The Next 12 Months Will Be Crazy...
Jeppe Hansgaard
CEO of Innovisor, Boutique advisory in Change and Networks, Advisor to leaders on change journeys, Author, Speaker, Henley MBA, Proud dad of 3, Organizer of King&Queen of Javelin, Triple Jump and 800m, Lifelong optimist
The next 12 months will be crazy for organizations. They will be characterized by:
Anything can happen!
Only one factor will determine organizational success - the people.
How the people collaborate and innovate together AND how the people mitigate the blockers to change, so their organization can adapt swiftly and successfully.
Great leaders recognize they must challenge ALL “truths”, assumptions, and biases that their organizations are built upon. This can only be done WITH or BY the people.
Done TO the people is a recipe for disaster.
This post of Dr. Joerg Storm (credits to Indiatimes.com) and reshared by David Messineo will show how deeply rooted ‘assumptions’ can be and why they are so difficult to identify and challenge:
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used?
Well, because that's the way they built them in England and English engineers designed the first US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And what about the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder
'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)
Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything.
I don't do things by halves
1 年Your prediction for 2023 came true and your concluding insight is eternal! Thank you Jeppe and here’s to amazing predictions and insights in 2024 and beyond!
President, Santiago Canyon College
2 年Bravo!! Love this explication of why structures are so embedded and so difficult to change without specific intentionality and design.
?? Bridge Builder
2 年Happy New Year, Jeppe Vilstrup Hansgaard, or in this case perhaps ancient...? I can see why so many managers may be a bit triggered if anybody questions their reasoning.
Adore the re-shared "horse's butt" post Jeppe Vilstrup Hansgaard - that's just brilliant. Happy New Year my friend and a year of much success for the folks at Innovisor