complacency

Dr Mario Denton

Introduction It’s not what we know, it’s how we use what

we know that counts! “Applied common sense”

We all have within ourselves, reserves of energy that we will never use, nor do we even realise its existence

Most new ideas do not depend on new information, but on putting together old information in a new way!

Standing still......... Standing still is the

fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world

Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity - Michael Porter

Failures of imagination Forecasters in 1948

estimated “only a dozen or so very large corporations will be able to take advantage of the computer”. IBM made an early decision not to market the computer because it could never prove profitable.

Some food for thought The ability to learn faster than the

competition is often the only sustainable competitive advantage a company can have. Arie de Geus.

There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes. Buckminster Fuller.

BenchmarkingBenchmarking is about improving

competitive position, and using best practice to stimulate radical

innovation rather than just seeking minor, incremental improvements on historical

performance

Don’t keep a good person down

As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might. Marian Anderson.

A goal is a dream taken seriously!

If you can dream it, you can do it! Curiosity has its own reasoning for

existing. Albert Einstein. You are the best until proven wrong

Every new idea is born drowning

A new idea is at its most vulnerable during the first moments of life. In any important relationship, one negative comment outweighs ten positives.

Solving problems.....

Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in which the problems were created. Albert Einstein

A problem is a chance for you to do your best. Duke Ellington

A ship in the harbour A ship in the harbour

is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. William Shedd

People cannot discover new oceans until they have the courage to lose sight of the above

Risktaking

The trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more. Erica Young

The greatest waste of our natural resources is the number of people who never achieve their potential.

The ability to think in opposites

The ability to think in opposites so that opposing ideas occur in the mind simultaneously is an important property for creativity

Yesterday’s successes

“ Be careful of yesterday’s successes, because success taste so good it dulls the appetite for risk. Alvin Toffler

A new set of eye glasses

Instead of pouring knowledge into people’s heads, we need to help them grind a new set of eyeglasses so that we can see the world in a new way.

J S. Brown

The northern pike story

An interesting experiment was performed using a fish tank capable of being divided in half by a clear glass partition

A Northern Pike was put in one half of the tank.

The northern pike story (continued)

A number of small fish, normally food for the northern pike, were placed in the other half

The Northern Pike could see the small fish plainly and it repeatedly crashed its snout against the clear glass partition in an attempt to get at the small fish

After a time the Northern Pike gave up, having learned it was of no use

The experimenter then removed the clear glass partition

The northern pike story: learning points The small fish continued to swim in one

half of the tank and the Northern Pike in the other, making no attempt to cross into the other half of the tank

What the Northern Pike experienced in the past dictated how it reacted in the future

ObstaclesObstacles

always show up when you take your eye off the goal.

“ A Grizzly story” An American took his

Japanese friend for a ride through the woods

The buggy broke down and they decided to walk

After some time they were confronted by a big grizzly bear

The Japanese immediately started taking his takkies out of his knapsack

The Grizzly story: part 2

The American said: “Hey, that won’t help - you can’t out-run a grizzly bear”

To which the Japanese replied “I don’t have to out-run the bear - all I have to do is to out-run you”

The meaning of the story

No company, however well established, can afford to

develop a sense of complacency in the present, highly competitive industrial

world.

Career stages

Exploration

Trial

Establishment

Maintenance

Stagnation

Decline

Growth

NEEDSNEEDS 25 4530 3520 50 60AGEAGE

HIGH

PER-PER-FORM-FORM-ANCEANCE

Sources of complacency

Complacency

The absence ofa major andvisible crisis

Low overall performancestandards

Too much happytalk

“Kill-the- messenger-of - bad- news” or low - confrontationculture

Human nature with its capacity fordenial

A lack of sufficientperformance feedback

Kotter, 1996

Enthusiasm..... The real secret of success is enthusiasm Enthusiasm is the yeast that make your hopes

rise to the stars Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eye, the grip

in your hand, the irresistible surge of your will and energy to execute your ideas

Enthusiasts are fighters .... they have fortitude and they have staying qualities

Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress

The success formulaeP = F(M x A x E) Where F = function

P = PERFORMANCE

M = MOTIVATION

A = ABILITY

E = ENVIRONMENT

Five kinds of companies

1. Those that make things happening 2. Those that think they make things

happen 3. Those that watch things happen 4. Those that wonder what's happening 5. Those that don’t know anything is

happening

The future........ The Future is a matter of

choice, not chance. You are where you are because of decisions you took - or didn’t take - sometime in the past.

The shape of tomorrow depends entirely on how you act, right now

Ask questions.......

The ‘silly’ question is the first intimation of some

totally new development. Alfred North Whitehead