A fascinating article by Stefan Stern in the Financial Times reminds us how easy it is for organisations to fall into an elephant trap formed out of their own corporate missions and strategies and operational norms.
At the heart of the article are thirty five innovations that were rejected internally by Xerox management over the years, innovations that went on to create significant wealth for other companies. In fact, it’s been estimated that the cumulative market value of ten of these rejects became worth twice that of Xerox itself.
The principle is this: if your mission/strategies/processes/norms are too tight, too specific, you’ll end up with the panflute situation.
You don’t suppose the panflute flowchart was one of Xerox’s core processes, do you?
At the heart of the article are thirty five innovations that were rejected internally by Xerox management over the years, innovations that went on to create significant wealth for other companies. In fact, it’s been estimated that the cumulative market value of ten of these rejects became worth twice that of Xerox itself.
The principle is this: if your mission/strategies/processes/norms are too tight, too specific, you’ll end up with the panflute situation.
You don’t suppose the panflute flowchart was one of Xerox’s core processes, do you?
Posts
