Will We Be Relevant Next Year?

This question was posed by a chief executive officer (CEO) of a large non-profit specialty provider organization last summer. The setting was a small meeting of similar CEOs from across the country. And the question has haunted me a bit because this is an organization - and a CEO - that I respect, and think is quite well positioned.

Irrelevance can sneak up on any organization. Just ask the former management teams of Blockbuster, Kodak, Blackberry, and Toys R Us. Their fates remind me of the case study in a service marketing seminar - the case study of "going out of business . . .