Leadership | PrairieSkyGroup

Would You Hire Stephen Hawking?

He is a world-renowned theoretical physicist who has developed theories of black holes and space-time. On the other hand, unless you are in the black hole business, he hasn’t really produced much of a practical nature. We can’t use his inventions in our cell phones, and we can’t teleport ourselves to Barbados. So what good is he?

Moore’s concept of Crossing the Chasm is overlaid with Maister’s concepts of service organizations to provide a solution to the common problem of applying the wrong company structure or resources to the business situation facing your company. You can then decide if Hawking is a good hire for you.

Driving Into the Chasm

While crossing the chasm applies to technologies and products across an industry lifecycle, Stocking’s corollary is that it can also apply to a single customer or client. It’s not only the industry or technology that goes through a cycle, individual clients and customers do as well.

If you are concerned about the lifetime value of a client, you have to bring new ideas, services and products to your existing base, otherwise they are going to forget about you and go somewhere else. It’s surprising how often this happens. When it does, you’ll often find yourself driving into your own chasm.