Little Hinges

Much of the innovation we see in the spotlight is what we would call disruptive innovation. This innovation is so cataclysmically exciting that people all around the world know the company’s CEO by name. 

In my search for the next blog post, I came across a quote by W. Clement Stone—

 “Big doors swing on little hinges.” 

In this quote, Stone refers to the phenomenon around seemingly small actions, constantly applied over time, leading to massive results. 

While the disruptive companies may lay claim to the spotlight for a time, if they do not continuously execute the small incremental steps they took to get there, the fame will be short-lived. 

Let’s take Jawbone, for example, a wearable technology company. Jawbone had a product called UP, a promising health tracker set to directly compete with another promising company known as Fitbit. Unfortunately, despite raising more than $900 million, and with a valuation of over $3 billion, the company only achieved less than 3% of the market share, resulting in Jawbone liquidating assets in July of 2017. In 2020, Google announced it would acquire Fitbit for $2.1 billion, just shy of $1 billion less than Jawbone’s valuation in 2014. 

At Innovation Junkie, we like to say, “Small Actions, constantly applied over time, lead to massive results.” 

Another way to say this is, “Big doors swing on little hinges.” Sound familiar?

When setting out to reach that new level of growth for your organization, remember that more times than not, it’s the small steps that produce the most significant returns. 

References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryjuetten/2019/02/05/failed-startups-jawbone/?sh=456fc2875b6d

https://www.inc.com/emily-canal/jawbone-going-out-of-business.html