Perreault Magazine - 63 -
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This is all fine and well, but in an era of accelerating change tomorrow’s threats and opportunities are less and less likely to come at you through conventional means. This implies you must learn to see differently.
The Chinese have a wonderful saying, “The periphery is the new center.” Therefore, to see what you can’t yet see, you need to go to the periphery and expose yourself to fresh and unique ways of perceiving your industry.
There are a number of ways to do this. First, expand and diversify your reading diet to include sources outside your industry’s “echo chamber.” A couple of easily accessible resources are The Economist, MIT’s Technology Review and Wired.com. Next, regularly attend at least one conference that is not directly related to your industry. The purpose is to expose yourself to adjacent ideas that might allow you to expand your business in innovative new ways. (If you can’t afford to attend such a conference, strive to watch one TED talk every week.)
Finally, hire at least one unconventional thinker. As George Patton once quipped, “If everyone is thinking alike then someone isn’t thinking.” Bring in someone who regularly and consistently challenges your thinking. Consider this person an “un-team” player.
Humility:
Unlearning is Important
as Learning
It is a cliche to say that lifelong learning is essential in today’s rapidly changing world. Often lost in this emphasis on learning and relearning is the idea that we’re often unwilling to unlearn certain things about our industry. In fact, we may not even realize we have anything to unlearn.
The reason so many existing businesses are disrupted isn’t simply because they didn’t see the change coming, it is because they couldn’t let go of their assumptions earlier. Think Blockbuster, Borders and RIM(Blackberry).
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