Action: "List three new opportunities created by demographic shifts - changes in the composition of the population and workforce - and the shift from national to regional to transnational economies. Pursue them." Dr. Peter F. Drucker
Very similar to my earlier blogs in January, this day, Dr. Drucker urges us again, in a slightly different way to test "what we know we know". Is what we 'know' really what the world is like, or is it a delusion, 'what it ought to be like'.
In turbulent times, such as these, it is more important than ever to 'face reality' both in business and other endeavors, even our personal lives. It is just so darn comfortable to go with the conventional knowledge, and so darn uncomfortable, at first, to go another way. I have disciplined myself to, at very minimum, ask 'WHY' three times, trying to hit five times. This can be extremely obnoxious for those around me, as you might assume. Why? Because there is usually so much garbage in the answer stream of 'what everyone knows' that it takes 3 to 5 times to get to the bottom of it... is it real, or is it Memorex?
I just had a personal, very personal situation last week, in which I was confronted with 'a rule', which I was expected to follow without question. I asked 'Why' several times, and came up with only one answer...'because I said so, and it's common knowledge...'. Well I looked around at the actual data, others doing the same thing... and I saw that no-one else was abiding by the 'rule', and even though the argument to conform was compelling, I had a new answer right in front of me... the reality was different. Now, there is a cost of going against the conventional wisdom... one gets ostracized, shunned, bullied, even ridiculed and may even loose privileges which go along with conforming. Once through though, and sticking to reality, you often find a completely different world on the other side... as did I. A much more real and satisfying world.
In The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World by Peter Schwartz there is a wonderful story about how Shell Oil Co. avoided a multi-billion dollar investment in North Sea drilling, by testing the conventional wisdom that USSR oil would not come on the open market. The strategy team asked how that might change if a certain Gorbachow made it to power. Enough said....
The Paradoxical Commandments
ReplyDeleteby Dr. Kent M. Keith
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.