From the CEO
Mike Panaggio is Chief Executive Officer of DME.
Since 1982, his creative vision has guided DME’s consistent growth and thriving profitability in the competitive one-to-one marketing field. His love of sports, especially basketball, have earned him the nickname “Head Coach of Marketing”.
Stop Tinkering and Start Innovating!
April 2, 2010
Incrementalism is dead. It’s been cremated and the ashes are floating in the wind. There is a New World of Business, and it’s moving too fast for tinkering with your product, devising your 50 year business plan, or figuring out a new way to halt progress so you can catch up.
The only way to truly be “safe and secure” in this new business world is to make a huge commitment to innovation. You can’t be afraid of failure; with every failure you get closer to the real solution..
True innovation starts with passion, enthusiasm and pride.
Forget about a nice, neat, formal planning session to create your company's next "Big Thing." It doesn't happen that way.
Big projects invent themselves. Sure, there is always a catalyst or two; but for the most part, they happen to the companies that foster an innovative atmosphere: an environment of creativity.
At DME, it is mostly organic. The DME culture of innovation is largely ad hoc.
To foster that environment of creativity, we have set up a series of Parallel Universes. It’s not as much science fiction as it sounds. It's effectively creating "shadow companies," each with its own staffing and its own sub-culture. In fact, both DME Studios and DME Digital Media are two such parallel companies. They work closely with the DME “mother ship,” but they innovate far faster and keep us fresh and on the leading edge.
Things change rapidly. Developing "on the fly" innovative skills is no walk in the park. That’s why committing to the creation of enthusiastic parallel “shadow companies” within your main organization can help you avoid getting the ashes of incrementalism on your best business suit.
