How often do you immediately know the best answer?
After all, we are experts in our field. Why wouldn’t we rely on that expertise for our decisions, judgements and responses to the world?
Which is exactly why we often just don’t get the best answer.
- A market shifts, a competitor releases a whole new approach to solving a problem we solve too, customers demands change…. and we don’t get it. Because we already know the answer, know what is right, know what to do or what to say. Because we know the answers based on our past.
- Our business falls behind, loses some of its unique luster. We drop prices and lose margins… blaming competitive pressure or market shifts. We still don’t get it. We can’t see that our best seller, our baby, has grown ugly.
- We adorn our best seller with feature adds, chasing that competitor. Give away more services or complementary products to try to keep that top line revenue going. We still don’t get it. We know we can get that revenue up with the changes we know.
Then we wonder why the business brings in new folks with fresh perspectives. A consultant or new executive. Or perhaps we hold a workshop to brainstorm new ideas.
The Hard Truth About That Best Answer
One thing I’ve learned from over 25 years of consulting with businesses requiring constant innovation and change.
Some of us will never get the best answer.
Some folks simply can’t make the changes needed for the business to continue to succeed. It’s not because they’re dense. It’s because they’re so deeply wired to hang on to what they already know, they simply can’t see things differently.
And that’s one of the biggest threats to your business.
Every business adapts and evolves. That’s the path to continued success. If one of our team, executive, managers or worker bees, can’t let go of what they absolutely know to be true and adapt with the needs of the market and the business then they need to move on. Even if they are the nicest guy or gal on the planet.
That’s the hard truth.
Sure, you can keep them around. You can be patient and chalk it up to Joe being Joe or Sue being Sue. That’s the nice thing to do, the popular thing.
But since when is leadership about popularity? Just sayin….
1 Comment
John Bennett
April 1, 2015 - 5:39 amYes, anther Albert Einstein quote: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” And, believe me, there are many other quotes from him that also fit the message in this quote.
Fresh out of graduate school, I accepted an industry research position – back “when dirt was clear; so long ago, it wasn’t dirty yet,” as I told my students. We were expected to spend one day per week on one of three items: improvement of knowledge related to the product line, development of new business, or general overheard work (not obvious what might result but see some potential). Today, it would be called “20% time,” then it was just good business… In my time there, sadly this flexibility sadly decreased and you had to almost guarantee outcomes of real value!!! Have no idea about today, 35 years later…
This type of approach is gaining a foothold in education (e.g., Genius Hour). As noted in this post, such stretch / self-control activities are one key effort for growth.