Comment and Question

Tom, I have not read your book but there must some systemic reason why it is almost impossible to implement change. I’ve been involved in product ideation exercises for innovation and nothing comes from it. I’ve heard many presentations about transformational leadership and nothing transforms. The conferences about being a change agent continue and nothing changes. We conducted sales training for 8 sales engineers to develop new business and nothing has changed. Everyone blames the economy. Do you have a systemic answer that is not grounded in blame?

C. B.

Answer

C. B. I am sending you a copy of my book Transformational Change. It is a difficult read, but it does answer your question is some detail.

Yes, there is a systemic reason for all of the issues you list. You identify it in your comment: “Everyone blames the economy.” Blame is the process of assigning “causation” and “causation” assessment is the intended outcome of “problem solving” technology. Creating a business, driving innovation, transformational change and new business development are not CAUSED. They are not problems to solve. They are POTENTIAL to emerge. The “systemic” reason for all of the failures your describe is the deeply imbedded “problem solving” approach that is being applied. I listened to four nationally known speakers at an Innovation Conference and all four talked about “solving problems.” An irrefutable Law of Structure is that “Nothing has ever been “solved” into existence.”

The successful creation of a business, development of an innovative product, transformation of a business and the development of new customers are all driven with POTENTIAL thinking. Potential thinking is moving from Current Reality toward a Vision. It is the process of “creating” and in the “technology of creating” Current Reality just IS – there is NO BLAME.

In order for “creating” to be successful, there can not be any assessment of “causation.” When we read about a business being started in a dorm room or a garage, the Founder is “creating” from “potential” --- not “causation.” They are not “causing” anything to happen. They are “allowing” it to “emerge.” They are taking action day by day toward a vision and “determining” what to do again the next day. It is like the acorn – nothing causes it to become an oak tree --- it has a potential within the seed and when properly nurtured, it will grow. The same is true with all the initiatives your mention.

The mistake – and the systemic reason for failure -- is that the “researchers” in the “aftermath” examination of a business success like Amazon.com or Apple etal. search for the “cause” and it can not be found. This is very difficult to comprehend as the “aftermath research” is generally being done to “solve” some problem in the current business environment and when they can not identify the “cause,” they default to “blame” some amorphous thing like the “economy” or the “culture” of the company. Entrepreneurial failures are blamed on a lack of money. This is when the “culture” change suggestions and the search for venture capital began to flow. As all VC’s will attest, money will not “cause” any business to be successful.

The failure to understand the systemic influence of the “problem solving” approach to business is the single biggest barrier to success in business today. If your company is invested in “selling solutions,” it will have difficulty developing new business. If your company is having difficulty being “innovative,” it must plant the “creative acorns” (people) in a “creating” structure and nurture that environment for innovation to “emerge.” It can not be CAUSED.

When you get the book, refer to The Laws of Structure on pages 78 and 79. On those pages are listed 27 Structural Laws that serve as the basis of designing any change initiative. That Chapter will help you understand in detail the systemic issue describe in this email.

Thank you C. B. for a great question.