You've got a new idea. You've shared your brainchild with a few trusted associate. You've heard their comments before…
- “Why can't we just go back to the way things used to be?”
- “Why don't we just leave things like they are?”
- “We always done things this way. Why change now?”
For me, that's the red flag of complacency, someone who's burnt out or in a rut, or someone whose thinking is stuck in the muck. It doesn't matter what the business / new idea is, the fact is the world keeps turning. Some people look for new and innovative ways to do their ‘thing' better. These folks have a bird's eye view. Many more are content with the status quo of old ideas and will never have a clue about how to keep growing.
To be fair there are some ideas are tried and true, but too often a better way to achieve your goal is to be courageous enough to try something new.
The business idea landscape is littered with Blockbusters who didn't know their customers or competition (NetFlix) well enough to keep up with the times. I understand human nature enough to understand situations like this will always be with us, but in the 21st century, why do we keep hearing the old ideas best? We live in incredible times. We are living the transition from one way of thinking about business to another.
The problem is knowing which new ideas to implement and which to let go.
Which of the tried and true ideas need to stay with us? How much of the old dogma can now be scrapped? Your decision will make the difference in your business' ability to survive and thrive, or vice-versa.
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. -John Keynes
Is that it? Is it the thinking habits we develop as we go along? If so, recognizing those habitual ways of thinking about our old ideas and challenging them might be one of the best exercises that could be done in order to launch us to our next success. How do you evaluate new ideas? Share with a Tweet or comment.
