Following up on a previous discussion on Disney, Spark Partners turn their attention to the struggling film industry and movie theaters. Hollywood’s heavy reliance on the traditional value delivery system of theater-viewing has left the industry to fall behind competing platforms utilizing trends in streaming and technology. According to Adam, that mutual relationship between film producers and theaters is long gone. Large box office productions have less use now that movies can be made on smartphones and exceptionally low budgets, and at-home streaming is now the most popular and preferred method for viewing. The COVID-19 pandemic is not to blame--this year’s biggest health crisis only accentuated the trouble the industry was heading towards.

In this episode of the SparkCom Podcast, Adam and Manny discuss the contrast of growing opportunity and high risk in the cannabis industry. Entrepreneurship is about discovering solutions to address consumer problems. And the cannabis industry at its foundation identifies unmet customer needs, making it outwardly appealing for modern business leaders. But it’s the value delivery system where complications arise. Despite growing demand for cannabis products, a whirlwind of legal, political, and financial barriers make entering and succeeding in the industry highly challenging.

“That’s not the way things are done here” is one of the most common and destructive mentalities any business leader can have, especially if they want their business to grow. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Sharf perfectly demonstrated how maintaining age-old and faulty biases is an undeniable reason for business limitation, when he recently commented that the bank’s lack of Black employees is due to there being “a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from.” From racial to operational, all business leaders must be able to get rid of the biases they and their organizations hold that curb creativity, new projects, and new partnerships.

This week Adam and Manny discuss the history and current state of Kraft-Heinz, one of America’s biggest food processing companies. Despite decades of providing the country with some of the most recognizable foods, the company has been directionless and in the process of decline.

Adam and Manny take a look at how one of the world’s most innovative companies, Tesla, arose and achieved such high valuation when others in the automotive industry have considered it too unconventional and no match for other auto companies. Despite Tesla’s different operative practices and primary emphasis on producing electric cars, Adam points out that Tesla found success by finding the unmet need of consumers for stylish, high performance, and ecologically secure cars and, now, other clean energy technology.

The Spark Partners dive deep into one of the biggest marketplace trends, the Gig Economy, with their discussion brought on by California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) that’s impacted tons of workers and businesses, like Uber and Lyft. The law passed in 2019 attempts to redefine independent contract workers as employees, going against the growing trend of gig work and the age of information that we live in today. We no longer need the established employer-employee model needed to run the obsolete industrial economy. It’s time for business leaders, government heads, and even unions to embrace the gig economy and gig workers’ needs for the infrastructure -- access to resources such as healthcare, workers’ compensation, and unemployment insurance -- to be successful.

On this week’s episode, the Spark Partners are joined by special guest Taber MacCallum to discuss how he has established a successfully innovative space tourism business, and important points from his experience of developing it. For Taber, incorporating research, working through obstacles, and simultaneously holding a critical perspective of your business and perseverance are keys to creating a valuable business that signifies human achievement.

Don’t shoot the messenger! With the future of the US Postal Service in question, the Spark partners examine the harmful role leadership can play in suppressing innovation. Business leaders risk failing their organization when they ignore growing trends, deny the impact of market changes, and choose to defend and extend their classic business model. Without top level and governmental support to adapt to a mobile world, USPS hasn’t been able to incorporate the digital efficiency that would guarantee timely service for escalating delivery demands. Even leaders running automobile giants like Ford and GM have ignored Tesla’s rising influence and risk falling behind they’re most innovative competitor. Business leaders, are you actively looking for new ways to innovate? Or are you the reason for your organization’s stifling growth?

Businesses everywhere too often fail because they’ve been stuck trying to carry on tradition or old values that have less and less impact in today’s world. Classic businesses from sports to family-owned operations are plummeting, and the Walt Disney Company is the perfect example. With its continued investment in theme parks and aged fantasies, the franchise is on the verge of bankruptcy and has yet to fully embrace the modern tech and trends that younger audiences are into. Every business must be willing to let go of outdated traditions to thrive NOW and in the FUTURE.

The Spark Partners continue their conversation on pivots, looking at real world examples of both successful and unsuccessful pivots. Netflix sets the gold standard, having pivoted from DVD movie distribution towards worldwide media streaming, while Kodak is bound to flop as a pharmaceutical producer after consistently failing to make any truly strategic pivots in recent decades. Successful pivots are about problem solving and might mean totally transforming your business to produce a true innovation. Is your business changing direction to meet unmet needs, or are you just looking for new ways to continue business as usual?‍