A successful, young entrepreneur speaks (3)

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As said, there are more companies than ever, and the choices to make are more complex than they’ve ever been. On top of that, we have more to do than ever before. This creates an interesting paradox: it’s impossible to make a more difficult decision in less time but end up with an equally good choice. For that reason, companies can no longer win with arguments. In other words, it’s not just about ‘being the best’. Short-lived associations can be much more powerful than being a good company. Think of car brands for example. Ask anyone who makes the safest cars and many would answer Volvo. This is mainly because they were the ones who introduced the seatbelt. But if you ask them if they’ve ever driven a Volvo, not all of them can say they have. So people don’t actually know whether it’s really the safest car there is. The power of public perception is unmistakable.

It’s all about creating positive associations in people. This all starts with expectations. Earlier we discussed travel agencies that claim to be the best but often fail to deliver in practice. For low budget organisations, things are different. The plane will be uncomfortably packed, there will be no food or drink on board, your luggage will be weighed down to the milligram, et cetera. It’s basically just awful. And yet, these organisations are gaining popularity. Because they can deliver what they promise. When you have the image of a company that can deliver on its promises, people will only remember the positive aspects, i.e. that you’re affordable. When you try something but fail to achieve it, people will only remember negative associations, i.e. that you’re overpriced. So once again, it all starts with being honest to yourself. Can we deliver what we promise? If you consistently do, and keep exceeding expectations in a good way, consumers will remember a positive association. This requires patience. Many companies don’t have time for this and want it to change immediately. But that often only leads to bigger mistakes.

Data are becoming more and more important to creating a credible image. Our society is very changeable but at the same time consumers are more predictable than ever, due to the traces we leave behind as individuals. You don’t necessarily have to take advantage of it if you know something about your customer. If you put it to use in a good way, you’ll know what to do today to become trustworthy tomorrow. What consumers like at this moment is simplicity and relevance. Suppose the supermarket would say: we promise that without violating your privacy, we will deliver exactly the groceries you need every other day. We’d say: sure. We’d be more than happy to give up our data for that. A company like Google has become so relevant that we trust them — whether we ought to or not. You’ll get a good image by doing well for a long time and continuing to fulfil your promises. This is increasingly becoming a matter of keeping your customers’ personal information safe.

Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs need to follow developments from an international perspective. A British newspaper is going to report the same news in a different way than a German or Dutch one. This is where our current education system often fails: it teaches us only to think from a Dutch perspective. We look at other countries, but never from an international perspective. I didn’t finish high school myself. That had to do with my clashing with the system. I wanted to do things myself. Later on, by means of an entrance exam for 21+ year olds, at the age of twenty I was admitted into the University of Amsterdam, where I started studying jurisprudence. I also took up subjects at other faculties, in the areas of psychology, communication sciences and economy. Separate disciplines as we know them now, guarded by gatekeepers, programme managers and associate professors, will disappear in the future, because disciplines subsume each other more and more. Think about the doctor of the future, for example: will that be a doctor with a specialisation in IT and robotics, or an engineer with a high level of expertise about the human body?

People continue working until a much later age than they used to. In order to take on the future, the most important skill is to be able to constantly reinvent yourself. You need to try to become autodidactic. In other words, you need to be able to teach yourself new things. The world has changed tremendously in very little time. In the future it will be no different. If you want to play a role in that world, you will need to do things that have a high probability of failure. If you do that ten times, one try will work out. This is what most entrepreneurs dream of now: that one brilliant idea. But in practice, they look outside to see what’s being done and then they just join in.

The key is always to create more value compared to the status quo. You need to ask yourself: how could things be better? You need to be able to be what connects individual consumers. Entrepreneurs are increasingly becoming experts. It used to be easy to get by just ‘moving boxes’. In the future, it’ll be more about handling knowledge, data and technology. Just being a company is no longer enough in this age. Companies need to keep reinventing themselves. Every year, they should ask themselves the question: if we would start all over tomorrow, would we do things the same way? There are many large companies that haven’t asked themselves this question for too long.