We all know that reinvention is the key to survival. On the biological level, evolution allows for survival despite huge changes in the environment, predators, and available resources. Similarly, businesses must evolve in the face of changing markets, cut throat competitors, and a consumer base that is always looking for the next best thing.
Chet Pipkin is taking his company on a huge evolutionary leap: from Belkin’s routers and charging cases to WEMO and the concept of a fully automated home. An entrepreneur who is self-motivated and self-taught, Pipkin has always looked for what people yearn to have, and made his success by building something real from those desires.
Some great takeaways from Pipkin’s experiences:
- Complacency is the enemy of innovation. When was the last time you used something and thought “oh well, this is good enough”? Go back to that moment and find out how to develop something in its place that you would be grateful for, not merely content with.
- You don’t need a formal education to pursue your interests. Pipkin hung around hobby shops and computer shops, where they were creating things that interested him – and dove into the technical details through hands on experience and asking questions (even if this occasionally led to him getting the boot!)
- Being able to find the motivation and ambition to try something new, to persevere when you fail, and pick up experience as you come across it, cannot be taught in school, but can be invaluable in life.
- Always be exploring. Pipkin’s team is encouraged to be inventive, to identify the things in their lives that could be improved upon, and to search for solutions.
- Surround yourself with smart people. It’s been said before, but the company you keep (even if you have to go far and wide to find them), can make all the difference in your personal and professional lives.