What if the high price of oil is a blessing?
No one’s saying you need to go into the rickshaw business.
Then again, maybe you should.
Because I think it’s maybe the most important single thing affecting the business world today, I’ve written repeatedly and at length about the high price of oil. But after all the talk of the pain that oil prices have brought to car makers, airlines, shippers, and the like, let’s turn the equation on its head:
How could you BENEFIT from the high price of oil?
Somewhere, somehow, enterprising entrepreneurs and business managers are making hay off of current conditions — and I’m not just talking about VP’s at Exxon or wildcatters in West Texas.
Consider the ways that high fuel and energy prices could benefit your organization:
- Maybe $4.00 gasoline leads your company to institute saner telecommuting practices, which leads to lower operating costs, better morale, and higher productivity.
- If you work for Company X, maybe you help devise a lower-energy way to carry out an industry-standard function . . . so that soon the new industry standard is “the Company X way.” Just think of the reputation that would win for your company and for you personally.
- What if, in the name of fiscal necessity, you came up with green breakthroughs never before seen in your line of work. The publicity around these breakthroughs could win untold good P.R. and customer goodwill for your organization.
These are just some ideas off the top of my head — and I know my audience is a lot smarter than I am. So, you tell me, if high energy prices are the lemons, how shall we make lemonade?
~
(Photo by timparkinson.)
Category: Energy, Innovation & EntrepreneurshipIf you liked this post, please consider subscribing to the RSS feed so you can receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.
7 Comments so far
Leave A Comment
At the lemonade stand, sell cold bottled water and offer a variety of flavored packets, (like Crystal Light) charge w/ or w/o depending on the customers liking.
Entrepreneurs and business leaders are putting a positive spin on this situation. I am watching a few evolve right now.
I also agree there are many more opportunities out there, not yet evolving.
Yet, allow me to pose another question. If we post the revolutionary ideas in the works, are we not giving away our competitive edge?
With great ideas, come excitement and the need to share. Individuals need to understand the possible disadvantages of doing so. This type of online or ff sharing continues to be a concern of companies, leading to their slow adoption of the concept of social networking.
In my opinion, these types of revolutions should be shared only with your trusted advisors, if the intent is to be the next BIG idea.
Linda – Ha!
Tawny – If you have a true breakthrough idea that will set your company apart in its field – sure, protect that idea. But in general I have to agree with Fred Wilson: it’s much more about the execution than the quality of the idea. In fact, I think that a pretty-good idea executed well usually beats a great idea with inferior execution.
I agree with the statements of Fred Wilson and yourself, in theory.
Obviously a idea has no real value unless executed, and executed well. I also agree that the sharing of ideas leads to enhanced creativity and new possibilities, no doubt.
This is the reason I cultivate my network and engage in conversations with “trusted” advisors to my processes. I can then enjoy the open discussions, while at the same time protecting confidentially for those involved in the process, many times clients.
For all of the billions we have spent on telecom, we sure have been under utilizing it. E-commerce is solid, as in knowledge sharing, but a lot of the web is just entertainment. It’s high time we used it more as a replacement for moving people physically to and from work. How about a great web-based tool managers can use to manage work-at-home employees? Not everyone has the discipline to do actual work at home, (and some not at work either) so despite my hatred of having someone look over my shoulder, it might be the next killer app.
solidpoint — I think you’re onto something, and I don’t think the tools you’re talking about are way off in the future. There are plenty of companies that are *already* managing remote workforces effectively.
Also, check out the post I did a little while back about the “Results-Only Work Environment” (ROWE). Best Buy and other companies are using this approach to improve the way that employees deliver on results (not appearances), whether remotely or in-person. I’ll be publishing a review of the book that codifies ROWE sometime in the next week.
[...] world of work. My tendency is to talk about all of this at a high level, e.g. by discussing the implications of permanently higher petroleum prices, or at an immediate level, e.g. by discussing what you personally can do during hard [...]