The Mirror Principle: Paradigm Blindness Blinkers Organizations to Change

“You will act like the sort of person you conceive yourself to be.” — Maxwell Maltz “The external world is an echo of your internal world.” — Tom Asacker Organizations, like individuals, are guided by self-image. They act not based on external reality, but on what they believe themselves to be. If a company sees itself as an industrial manufacturer, it

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How to Navigate the Osborne Effect Without Killing Your Business Too Soon

“In most companies there would be months, perhaps years, of savage debate… The spectre of cannibalisation would roam the hallways, striking fear into fainthearted executives.” — Gary Hamel [TL;DR Some companies struggle to kill off profitable but customer-hostile revenue streams, fearing short-term losses. But clinging to a fading model often proves more costly than the pivot itself. From

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You Can’t Win by Defense Alone: The Disadvantage of Incumbency

“If we only defend, we lose the war.” — Kambei Shimada, Seven Samurai (1954) I was incredibly lucky to play for two of the best attacking rugby teams in the world — Toulouse and Leinster. Toulouse, in particular, had a deep-rooted culture of attacking rugby, a philosophy that didn’t rely on grinding out wins through defense alone. Instead, the club

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Upholstery, Eggs and Elephants: What a Worn-Out Chair Teaches Us About Innovation

“If you want to know if the elephant at the zoo has a stomachache, don’t ask the veterinarian, ask the cage cleaner.” — Robert Sapolsky The best insights often come from the least expected places. The people who clean up the mess, fix the day-to-day problems, or interact directly with customers are usually the first to notice when

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Rewiring Reward: Rewarding Change

“Organisations invariably tend to reward some employees for A while hoping for B, frequently do not detect the contradiction, and then are bewildered when their behaviour and performance are not aligned with their goals.”- Steve Kerr “Traditional ‘carrot and stick’ incentives can achieve exactly the opposite of their intended aims.” — Dan Pink Guinness For Strength. Picture Post, 1954 If

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