"The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity."
What I particularly like about this statement of Peter Drucker, is that an entrepreneur, and by extension, an entrepreneurial company, doesn't wait for change to happen upon it, rather it seeks out change. This is possibly the number one rule we have for business and business management today. Everything else pretty much follows that.
For example, the music industry today is being devastated because they didn't seek out change, but sat around in the way they did business for decades while the world change around them and upon them. We all know the result of that. The music industry, as far as it relates to traditional companies is devastated, and there's no way out of their dilemna at this time.
Those who wait for change will become its slave, rather than ride it like a wave.
Next, we must respond to change. Knowing things are changing without taking practical steps in regard to that change is another way to have a business and industry shattered and potentially destroyed. We can't hope that change will go away, it's never going to.
We live in a world that is - well - alive. That means life will never stop changing, growing and going into new areas. Those willing to adapt and change with those realities will be far ahead of their competitors who are slower to react or respond.
Most importantly though, are those that are able to see what's behind those changes. Knowing that something is changing isn't enough. We must know why things are changing. There is where the real competitive advantage will lie.
Knowing why something is changing gives us more than simply a temporary response to an outward situation. Almost everybody sees that something is changing; even those that don't want to face it. Those are the ones that understand the outward change. But those that search behind the changes, will see that there is an extraordinary amount of ways they can exploit that change. They will be able to see ahead of others where that change is going, and put their products and services out in front of it to ride it.
Here's the secret: change is always about something happening within people. Understand that invisible change going on, and you can serve those inner needs and wants with products and services your competitors aren't able to compete with you with, except to copy you once they're offered. By that time they are always in a game of playing catch up with you, as you have numerous products in the pipeline that they don't even understand the reasons for being.
Entrepreneur's and entrepreneurial companies understand what it is within someone that is making them tick. Those that know the best way to take advantage of those realities will win in the end. It's no more complicated than that.
Change is simply the outcome of something going on within people; nothing more.
Other Peter Drucker Resources:
The Man Who Invented Management
Beyond the Information Revolution
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