Influx

Most people are familiar with the story that mobile phone giant Nokia was a paper and timber company before it moved into phones.

I also came across this story about Lazard, the financial giant.

“The company was originally founded in 1848
when the Lazard brothers formed Lazard Fr?res & Co.
as a dry goods business in New Orleans, LA, with a combined contribution
of $9,000. Shortly thereafter, the Lazard brothers moved to the
gold rush town of San Francisco, where they opened a business
selling imported goods and exporting gold bullion. The business
progressively became involved in financial transactions, first
with its retail clients and then increasingly with commercial
clients. Over time, the business expanded into the banking and
foreign exchange businesses.“

From dry goods to investment banking!

It’s clear we are in more volatile times and companies might need to be ready to move into categories in order to take of opportunities or just to survive. It’s easy to have a fixed perspective if you’ve been working in a category for so long, but perhaps you need to experiment and explore in order to find a new territory that could end up defining you in the near future.

Keep your eyes open.

Posted by Ed Cotton