The CEO of Canada Post was new to the job and similar to all Postal companies owned by the government, the internet changed their business model. What many of us use to send in the letter, now goes by email and we by past the postal company. Mr. Chopra was in his early days and received a proposal with a yellow post it note about an innovation team. One would have thought the innovation team at the Post Office had a floor working on all kinds of things. It turns out the innovation team was 4 people, who were working on an app for the iPhone and using their own iPhone because the iPhone was not on the list of company issued. Mr. Chopra saw the great merits in being able to use your iPhone to track parcels and look up post codes, he also liked the enthusiasm and energy of the group. He decided to greenlight their project and today it is one of Canada Post’s most popular app.

In the late 1990’s 2 models of innovation and growth were introduced to business leaders and they are still relevant today. In 1998 Every Business is a Growth Business by Ram Charan and Noel Tichy argued most business defined their market too small. To expand you must expand the circle you play in. The classic example is Coke who had a 35% share of the soft drink market but if you at all fluids it was only 2 ounces against 64 of all liquids consumed. From that perspective, Coke went into bottled water and other drinks to grow the 2 ounces.

The other approach is Clayton Christensen’s 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma. He suggested to truly innovate, companies need a safe zone for ideas-driven teams. They would be away from head office bureaucracy and this would create the conditions to blossom with the potential to new growth engines.

In reality, both are correct. Mr. Chopra argues that reinvention is best inspired from the very idea or role that made the company successful to begin with. In the case of Canada Post they are making the transition form letter-centric to parcel-centric models. .

Linking to dividend paying stocks, similar to Canada Post had the assets of being everywhere or linked to everyone across Canada. It makes great sense to move from letters to parcels. Dividend paying companies will have great assets or distribution ability to something which allows them to make profits. There is always change in the marketplace and leveraging a company’s assets is always a good thing. As you examine your investments, listing of their greatest assets and seeing how they use them will help you determine if the company is still worth holding onto.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.