Seven Billion

The United Nations projects that the seven billionth person will be born today somewhere in the world. Our ever increasing population and the demands it creates for goods and services generates tremendous opportunities for companies of all sizes. Simply being ready to serve a wider audience, however, does not constitute the preparation necessary to compete in the new economy. You must eliminate, innovate, and automate aspects of your business to hone your competitive edge:

Eliminate strategies, roles, and practices that no longer contribute to the value you provide your constituents.

Innovate methods that are old habits versus true best practices that work best in a permanently volatile economy.

Automate non-core functions of your business to increase the amount of connectedness your team maintains with prospects, clients, candidates, and colleagues.

Doing these three things will help your organization become the nimble and innovative company sought by the growing population of buyers across the globe.

By the way, Happy Birthday number seven billion, wherever you are!

Comment by Tim Spagnola on October 31, 2011 at 1:19pm: Scott- that number is simply staggering no? Good post and an important message. One needs to currently evolve to keep ahead. Although I agree with the point you raised on automating, I would share a word of caution to not get too caught up in this area. I have seen plenty of cases where this slippery slope has cause some to fall completely out of touch.

Comment by Valentino Martinez on November 1, 2011 at 4:05am: 7 Billion and climbing will continue to put demands on feeding, housing, educating, employing and enjoying a growing global population. The job creation necessary to meet those demands will be unique and huge and will dramatically depend on a recruitment expertise and force size never seen before on a global scale.

Such challenges will be exciting, overwhelming and unavoidable. The scary part of this scenario is that we're flat not ready and that fact will gradually motivate us all to get cracking because necessity is the Mother of Invention and accommodation.

Comment by Suresh on November 1, 2011 at 8:44am: What's exciting is that we are living in an incredible era of Information Sharing and Reach. The economic future is so undpredictable and we have seen some of the good and bad in the last decade. I believe the turbulenece we have experienced here in the US is going to be the norm for some years to come and its going to keep a lot of us on our toes. Someone said the best way to predict the future is to invent it...