"Smail” Services – an example of backward innovation
Imagine you signed up for Businessweek magazine's printed version. You received it via mail every week, but now it gets to your home one week late. You call customer service to learn there is nothing they can do – the magazine is mailed via USPS. So, you must either read the magazine online or get business news one week too late. Now what?
As of October 1, 2021, USPS' standard mail services became more expensive and now take longer to reach the destination. What customer wants slower and more costly services? This price increase and slower pace is the company's strategy to cut costs, increase revenue, and bring the organization back into positive cash flow. Even if the possible Congress' funding were approved, it would take years until USPS can get out of the red, considering current customers will be loyal and willing to pay more for slower deliveries.
This turmoil started in 2006 when legislation determined USPS must establish a fund for retirees. A wise business administrator would think ahead and innovate the company's products and services to increase revenue and deal with the new policy requirements. Instead, USPS chose to continue doing more of the same, even when the future financial projections looked less attractive than they should be.
Innovation must be continuous; like Jeff Bezos explained in a letter to his fellow Amazonians when he stepped down as CEO: "Invention is the root of our success. We've done crazy things together, and then made them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime's insanely fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more. If you get it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. And that yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive."
Indeed, I buy some products at Amazon and receive them on the same day. The same day! If Amazon can do it, why can't USPS? U.S. agencies invented the atomic bomb, sent rockets to space, and went deep into the ocean. There is no excuse for the lack of innovation at USPS. Suppose the company had an ingrained innovation culture. In that case, it could have invented the email, drone deliveries, or come up with this insanely fast shipping that companies like Amazon would feel obligated to use!
The USPS challenge is no different from an outdated education system, in which innovation is little to no existent. Innovation is the improvement of processes to increase efficiency to achieve the desired outcome. Suppose the expected outcome of the education system is to equip children with cognitive and socioemotional skills. In that case, we should ask: How can we increase its efficiency – or innovate - to achieve this outcome?
In my book Becoming Einstein's Teacher, I present a learning framework as one solution to experience innovation in education. This proven framework works regardless of community contexts: rural or urban, virtual or present, with or without technology, few or abundant resources, this or that curriculum, low or high income, here or anywhere else in the world. This learning framework is a viable solution because it starts from what every student already has: a brain! There is no excuse when we have the same starting point for everyone. Success depends only on the willingness to make it happen.
I believe an innovative education system will ingrain the same practices in their students, flourishing creativity as I shared in this recent article. In this scenario, students are fully prepared to create the innovation USPS needs today.
