Have the large
monolithic organisations in which most of us work had their day? Is blindness
the inevitable consequence of too much history,
certainty and success. I think
so.
We all have blind
spots. Some of us work hard to see past
them. Science and data can help. As a physicist I remember the huge effort
needed to believe in quantum mechanics when this ran counter to my lived
experience. The first step was to let go
of everything I had previously learned about the way objects behave in the
world - a deep knowledge that I'd acquired from my first breathing
moments. It was deep knowledge and had
served me well but it turned out to be wrong!
In the same way,
organisations have blind spots. They too
have deep knowledge which stops them being open minded and emotionally ready to
accept other truths and other ways of doing things. They can't let go. They can't see themselves from an 'outside
in' perspective. They can't
innovate.
This makes me wonder
if the innovators of this world are going to run to the open spaces - the
cracks between organisations. Here there
are no ingrained patterns of behaviour to overcome. There are no revenue streams to be protected
and new ideas can flourish. (Necessity is the mother of invention as they say.)
Perhaps it's easier to see things from an 'outside in' perspective in when you live outside yourself between the cracks.
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