By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Future of Field Service

I spent last week in Nashville for the Future of Field Service Leadership Meet-Up and then IFS Connect. While I recorded a highlights podcast to share on UNSCRIPTED this week, there’s a point that has stood out in my mind enough that I felt it deserved its own permanent spot in the articles archive.

That point was made by David Lukcic, Vice President of Technology at Tampa Electric, who spoke on day two of IFS Connect about the company’s digital journey. David had many great points, but the one that I loved most was that he shared, “We’re looking to our partners to save us from ourselves,” he said. “We loved to be challenged because that’s what helps us to learn from others’ experiences.”

He shared that when Tampa Electric is aiming to be the best at something, they don’t feel it’s always enough to be the best in their industry. With data, for example, he shared that utilities aren’t known for their innovative approach to leveraging data – so striving to be the best within utilities simply won’t do – they need to look outside their own industry for inspiration.

There’s a lot of wisdom in what David is saying. First, this idea of welcoming different perspectives – of understanding the risk of the default, internal view – is so powerful. All too often companies are overly protective of what they know, what they’ve decided, what they do well that they don’t allow themselves to remain open to alternative opinions – let alone welcome them. This “save us from ourselves” mentality is, in my opinion, a path to competitive advantage.

Service Innovation Requires Challenging the Status Quo

The mentality also reminded me of my recent conversation with Michael Potts of ACCO, when he said that “as a leader, I feel it’s my responsibility to challenge the status quo. How could I possibly do that well if I don’t invite others to challenge me?” There’s a release of ego evident in both statements – and that allows in more curiosity, more openness, and ultimately, I think will lead to more success.

David’s calling out of the importance of seeking insight and inspiration beyond your own industry is also a belief I couldn’t agree with more. Not only is the premise really of Future of Field Service, but I’ve witness firsthand countless times in my career the power of sharing knowledge on common challenges, opportunities, and trends across industries. While you won’t gain a blueprint to success, the lightbulb moments that can come from these conversations are priceless.

As consumer expectations creep further into the business-to-business realm, companies can’t afford not to seek ideas from beyond their own industry. We’ve been referring to “the Amazon effect” or “Uberization” for years already, but how many service organizations have actually caught up to being able to execute experiences like those? Moreover, how far are they falling behind the moving target of what customers will expect next? Seeking examples outside of your own industry is necessary to remaining relevant and competitive in the digital age.

There are many options for how to seek inspiration from outside your own industry, including:

• Maintaining an open mind when you read news headlines about what companies nothing like yours are doing that’s working well
• Attending an event outside of your core industry – one that brings multiple industries together where you can gain new perspectives
• Press on your technology providers to get involved in cross-industry customer interactions (at IFS I created the CollABoratives to serve this purpose) and to learn from best practices they see holistically
• Use LinkedIn – many leaders openly share a lot of great content and food-for-though; you’d be surprised how much you can learn from spending a few minutes each day engaging
• Network there, too! This type of curiosity and awareness of what can be gained from these cross-industry discussions is shared and you may find some great new contacts (and insights) simply by reaching out and asking to chat

What would you add to this list? I’d love to hear from you!