Here’s Why Having “the Right Answer” Rarely Solves Problems

In an article by Bernie Franzgrote, he highlighted important points from a podcast interview. Through the interview, Bernie and his co-host Wayne Pratt, discover why many CEOs struggle to drive innovation in their organizations. In short, many executives are functioning as managers, instead of leaders. It is their mindset that builds the trap. While the distinction between a manager and leader is counterintuitive, it is critical for CEOs to make the transformation. If not, there is a chance their enterprise will become obsolete. At best, they will constantly play the game of catch up to the competition. Related to transforming mindset the interview focused on a case study where an under performer transformed mindset. Their under performance was the result of a blind spot. The blind spot would be activated when business situations reminded the person of a past event. Once the past event was distinguished, the next step was to unlearn it. This illustrated how blind spots can serve as huge impediments to success. While the interview is filled with historical examples of successes and failures, it eventually uncovered tactics to dismantle blind spots. Some of the bind spots are the result of personal experience. In other cases, it is the result of societal norms that are never questioned. Because most people never question the societal norms, they exhaust time making improvements to things that were never valid in the first place. Henry Ford said if he would have asked people what they want, they would have said a faster horse. Using horses for transportation was the norm. Ford disrupted that.