In 1996, a football player named Kevin Plank didn’t like the way his cotton tee-shirt felt as it soaked up sweat underneath his uniform. So, he decided to try to build a better shirt. Starting out in a row house with one partner, Kevin started marketing his new tee-shirt under the brand name Under Armour. That same year, the company grossed $17,000. Today its sales are well over $1 billion.
We like Kevin’s approach to building such growth, including his determination to base Under Armour on a “foundation of innovation.” We also like his mantra: “Smart enough to be naïve enough to not know what we could not accomplish.”
In a video interview, with USA Today, Kevin asks would-be entrepreneurs, “Are you willing to compromise?”
You might think that the right answer is “NO. Never compromise!” But Kevin says, “Lots of people have great ideas but they tell themselves that their idea is just not ready—it’s just not perfect yet.” Kevin remembers thinking a lttle bit differently when he was launching Under Armour: “In spite of the fact that it’s not everything I want it to be, it’s good enough to get me started and I’m going to build on that.”
We love this perspective and note that it reflects New & Improved’s recommendation, outlined in our book More Lightning Less Thunder, that people who are trying to create an innovative culture adopt “Yet Thinking” as a habit. That’s where you never again say, “We can’t do that—period.” and instead replace just one word—instead of “period” say “yet." We can’t do that YET.”
Applied to Under Armour, Yet Thinking might have sounded something like this:
“We can’t get anyone to loan us a million dollars to get started, yet.”
“We can’t afford to buy a full-page ad in Sports Illustrated, yet.”
“We can’t offer one hundred different products for sports enthusiasts, yet.”
So we’ll start with one new and improved T-shirt and give it away to our athletic friends!
Think Under Armour’s innovation team is resting on its laurels these days? Of course, not, they realize that innovation is not a destination but a state of being. See what they’re working on now. These innovations aren’t here, yet, but watch and be inspired by their “I Will Innovation."
"someday I will..." according to Buffett, that's just all you need to say. Yet works perfect.
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