Nurture What You Do Well for Lasting Impact

Did you know that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is STILL active? Some of you may be reading this right now thinking, what is Internet Explorer. If you don’t know, Internet Explorer was the premier Search Engine in the 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, at its peak in 2003, it attained about 95% usage share. Back in the 1990s, Microsoft was known for Office, Windows and Internet Explorer. Microsoft Office is still a premier word processing software bundle today and Windows is still the primary operating system of all Microsoft based computers and smart devices. However, announced on May 20, 2021, Internet Explorer is officially being retired in 2022.

While it has been largely unused for many people for a number of years, what was surprising to me was that I thought Internet Explorer had long since been retired. I was also surprised to hear that Microsoft had another browser called Microsoft Edge. I had no idea about this either. I’ve heard more about the Duck, Duck Go browser than I have about Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer in recent years.

So what am I getting at? What’s the point of highlighting my shock that Internet Explorer is still around and finally being retired in 2022?

What you invest and nurture will blossom. What you neglect, you will ultimately see a loss of effectiveness. Back in the 90s, I think of Office, Windows and Internet Explorer when I think of Microsoft. Now, Microsoft is known for Office, Surface products, Gaming and Cloud computing. As they grew and developed as a company, they choose to focus on other products and services other than Internet Explorer. And that is truly their choice. It is hard to question their decisions because they have become very prosperous in these new ventures (I blogged about this transformation here and below).

Microsoft made their choice on what to invest in. But, what does this look like in your ministry? Here are three things:

• Determine what is working great and needs some continued investment in. Then, implement your investment plan.
• Determine what is lagging a little but is an important part of your ministry. Brainstorm what you need to do to  make improvements so it can work for long term impact.
• Determine you need to stop investing in. Stop and determine what else you need to invest in.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Microsoft had the premier search engine in computing. It was a a great product that needed continued investment to stay at the top. However, they choose not to invest heavily in it. And now, because of that decision, most of today’s world knows primarily of Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari. They no longer have the premier search engine. In your ministry, choose what you need to continue to invest in and how so that you can nurture what you do well for a lasting impact.

What do you think? What else can we learn from Microsoft’s lack of investment in Internet Explorer? Share your thoughts, experiences and questions below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share. Let’s continue this conversation.   

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