Can your company survive today’s economic environment without an OS!M?

Every company that has achieved huge success had a moment in their development when they stepped off the "me too" cliff and plunged headlong into the abyss alone. To truly differentiate your business and carve out a niche for yourself, you need get off the well-trodden path and blaze a trail of your own. And that's a scary thing. Once you have headed down your own path and there's no turning back, you reach that OS!M and the adrenalin kicks in. You can't let fear paralyze you. To move ahead of the competition, you need to embrace it.

What is an OS!M? Steve Farber explains it best in the video below. M stands for moment. OS! stands a common exclamation when you realize you're doing something very scary and there's no turning back – a short version of "Oh crap, what have I done!" We've all had at least one OS!M in our lives. In fact at last Tuesday's Tweetea tweetup, Dave Murray led a discussion about entrepreneurs and the OS!M. He started the evening by having everyone in the room reveal their OS!M. It made for very interesting conversations; try it at your next gathering.

Steve Farber – "Pursue the OS!M"

The consensus in our conversation was that with everything companies face, for them to succeed in today's market someone in the leadership role has to embrace the OS!M and take that leap of faith. Look at innovators who've done well, like Apple. Apple decided their brand wasn't going to be just another PC, it would be a computer based on the idea having a great design aesthetic and ease of use. They wouldn't try to be a cheaper model in any product category; they would be cool and easy to use. There were computers before there were Macs. There were MP3 players before there were iPods. There were smart phones before there were iPhones. But each of Apple's products relied on a pleasing design and an operating system that was exclusive to Apple, not a "me too" product.

In tough times, a lot of companies pull back on innovation. They figure they can't afford to take the risk. The real question is can they afford not to. In his keynote speech at Future Midwest, former Digg CEO, Jay Adelson, talked about how you can't fear failure. Failure isn't what holds companies back, it's the fear of failure that paralyzes them. He said innovators are a little crazy. They're not afraid of flying in the face of convention. Henry Ford had the idea of making cars affordable for everyone at a time that the rest of the world "knew" cars were just toys for the rich.

What is holding your company back? What are you afraid to try? Go ahead, make that leap. It's no longer about "better to go out in a blaze of glory than to slowly rust away." It's about "this may be the only way to not just survive, but to thrive." What's your OS!M? And what's stopping you from embracing it?

Mike McClure, Yaffe Exec Creative Director & OS!M Social Media Guy