Summary:Panelists discussed how to avoid becoming blind to needed changes and to think outside the box by building change and fluid thinking into the organization.
“The number one obstacle you have to overcome is success, and the arrogance that goes along with success,” Alfred West, Jr. declared. Many of the great corporate downfalls of recent years, such as Enron, came from this success-driven arrogance, he opined.
Colin Crook noted that with age and experience comes a certain reluctance to try new things; assumptions become solidified.
Referring to the need to examine assumptions, Jami Miscik stated that “To think outside the box, you need to know where the box is.” To that end, she started a program of inviting nonstandard contributors such as science fiction writers, screenwriters, and others, to review intelligence data and come up with possible scenarios. Eighty percent of the results were fairly standard ideas that her analysts had considered, 10 percent were completely wild, but the other 10 percent were new, valid scenarios. In addition, she has her most talented analysts sit around and discuss possibilities with as few restraints as possible.
The panelists agreed that changes must be an essential part of an organization. Orin Smith commented, “If you don’t change in very short order, you’re dead.” He emphasized that what you do today will not be good enough tomorrow.
At SEI, West has all of the desks in the organization on rollers, able to be broken off and moved to other areas and other groups at will. He believes that this physical flexibility translates to mental flexibility. West stated that you must work through the culture of the organization to promote change in order to include everyone.
“Embrace the maverick,” Miscik advised. She also warned the audience that a single spate of change is not enough; an organization will always have to change again.
Yoram Wind, who moderated the program, continually challenged the panelists to consider ways that they force themselves and their organizations to break through their mental models. In a closing remark, he commented, “What we see is what we think and what we think is what we see.”
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