Comments on: Do You Want to Succeed or Survive? http://www.dachisgroup.com/2010/02/do-you-want-to-succeed-or-survive/ The future of business lies in the intentional creation of a dynamic business culture that empowers all its constituents to exchange value. We call this social business design. Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:03:53 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Lee Provoost http://www.dachisgroup.com/2010/02/do-you-want-to-succeed-or-survive/comment-page-1/#comment-1532 Lee Provoost Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:52:13 +0000 http://www.dachisgroup.com/?p=27362#comment-1532 Hi Richard, thanks! Nice analogy with the city, it probably makes it a bit more tangible for some people. I have to add that "not standing still" also implies that you should dare to completely question the thing you are doing. An example that a mentor once taught me and I use often is that clients sometimes come to you and ask them to help to drill a hole in the wall. We consultants tend to focus on getting the best drill to create that hole. We will think whether we can make the hole bit smaller, whether we can use silent drills to make less noise etc. But we often don't ask ourselves why do we need to have that hole in the first place? That's exactly the same mistake that a lot of companies make, they don't ask themselves: "is the thing we are doing still relevant given the initial problem we wanted to solve?" Hi Richard, thanks! Nice analogy with the city, it probably makes it a bit more tangible for some people.

I have to add that “not standing still” also implies that you should dare to completely question the thing you are doing. An example that a mentor once taught me and I use often is that clients sometimes come to you and ask them to help to drill a hole in the wall. We consultants tend to focus on getting the best drill to create that hole. We will think whether we can make the hole bit smaller, whether we can use silent drills to make less noise etc. But we often don’t ask ourselves why do we need to have that hole in the first place?

That’s exactly the same mistake that a lot of companies make, they don’t ask themselves: “is the thing we are doing still relevant given the initial problem we wanted to solve?”

]]> By: Richard Scionti http://www.dachisgroup.com/2010/02/do-you-want-to-succeed-or-survive/comment-page-1/#comment-1531 Richard Scionti Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:23:55 +0000 http://www.dachisgroup.com/?p=27362#comment-1531 Great post Lee. It reminds me of a Forrester report I once read that suggested a CIO's role should be modeled on that of a big city mayor. You can't survive long by just re-paving roads and picking up garbage. That's not enough - you need the IT equivalent of Urban Renewal! How can you modernize or replace to reduce maintenance of the existing? Where can you invest to improve: the equivalent of adding a highway exit ramp to make business easier in an industrial/office park. You can't turn things around if you're standing still. Great post Lee. It reminds me of a Forrester report I once read that suggested a CIO’s role should be modeled on that of a big city mayor. You can’t survive long by just re-paving roads and picking up garbage. That’s not enough – you need the IT equivalent of Urban Renewal! How can you modernize or replace to reduce maintenance of the existing? Where can you invest to improve: the equivalent of adding a highway exit ramp to make business easier in an industrial/office park.

You can’t turn things around if you’re standing still.

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