It’s tempting to tie industry advancement directly to the technology that supported it along the way. No doubt, technology fuels progress. But technology doesn’t drive it. People do.
People’s needs and desires create and shape industries. To innovate within an industry, you need to meet people exactly where they are and carry them to the next place. Willingly, and with their baggage.
But that raises the question – what is the next place? How do you familiarize yourself with the problems of today and spin them to create something new, needed, and adaptable?
Think laterally
Change can seem like a rewarding experience, as long as you don’t have to be the one to go through it. So, one way of breaking past the fear of change is not making it about you (or your competitors.)
Consider the concept of space management. It crosses multiple industries and assets outside of parking, from self-storage units to hotel rooms to airplane seats. You might be able to follow the progression of lateral sectors with a clear mind and without being directly invested.
Where you do want to invest yourself: the human experience. It is impossible to play the unbiased consumer in our own backyard. Take your human experience to another setting. You might have ideas about how other service providers could deal with operational issues and make you happier. Discover them, turn the lens back, and use them.
Think flexibly
Say you have this vision about how everything in your industry could be better. Your vision is a blessing. Respect it, and respect it even more as a work (always) in progress. The work you do to launch a new idea – profiling, planning, and due diligence – can go to waste if you become impenetrable to people’s experiences.
Likewise, think about flexibility in thoughts the same way you would think about flexibility in a gym. Start small, adapt regularly, build a track record of success, and allow success to be additive to your vision. Try not to overdo it at the outset.
Think “the more the merrier”
Simple concept, but meaningful for where we are in the parking industry. We have numerous solutions for people with an equally simple intention: they want to know where parking is, how much it costs, and if it is available.
How do we solve that need? Together. We need to consolidate our resources to create an optimal human experience. Similar to building flexibility, you need to be thoughtful about building alliances. When you discover a sense of shared vision and symbiosis, partnerships can be hugely rewarding and enlightening.
I often say the parking landscape is not bound to the stripes that once were on it. We’ve accommodated a tremendous amount of change and will undoubtedly see more. If we model our vision of the future off the growing needs of the people we influence, serve, and staff, we have an opportunity to thoughtfully respond.
We are all in this together. One team. One dream. 2 the Moon.
George Baker Sr is CEO of parkhub. He can be reached at george.baker@parkhub.com
