All over Canada, rural communities in particular are beginning to see increased growth rates. As housing becomes less affordable in major cities, many people who find employment in these cities are seeking to relocate and commute, or else find new jobs in more affordable, less “busy” centres. The community of Halton is a good example of a to... Read more
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Risk aversion has become the primary guide by which most businesses continue to approach highly dynamic markets. The result is a struggle to perform in today's markets. In sharp contrast, those that continually outperform other businesses are perennial risk takers. They become the true innovators who move business forward. True innovators know that it becomes impossible to distinguish success from failure. One prime example of this is computer guru Bill Gates. He dropped out of Harvard Law School to the dismay of his mother, Mary. She saw this move as a disastrous failure and for years he had nothing to show for it to prove anybody wrong. In the meantime he was working on a fledgling idea we now know as Microsoft. We are often overly hasty in describing something as a success or failure, coming to conclusions when, in fact, the jury is still out. It is important to remember that "failures" often lead us to the deep learning from which great ideas emerge. Far from being night and day opposites, the line between success and failure is, in fact, indistinct. It can be more helpful to think of success and failure as supportive siblings. This can be difficult for the Western mind to grasp. The Western mindset tends to see things in dualistic terms such as big or small, hard or soft and so on. Sometimes our western minds have a hard time grasping this concept. All too often western philosophy drives minds to see things as two distinct terms; such as black or white, big or small, tall or short, yes or no, and so on. Eastern philosophy sees things as a more relaxed partnership. They embrace the dance of the two opposites as a paradox of life, natural and inexistent without the other. This can be seen in such terms as sweet and sour, ying and yang, and other duel conceptions. Instead of a crisis, therefore, all things are simply an opportunity. When Success is Really Failure Disguised: Success that is short term is really just making a huge failure. The quick fix is usually just a patch that backfires when reality resurfaces. This idea can be illustrated with a cyclist who gets a puncture on their tire. Most would approach it with an "Ah-Ha" moment and simply patch it up. Then simply get back on the same road and continue toward their goal. The road, however, is very bad and continues to puncture the tires more and more until the cyclist ends up with a very unusable tire. However, they are so far down the road that going back is now out of the question, and going forward is just as bad. The shortcut road is now an epic failure. An Approach to Innovation, The Samurai: Like any skill, innovation is learned. It is not a random kaleidoscope or a yo-yoing toy. For a prime example of those who used innovation best look no further than the Japanese Samurai, they were the true artisans and masters. It is well known that Samurais were amongst the most effective, fiercest and bravest warriors that ever lived. What is less known is central mindset that guided their actions. Samurais recognised that focusing on victory was an impediment to winning a fight, a battle or a war. Samurais honed the ability to stay incredibly present. They understood that it was the will to win rather than the vision of winning that was the central key to victory. In fact, they lived by a credo of achieving the goal by ignoring the goal. The vision may be as large as Microsoft, or IBM, or may be one of their successful products, but the most anyone can see is the next step. The most important part of reaching our goals, then, is to bring our attention to the present moment. While it is okay to take a short glance at the future or past and apply them to the present, the key is to keep our mindset in the present. The enemy is looking into the future for what might go wrong or relying on the past for what will go right. The goal, therefore, is intended to be made and then filed away. Once you learn to let go of the goal you will learn to free up your mind to generate the steps to reach it. It may seem that some steps are irrational, but these must be taken. The greatest innovation were not based on what worked before, but were built on the known factors that needed to be taken as risks and that had to be acted on with a gut instinct. Collaboration and Input: Any great goal requires a great team. This means that collaboration, speaking up, listening to new ideas and looking at it from another's prospective will achieve the greatest final performance. A prime example would be the philosophy found at IBM, "The greater the level of collaborative innovation, the greater the financial performance. This requires acquiring the skills needed to work together as one. Leave the leadership desires at the door, and collaborate to come out of top. Sometimes what seems to be the most massive failure was really just a step closer to the fantastically great innovation. Case in point was the original computer. They were large, bulky, and could only calculate data. If the designers had stopped there, we never would have been able to use the greatest usable interface device yet, the home computer with internet. We would still be using snail mail. It is only by embracing failures that we can turn them into innovations that lead to successes and thereby build towards our goal. To become a true master you need to know how to release the concept of fear and failure along with the burning desire to succeed. Trying to innovate the outcome is the number one killer of true success. Trying to control every step between now and the goal will only generate caution, fear, and paralysis which will then stop you and the team from true successful results. To truly embrace success you need to consistently work on developing a culture that is founded on reinvention. Only in consistently evolving to the needs of the company and the changing economy can you succeed in reaching your goal. Business can learn great things from our children. To consistently grow they need to be open to vision, ideas, and look at the world with fresh eyes. They need to leave behind the deeply entrenched belief systems, and patterns of perception, along with the taboos and rules of the past. By changing our habits in thought we can change our outcome.
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