Hot take: Q. What’s the opposite of competitive advantage? A. Conformity of mediocrity. I had an interesting Twitter exchange with a fellow a couple days ago. Despite being in unrelated industries, I’m sure Peter Drucker and W. Edwards Deming would agree we have similar challenges. Peter stated to the Twitterverse, “Too many businesses operate like it’s still the 1970’s. Too many businesses do things because that’s the way it’s always been done. Too many businesses are afraid to change but if they did you’d decrease overhead and increase profits.” To which I responded, “Taking all the wrong kind of risks. Am I right?” Peter replied, “Yes.” So why is it our operational leaders are unwilling or unable to risk doing something different to punch above mediocrity when there’s massive value leakage in their current way of doing things? Asking for a friend 😕.
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