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3 Things To Learn From The Blockbuster Bankruptcy
This week the nation's top video rental chain announced that voluntary bankruptcy protection might be in their future. The company’s fourth-quarter losses only compounded the troubles the company was already facing. It comes as no surprise where the blame is being placed: two relatively new comers to the industry, Netflix and Redbox.
Redbox’s kiosks offer dollar-a-night rentals at McDonald's, service stations, and grocery stores. Blockbuster has a few of its own kiosks - unfortunately, any expansion may be too late. I personally have become accustomed to my Redbox and my loyalty will be slow to shift. Blockbuster has long been trying to keep up with their other competitor, Netflix, who has managed to successfully rent DVDs to our mailboxes. Unfortunately, as with Redbox, Netflix has captured a significant market share, which leaves Blockbuster playing catch-up.
The Blockbuster story is not unlike that of the newspaper industry that is being rattled by Google News and the Huffington Post. For people in the newspaper business, Craigslist is a four-letter word. The online classified site has destroyed one of their primary revenue streams.
I believe church leaders have something to learn from Blockbuster and others; undoubtedly, many church leaders are desperately trying to play catch-up and are delirious as to where they might have gone wrong. I believe the challenge is three-fold; I would encourage church leaders to approach change with humility rather than denial, to explore rather than isolate, and to focus on opportunities rather than strengths.
Humility Rather Than Denial
Change is not especially easy for anyone, especially change that we are not comfortable with or in agreement on. Those of us who resist change will even deny that change is happening. Like it or not, we live in a rapidly changing world where new ideas and technologies are re-shaping many of the ways we interact and communicate with others. Rather than deny and resist change, we must be humble, willing to learn, and willing to listen; especially to those we disagree with.
Explore Rather Than Isolate
I believe our response to change can be either be to embrace in exploration or to resist in isolation. When we recognize change on the horizon we can set off on a journey as explorers; or we can stay put, shielding ourselves from what we know is uncharted territory. The advantage of being an explorer is that sometimes we happen upon gold and everyone is richer because of our new discovery. And even when we come to a much less valuable discovery, the journey itself is where we learn and grow.
Opportunities Rather Than Strengths
In traditional strategic planning, organizations identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Those who have been through this exercise a few times understand how to leverage their strengths with opportunities. Unfortunately, many churches fail to recognize their opportunities and, instead, rely heavily on their strengths. Strengths make us feel good about ourselves – make us feel strong- this is very dangerous. Organizations that glory in their strengths often overlook new opportunities that later become a threat because someone else recognized the opportunity and seized it.
What we have to learn may not be so much about Blockbuster but rather Redbox and Netflix. Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, explains: One criticism I would make of many industries is that they’ve lost their ability to reinvent themselves. Their reinvention didn’t mean changing the message - just like Blockbuster, Netflix and Redbox are still renting DVD’s. They have simply changed the delivery, eliminated some of the barriers (i.e. no membership required or no travel required), and lowered the cost. In doing so, they have not only increased their own market share, but they have made DVD rentals much more accessible to a much broader market.
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Jason leads the fundraising, marketing, and recruitment efforts at Logos Academy; an intercultural, Gospel-centered school located in York Pennsylvania. In addition to his full-time work, Jason routinely speaks to groups about whole-life stewardship, generous living, and effective ministry advancement. You can learn more at The Generous Life.
Redbox’s kiosks offer dollar-a-night rentals at McDonald's, service stations, and grocery stores. Blockbuster has a few of its own kiosks - unfortunately, any expansion may be too late. I personally have become accustomed to my Redbox and my loyalty will be slow to shift. Blockbuster has long been trying to keep up with their other competitor, Netflix, who has managed to successfully rent DVDs to our mailboxes. Unfortunately, as with Redbox, Netflix has captured a significant market share, which leaves Blockbuster playing catch-up.
The Blockbuster story is not unlike that of the newspaper industry that is being rattled by Google News and the Huffington Post. For people in the newspaper business, Craigslist is a four-letter word. The online classified site has destroyed one of their primary revenue streams.
I believe church leaders have something to learn from Blockbuster and others; undoubtedly, many church leaders are desperately trying to play catch-up and are delirious as to where they might have gone wrong. I believe the challenge is three-fold; I would encourage church leaders to approach change with humility rather than denial, to explore rather than isolate, and to focus on opportunities rather than strengths.
Humility Rather Than Denial
Change is not especially easy for anyone, especially change that we are not comfortable with or in agreement on. Those of us who resist change will even deny that change is happening. Like it or not, we live in a rapidly changing world where new ideas and technologies are re-shaping many of the ways we interact and communicate with others. Rather than deny and resist change, we must be humble, willing to learn, and willing to listen; especially to those we disagree with.
Explore Rather Than Isolate
I believe our response to change can be either be to embrace in exploration or to resist in isolation. When we recognize change on the horizon we can set off on a journey as explorers; or we can stay put, shielding ourselves from what we know is uncharted territory. The advantage of being an explorer is that sometimes we happen upon gold and everyone is richer because of our new discovery. And even when we come to a much less valuable discovery, the journey itself is where we learn and grow.
Opportunities Rather Than Strengths
In traditional strategic planning, organizations identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Those who have been through this exercise a few times understand how to leverage their strengths with opportunities. Unfortunately, many churches fail to recognize their opportunities and, instead, rely heavily on their strengths. Strengths make us feel good about ourselves – make us feel strong- this is very dangerous. Organizations that glory in their strengths often overlook new opportunities that later become a threat because someone else recognized the opportunity and seized it.
What we have to learn may not be so much about Blockbuster but rather Redbox and Netflix. Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, explains: One criticism I would make of many industries is that they’ve lost their ability to reinvent themselves. Their reinvention didn’t mean changing the message - just like Blockbuster, Netflix and Redbox are still renting DVD’s. They have simply changed the delivery, eliminated some of the barriers (i.e. no membership required or no travel required), and lowered the cost. In doing so, they have not only increased their own market share, but they have made DVD rentals much more accessible to a much broader market.
---
Jason leads the fundraising, marketing, and recruitment efforts at Logos Academy; an intercultural, Gospel-centered school located in York Pennsylvania. In addition to his full-time work, Jason routinely speaks to groups about whole-life stewardship, generous living, and effective ministry advancement. You can learn more at The Generous Life.
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Jason Lewis
@JasonLewisCFRE leads the advancement efforts at Logos Academy, an inter-cultural, Gospel-centered, community school located in York City, Pennsylvania. Jason and his family are members of the City Church community. In addition to his full-time ministry, Jason speaks to groups about Christian stewardship, generous giving, and effective ministry advancement.
