Story:
Disrupting paradigms

May 1, 2010 at 3:03pm

Moonshots

Summary

A former colleague at Politécnica Engineering School has a very successful career - beginning as a trainee at a big German automotive company in Brazil currently he is the CEO of the same company for the NAFTA running 23 plants allover Mexico, Canada and USA. He told me that part of his success come from a gimmick used whenever the company is facing a difficult problem: He invites someone with proven competence in his (or her) profession - but with no knowledge at all of engineering, metallurgical or auto parts – to take part of the meeting. The results were amazing. Having different paradigms these guests were able to see thing others weren’t and suggest easier, faster and/or less costly solutions. He explains: “Working for many years at the company has pros and cons. The main con is that the window each of us uses to watch the company and the market becomes smaller. I just bring someone with a bigger window.”

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December 8, 2010 at 10:32am

Miguel Sacramento

I'm using the same method in other companies with success. For instance, in many companies older employees hate the "arrogance" and "no respect" of young trainees. Therefore, they love when trainees are sent to "Integration classes" and come back with their same paradigms and stop questioning procedures and everything.Trainees has the right of doing stupid questions. Maybe they are not so stupid and different questions may require different answers. Fresh people see what other can't see and "formating" trainees" brain is fastest way to waist their ability to see different. By using some global success cases - like Puma sportswear using the global teenager to catch up Nike and Adidas or a national case like Citibank, Häagen Dazs and Blockbuster alliance in Brazil to overcame problems they were facing regarding reaching final consumers in BrazilI - I show to top management people of diferent companies that having no experience in the business does not mean lack of culture nor intelligence. It really means new opportunities coming from fresh ideas.

May 3, 2010 at 4:36am

Polly LaBarre

I'm a huge fan of the "fresh eyes" theory of work. The business world is so in awe of the experience curve (the more you do something--whether it's make circuit boards or develop tv shows) the better you get at it. Given the speed and nature of change today, I think we also need to cultivate the "inexperience curve"--the more we do something, the more we have to figure out ways to question and challenge and drop our habits and assumptions about how things work. It's a true leadership discipline to see the world with fresh eyes every day. Your colleague seems to have figured out a great way. One of my favorite maverick leaders, Dan Wieden (cofounder of Wieden + Kennedy advertising and the guy who literally wrote the words "Just do it") is a master at his craft, but he says that his real job as a leader is to "walk in stupid" every morning. By that he means, something has changed overnight (whatever business you're in, whatever your role is), and it's your job to be awake to that change, to not be so stuck in your own mold that you don't see what's going on around you. To that end, he and his peers have crafted WK as a place that invites the "subversive" in, with a whole menu of programs (from an artist-in-residence, to a progressive school, to an edgy lecture series, to turning the lobby into a public space and ticketing/info center for the arts in Portland, Ore).

I would love to know how your colleague has systematized this "disruption" inside the company. Could you or he flesh out a bit how this has really changed working life, how decisions are made, how strategy gets set?

May 15, 2010 at 3:13am

Gary Hamel

Basic idea here is a good one. We are all prisoners of our paradigms, and hostages to our beliefs. A diverse set of perspectives is key to finding breakout solutions. This is why, for example, the Gates Foundation is directing more and more of its grant money to relatively young researchers.

I would encourage you, Miguel, to develop a full-fledged "hack" around this idea. How could a company bring new perspectives into every key decision-making or problem-solving effort? One suggest, make sure you overweight the team with (a) young people--who have less to unlearn; (b) people who have experience in other industries--vs 20-year veterans; (c) people who work a long ways away from HQ; and (d) people who have differing areas of expertise.

May 29, 2010 at 4:08am

Eric Schillinger

Hi Miguel:

Interesting perspective on solving complex problems. What is your suggestion regarding trying to solve a complex issue such as job creation, when collaborative efforts across our economy's sectors is implemented--who would qualify as that independent voice with a "bigger window" as you mentioned? Eric Schillinger

May 29, 2010 at 8:40am

Miguel Sacramento

Eric, I would suggest you to invite selected students from high school and from early years on college to express what “job” do mean to them. They will certainly present a different point-of-view from what we and our HR people have. And they are the “clients” for the jobs we intend to create. Let’s hear the clients’ voice, then.