Hi all, Ryan Hicks here. Managing Partner of Franchise Supplier Network with a short message on innovation that I think many franchisors need to hear.

I spent the whole weekend doing a deep dive on innovative new AI capabilities. There have been incredible new advancements with massive implications for how our teams work.

This sparked a memory and got me in a reflective mood.

I suddenly remembered the first ever episode of Modrn Business Podcast. (You can listen here. The episode was a monologue I did to introduce the podcast, why I started it, and framed up my vision and approach).

In the episode (way back in 2017) I shared that part of the vision of Modrn Business Podcast is to explore not only lessons from franchise leaders– but also technology innovations.

To articulate a point, I shared a story to frame up how we approach things.

The story is set back in the 1960’s during the Space Race between NASA and the USA vs. The Soviet Union and the Cosmonauts.

“After sending astronauts to space, the US realized their ballpoint pens were useless. This was the 1960s—the height of the space race—so NASA spent an absurd amount of money to develop a pen that works in zero gravity. Rumored to cost at least $1 million (about $9 million in today’s dollars), the “space pen” can write upside down, at extreme temperatures, and even underwater. This feat of American inventiveness allowed astronauts to write in space.

Faced with a similar problem, the Russians used a pencil.”

The following is a paraphrased excerpt from my comments on this parable. I talked about this in 2017 but arguably its even MORE RELEVANT today.

 ”We tend to overthink things in business. We overcomplicate.

We often focus on the 80% of things that don’t matter and neglect the 20% that moves the needle.

On the flip side of that coin: if you’re not innovating, if you’re not tasting and testing and looking for ways to get ahead, you’re at risk of stagnating.

You have to maintain a balance.

If you think your brand’s proverbial “shit don’t stink”, that things are great, and your competition isn’t a threat.. you’re at risk. Because ‘the junkyards of business blunders are littered with stale businessmen and women that thought they were untouchable’.

There has to be a balance of the simple-minded, no nonsense, tried and true things that “just work”. But also keep an eye towards the technologies that completely turn industries upside down. And the technologies that can give your business huge advantages over the competition just by adopting it early.”

We’re sitting in a point in time that is very unique. The internet changed a thing or two. And now; AI has brought in a whole new revolution.

As a leader in your organization you should set aside time to really study, digest, and prioritize innovation opportunities. Almost like an innovation lab where you have time set aside to review, discuss, debate, and learn.

The key is to:

1. Look at the available tools and capabilities
2. Prioritize what project(s) you should bring into your lab
3. Educate and up-skill your team on how to use these tools

My team at FSN can help you do this and be an ideation partner for you.

To this end, one of the ways we can help is through the launch of our Franchise Tech and AI Innovations Workshops.

How it works is:

1. We send you a list of time relevant topics to choose from
2. You select your topic(s) and we book a 1 on 1 zoom with you (and your team) and leading experts in the topical space you selected
3. This hour long workshop is free and designed to deliver value

Thank you for reading and feel free to reach out to me if you want to connect!

Ryan@franchisesuppliernetwork.com
Cell: 214-883-1881

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