So there I was, sitting around the conference table with all the other sheep. It was a brainstorming meeting, or at least that's what it was called. With all the head nodding and agreeing, it was more like a convention of bobbleheads. I wasn’t quite sure what's happening, but I knew I’d been there before. All the same people following all the same old steps.
Like most nightmares nothing seemed to quite make sense but it was also all eerily familiar. As I sat there listening to the conversation I desperately wanted to speak up and ask a question or challenge the the circular patterns of thought. Every time I tried to speak though it was like I was wearing a football mouthguard made of cactus. I tried to form words and express myself but nothing came out. As I struggled to communicate, the rest of the table just gave me the dreaded eye-roll chorus. Suddenly I was awake. I rubbed my eyes, shook my head and realized that even though I was awake, I was back in the same brainstorming session. It was like Groundhog Day. But his was really happening, it wasn’t a dream. It was just another meeting where good ideas were getting shot down faster than clay pigeons at a skeet shooting contest.
The thing is, I know you’ve been there too. Sitting stunned into silence by the sheer idiocy of a group of otherwise intelligent adults embracing a reluctance to explore new ideas and instead opting to maintain the status quo.
Now, I realize that a “new way” is not always cheaper, easier, more efficient, or better just because it’s new. Most situations sit someplace on a complex spectrum of right and wrong, good and bad, this and that. It’s pretty normal to be more than a little nervous about bucking the system to change it. But questioning established norms and systems (the status quo) is necessary to drive progress and make better decisions.
But when we work in groups it’s not always easy to challenge the status quo. We usually follow because of our need for stability, consistency, emotional attachments, and inability to disassociate with biases.
Unfortunately, history is littered with cautionary tales of companies who couldn't be bothered to shake things up and challenge the Status Quo. From Kodak to Blockbuster to Toys R Us, it's like a who's who of missed opportunities. And don't even get me started on TiVo, poor TiVo.
It’s the time tested dance of conformity versus innovation - a tango where the status quo clings tightly to its partner, while innovation tries to cha-cha its way into the limelight. Innovation, thrives on chaos - it's messy, it's unpredictable, and it's oh-so-glorious.
So, the next time you find yourself in that nightmare meeting listening to people repeating the tired old rhythm of the status quo, ask yourself: What if? And speak it to the group, because who knows? Maybe, just maybe, you'll be the spark that sets the world on fire. Or at the very least, you'll have one heck of a story to tell at the next brainstorming meeting.
