Overtaken, Passed, Left Behind

Know More: Business Transformation

I don't watch basketball very much. To me, it seems that all you need to see are the last few minutes to see the most important part of the game. The last few minutes last about 30 minutes anyway. But each year, as March Madness around the NCAA tournament grows more and more popular, I am reminded of the fact that "once upon a time" the NIT (National Invitation Tournament) was at one time the big dance. If you would like to know more about the origins of the NIT and NCAA tournaments you can always visit Wikipedia. This makes me think about how many once popular products, companies, TV shows, events, and people have faded over time. At times, these fades seem to happen very quickly and for no obvious reason.

Why do these fades happen?

Indifference to Competition
Over-confidence (Arrogance)
Aggressive Advertising (Annoyance)
Failure to Update
Next Big Thing Arrives

There are of course, many things that can be learned from these fades:

Nothing lasts forever
Any leader can be overtaken
Success does not require originality
Bigger is not always better
Familiarity breeds contempt

Some fades can be highly instructional:

Motorola was once the mobile phone leader, now it is clearly Apple
Arsenio Hall was at one time a very popular late night talk show
Baseball was "America's Pastime" but now more people watch football
IBM was passed in the PC market by HP, then HP by Dell, now…?

(On a related note: the 10 year old Dell has died. RIP Roadwarrior!)

Some things that appear to be fading:

Is it to early to consider Brittany Spears a fade?
Has Christianity faded? Is it because Islam continues to grow?

Some things never seem to fade:

Levi's 501 jeans
Chocolate
Flowers as a symbol of romance
War
Greed

Rather than have a very long blog post, I will cover these fades and questions over the next few posts. That way we can explore the reasons and discuss them. If you have an illustrative fade you would like to discuss, please post a comment or send me an email.

(I was going to save this post for April 1 but then I thought people may mistake it for a hoax. It has been my expereince that posts made at night or posted early in the morning attract more readers.)

I haven't been on your blog for awhile - but did find this one very interesting - are you no longer maintaining this blog?? Fads to come and go - I think they are sometimes lumped into the "progress" of society column. Any further thoughts on your part??

Posted by: Anonymous | May 26, 2008 5:26 PM | Permalink to Comment

I have been very busy with other projects and no one seemed to be commenting so I just sort of let it go for a bit. Hopefully soon I'll have more time to blog.
Thanks for noticing.

Posted by: Roger Anderson | May 26, 2008 8:00 PM | Permalink to Comment

Every Company Needs a Good Map

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