Over a recent conversation with a friend, the topic of hipsters came up. Actually, it started because we were passing by a Hipster town in Toronto and it made us wonder why do hipsters do things they do, and why don't others follow suit?
Well, if you take sunglasses as an example, I don't know about you, but I usually stick with a classic pair of black aviators most days, and would never wear anything else to work. But instead, yesterday I was sporting my yellow framed pair, and well, I was a hipster. But if I was following suit with the hipsters, it made me wonder if everyone followed suit in the same way, it eventually wouldn't be hipster anymore. Instead, the hipsters would flip to the standard pair of blacks, which at that point, won't be standard anymore.
Another example would be the launch of the gaming console Wii. When Wii entered the Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation dominated market, it made a hipster move. It went head on against Microsoft and Playstation with a console which was completely different and offered a unique experience, and eventually went on to become the most popular console of the year.
Leaders must realize that in competitive business markets, they must find ways to set themselves apart from everyone else. They must learn to bring new things to the markets where no one else competes, and unlearn them when everyone else catches up, therefore, be a true hipster.
So is your organization hipster enough?
Well, if you take sunglasses as an example, I don't know about you, but I usually stick with a classic pair of black aviators most days, and would never wear anything else to work. But instead, yesterday I was sporting my yellow framed pair, and well, I was a hipster. But if I was following suit with the hipsters, it made me wonder if everyone followed suit in the same way, it eventually wouldn't be hipster anymore. Instead, the hipsters would flip to the standard pair of blacks, which at that point, won't be standard anymore.
Another example would be the launch of the gaming console Wii. When Wii entered the Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation dominated market, it made a hipster move. It went head on against Microsoft and Playstation with a console which was completely different and offered a unique experience, and eventually went on to become the most popular console of the year.
Leaders must realize that in competitive business markets, they must find ways to set themselves apart from everyone else. They must learn to bring new things to the markets where no one else competes, and unlearn them when everyone else catches up, therefore, be a true hipster.
So is your organization hipster enough?
