The biggest mistake organizations with a membership model make is to focus too much on products and services, and not enough on innovating and evolving to respond to changing market conditions and needs.
Librarians totally missed the massive wave of transformation through internet technology. The mission of libraries is similar to the mission of Google—to make the world’s information accessible to everyone, at very low cost or even for free.
And yet, libraries did not take advantage of the opportunity to incorporate search engine technology to transform the way they deliver on their mission. They certainly could have engaged with some of the developers of this technology, established partnerships or even hired their own teams to come up with ways to make their content accessible online.
Libraries were too committed to their products (books and buildings) instead of focusing on their members. Look at what Google has done for people looking for information over the past 15 years.
The lesson here is that organizations need to focus on their mission and their members, rather than their products.
I write about this topic in my book The Membership Economy—click here for a summary.
