Beane meets with his six or seven scouts to discuss who they should hire to replace their stars, when the scouts start their usual banter. "Harry's got a good arm." "Yes, but he's 36 years old now." "I know, but there's a lot left in him." "But what about Fred? We need sluggers, and his swing is beautiful." "Yeah, but his batting average was not that good last year." "True, but the average doesn't reflect his capabilities ..." Beane watches the conversation, but doesn't participate. It's increasingly clear that he is not happy. Eventually he starts making a sign with his left hand that means "talk-talk-talk."
Beane then explains to the scouts that they're operating as if this was just business as usual - and that it's not. "You're not even looking at the problem," says Beane to the shocked scouts. "The problem we are trying to solve," Beane tells them, "is that there are rich teams, and then there are poor teams, and then there is a 50 feet of drop off, and then there is us." And he's right.
This is a fantastic example of a compound business problem that is very common today: a) you don't even know what you don't know, b) so you continue to apply the same old solutions - solutions that are no longer effective because the problem has evolved. Beane's staff was working-working-working on business-as-usual solutions as the problem evolved right past them. Beane was pointing out that with the current problem at hand, they needed a very different staffing strategy. He knew this could never happen unless they all understood the fundamental problem, which was a gargantuan payroll disadvantage.
Today, people need to pause and examine whether they are doing business as usual in a world that increasingly does not reward doing business as usual. They need to seriously examine their answer to the question: "What is your most fundamental problem?" In a world that is changing faster and faster, I think the opportunities for profitable growth are all over the place. Growth that investors would love, the economy needs, and that benefits nearly everyone.
If you are not growing as fast and profitably as you could, the march into a better future starts with the correct answer to the "problem" question. So, could it be possible that right now a) you don't know what you don't know, and that's a huge business problem because b) the methods you use to implement new strategic initiatives are no longer going to get the job done in this faster moving world?
For more about how organizations can develop the agility required to succeed in today’s rapidly changing world, read my new article, “Accelerate,” featured in the November issue of Harvard Business Review.
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