You have to Out-Imagine your Competition
We are at the half-way mark of the year and I think it would be appropriate to end the month with this post. I came across this quote today by a Mr. Tom Kelley. (I came to learn later on that he is the general manager of IDEO). Tom says that “If you can outlearn the competition, that gives you a way to stay ahead”. I disagree with that statement. I think that this was true in the Peter Drucker world of the Knowledge worker but we are now in the world of the creative worker. Imagination is more important today than knowledge.
I would say that “In the 21st Century, If you can out-imagine the competition, that gives you a way to stay ahead”. You can outlearn the competition and have all the knowledge you want in the world but unless you have talented workers who can imagine new ways of applying that knowledge, you will forever remaining a learning organization and fail to transition into an innovative organization. Innovation is a function of imagination.
Imagination is more important than learning today. The learner may go to school all he wants but it’s imagineers like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, etc who will stay on the innovative edge. By advocating for ’outlearning your competition’, Tom is calling for benchmarking! Benchmarking is so outdated! It directs all your focus onto your competition in your effort to outlearn them. My thinking is that if you will become remarkable you must break out of the vicious cycle of competing against other companies or people. You must focus on pursuing your true personal or your ultimate organizational potential.
As you focus on yourself and your organization, your imagination will kick in and you, or your organization, will establish itself on the frontier of innovative thinking. It’s only through imagination and innovation that we can find a way to stay ahead. (Even the idea of ’staying ahead’ is outdated. In the creative revolution of today’s society, you are only competing against yourself with the goal of reaching yours and your organization’s potential - but that’s another story altogether).
