What Everybody Knows Can Never Happen

When you carefully examine the likely scenarios for your organization…are there some things that get ruled out right away because everybody knows that that can never happen?  Word to the wise?  Be very careful that you don’t casually exclude some things because it’s common knowledge that those things can’t happen.  Puzzled?  Here’s a little to chew on.

A look at history will show you that it’s usually something that could never happen that turns out to be the game-breaker.  A personal computer.  More households with only a cellphone than households without a cellphone.   Bottled water.  BOTTLED water.  Think about it.  Who would have guessed even 10 years ago that Americans would spend more on bottled water than on iPods or movie tickets.  Okay…if they could have guessed that then they’d be pretty smart.  Most of us would have said, “iWhat?”  But you get the point.

The point is “what everybody in the business knows can never happen should be examined carefully (Managing for Results, p. 170).”

(This post is from the archives over at my original blog, StrategyCentral, where there are over 1,100 articles on strategy, mission, vision and values, change, innovation and design.)