I have just finished reading a two part post from Brian Larson on the Inman News website. I would have provided a link to the articles, but a subscription is required. Inman is a great news source and Brian is an important industry contributor. Part 1 is called NAR/DOJ lawsuit stymies innovation (May 31, 2006) and Part 2 is called DOJ and NAR squabbles miss the point (June 1, 2006).
What struck me first was the premise that innovation is comprised of actions that all REALTORS are allowed to pursue based on policy. In Brian’s articles, he focuses on the IDX/VOW issue as a specific example. To quote from the second article
"So many issues are up in the air now that only the brave and foolish will invest significant amounts of money in on-line brokerage today."
Although his points about innovation within the context of policy are well presented, but I don’t believe that the story ends there. If everyone is doing the same thing, where is the innovation? I have always thought that innovators are the exception rather than the rule. Historical figures who where considered innovators were labeled by their colleagues as "brave", "foolish" or both. I believe a well worn quote from Ghandi goes something like this:
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Go ahead. Dust off those history books and research other leaders from the past. I think you will find they all had the common trait of looking at problems differently from their contemporaries. Think of the size of the books if there had never been innovators.
I hope the industry does not really think that any form of Mass Innovation is a good approach to connect with consumers via the Internet. Real competitive advantage comes from differentiation, not homogeneity. In business, differentiation is function of creativity not standards. If Mass Innovation was the case, a major highway between two cities that is closed for construction would mean that there was no travel from one city to another. The Pioneers would have turned back at the Rocky Mountains. If someone has enough desire, they will explore alternatives when faced with barriers.
With this in mind I hope the "brave" and "foolish" in the industry show us that it is possible to build net community with more than listings. Remember that listings are a form of data and consumers want information. The two terms are not collective exhaustive or mutually exclusive. Transforming data into information is practiced by Journalists everyday. I can’t think of a single newspaper that prints the entire transcript of a trial. The industry needs to look hard at what "information that you can use" means to consumers.
I’ve always thought of myself as being an optimist, so I’m not sure whether that makes me "brave" or "foolish"
