — resist commoditization.

Every innovation can offer some kind of multiplier in terms of personal and organizational productivity, but be particular about what you choose and why. Use only the technologies that make sense and support your process. If your business is all technology and no relationship, it can open you up to commoditization.

As wen say, you have to simplify before you can multiply. Shift your thinking about technology to a simplified approach instead of being overwhelmed by the complexity of it, and watch it multiply for you.