Don't focus on what exists, ask what's possible

 

Don't focus on what exists, instead ask what's possible.  Think of the end goal that you want to achieve and don't rule out any possible ways to achieve them.  Many leaders and businesses limit themselves by sticking to the past while others are constantly looking to the future. This leaves essentially two kinds of leaders and companies, those who ask what exists and those who ask what is possible. 

What exists?

Companies and leaders that ask what exists are looking to move quickly and have immediate progress. If they are looking to enter a new market, they may look at what their competitors are doing and see how they can copy that and iterate on it to create a slightly better product. They will often have thinking that goes along the lines of "Everybody does it that way" or "We've already committed to this path". The thought process is that because they've sunk cost or effort into a specific way of doing things it's not worth starting over.  This is wrong and here are a couple of examples...

We would continue to breed faster and stronger horses.  We can ride further and get there sooner. 

We have a new building and we need to get to the second floor, so we build stairs.  We have a 40 story building so we just build more stairs. 

By staying focused on what exists and iterating on it, we've actually held ourselves back from achieving more. We have the fastest horse in the world, but a car or truck would have been exponentially faster and stronger.  We have a way to climb to the top floor of our tall building, but it's exhausting and no one will do it. The elevator we could have invented would have made living and working on any floor easy.

What is possible?

Companies and leaders that focus on what is possible do not assume they know the best way to do things. They will stop and ask themselves "Is this the best way?" in everything they do. Instead of remaining focused on what has come before, they are focused on what is possible.  They are defining their end goal and then looking at any possible way to achieve it, without locking into established solutions. 

Companies that focus on what is possible and question everything often are those that innovate and create the next great thing.  We see these examples all over successful ideas and businesses.  Let's look at a classic example.

The Roman Empire had a huge empire that spanned most of the known world.  Roads and paths existed everywhere and wheeled carts existed for carrying heavy loads or people. However when someone needed to travel with personal items they had to figure out how to carry them on their person. They typically would use bag like a messenger bag and later a suitcase or trunk.  This continued for thousands of years.  It wasn't until 1970 that Bernard Saddow had the idea of putting wheels on a suitcase.  This occurred when he was at the airport and had trouble carrying his heavy suitcase through the terminal.  He saw a man moving a piece of heavy machinery on a wheeled cart.  Thus the better and ubiquitous rolling suitcase was born.  To put that in perspective, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon before wheels made it onto suitcases.

For thousands of years human beings had focused on what exists.  Bags existed so people iterated on bag technology.  Moving from hand bags, to satchels, to suitcases and backpacks. All made it easier to carry what had come before.  Had Bernard not had an epiphany we might today still be carrying heavy suitcases through airports. Instead of focusing on what exists, focus on what is possible.  Be ready and willing to rebuild from scratch if it creates a better solution or process.  Those that do push themselves, their industries and sometimes society forward.