Innovation in The Time of Recession

It’s April and this is a blog post, but this isn’t our April blog post.

Our original April blog post was about the importance of language in business. It was insightful, and included fascinating data points. If you don’t mind us saying so, we think you would have really enjoyed it.

That is, you would’ve enjoyed it in the world where we came up with this idea – a world before we started bidding on toilet paper and working in sweatpants. And even though it was masterfully crafted, it would feel tone-deaf to post it in the middle of what’s going on in the world right now.

We’re living, working, parenting, and friending in a time of disruption and chaos. It’s very likely that once the dust settles, we’ll find ourselves facing a difficult economic moment. Though we have never seen a global event like this, we have seen massive disruptions in the economy. And what we’ve learned by studying recessions is that companies who embrace innovation are more likely to thrive on the other side.

So rather than our usual blog fare, my colleague Jeff Wester and I sat down to have a conversation about innovating in the time of recession. In this video, we discuss:

• Times of chaos and change tend to favor those companies that are innovative and move quickly.
• We’re seeing companies innovate in ways that offer help where it’s really needed. Rather than leading with a sales approach, they are getting creative with how they can fill gaps made by this disruption.
• Many companies are investing in community. Some are greatly discounting or even giving their services away for free. We talk about how this inclusive approach during a time of crisis can have long term positive effects for everyone.
• Chaos and disruption are a signal it’s time to get innovative in your business.