Who's keeping you from thinking non-linearly?

Strategic leaders recognize the forces that stifle change.

THINK ON IT: Who’s keeping you from thinking non-linearly?

All leaders know how hard it is to change the direction of their company. There’s so much to do already to keep the business running in its current direction… Why add in something new now? Can’t we just optimize and find growth where we are? 

It’s called the path of least resistance for a reason. Optimizing your business is pursuing the path of least resistance. Changing your business direction can be like trying to push water uphill and expecting to feel refreshed at the end.

We are surrounded by employees and partners and customers who are often inclined to fight for the status quo. But strategic leaders can’t avoid change just because it’s hard. If their organization is going to grow and adapt and survive a swiftly-changing world, they must be change leaders.

And often that change requires a non-linear approach rather than a “business as usual, but better” approach. 

If your organization has topped out in optimization, or if your current strategy seems to have run out of gas, it’s time to make a change — and a strategic one. 

This is when a leader needs to ignore the forces that want to maintain the status quo and see if they can free themselves from their current constraints.

Can you shed customers who want what they already have, but cheaper? Can your organization shed partners who are driven by an agenda that prioritizes their own success over yours? Or perhaps the constraint you need to lift from your shoulders is employees who have been conditioned to optimize the business, and can’t quite grasp how to think about it in an entirely different way. 

As a leader, you don’t have to act on every creative, non-linear thought that you may have about your business, but you do need to be aware that you are surrounded by people and partnerships and perspectives that make it easier to go with the flow rather than innovate when the time comes.

Remember what Alvin Toffler said, “"If you don't have a strategy, you're part of someone else's strategy.” 

Have your own strategy — and make sure it’s transformative when it needs to be.

[Premium members] Read on to learn how to think non-linearly even when everyone around you doesn’t. (Become a Premium Member. Paid subscribers get access to nearly 100 tools and how-tos on implementing strategic topics, including a 7-part series to help leaders build their own strategic capacity.)

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"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." — Henry Ford, innovator of faster non-horses.

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