Think Exponentially

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”, Thomas Watson, President of IBM in 1943. We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run - even if we are experts and leaders in the domain.

Now what is true for Computers and AI is also true for other areas of our life, e.g. music, science, sports ...:

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

"It will be years -- not in my time -- before a woman will become Prime Minister." -- Margaret Thatcher, 1974.

"With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market." -- Business Week, August 2, 1968.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

For many decades physicians, scientists and athletes believed that human beings could not run a mile in less than four minutes. On May 6th, 1954, in Oxford, England, Roger Bannister ran a mile in three minutes and 59 seconds. Only 3 years later, 16 more runners had broken through. Today, well over a thousand people have run a mile in less than four minutes, including high-school athletes.

Individuals, teams and organizations behave in a similar manner. We often are attached to “four-minute mile” equivalents, like “I am not a math/people person", "I am too old to change my career", "I am not experienced, skilled enough to take on that role" and "those growth goals are unrealistic”, "we are not a XYZ company".

What is the biggest waste of our potential is that we often times hold on to our dear limiting beliefs. We go through life holding tight to our inner handbrake and often times even do not even try to make the lives around us and inside of us better and easier.

Sometimes it is our mindset (our beliefs) that gets in the way, sometimes it is our skillset or at times a combination. Back in the 1960s every high jumper including Dick Fosbury used to do high jumping in the same way ... running straight towards the bar to jump over while moving forward. Now Dick Fosbury was an average, yet passionate high jumper at college who decided one day to do the exact opposite of what everyone did around him and jumped over the bar backwards. While people laughed at him and saw in him a weirdo it was only a few years later in 1968 when Dick won the gold medal at the Olympic game.

Imagine you think possible? Imagine you do at times even the opposite of what you and others have done before? Imagine after so many years as a professional and leader in your domain you would become a student again with open, curious mind?

What if we think organisations differently? What if we think work differently? What if we think leadership differently?

Imagine more than 90% of all decisions in an organization are made by employees holding themselves 100% accountable for wowing customers and partners ... Imagine managers act and think as coaches and visionaries challenging your limiting beliefs and helping you to build your unique skills to wow customers ... Imagine you work on 90 day challenges following (y)our long-term aspiration ... Imagine you get real-time, honest feedback from peers and leaders in your immediate environment to make you even better...

Imagine what that can bring ... more productivity, more fulfilment and more innovation. At Bayer we have started broadly the journey into dynamic shared ownership.

Stay curious, broaden your horizon, get connected and inspired ...

In the long-run you hit what you aim for as an individual, as a team and as an organization, so raise the bar and

... aim high, start small and learn fast

and never settle for less.

If you feel stuck, you may think to small.

Before the broader team or organization can start believing that the impossible is possible, one person or a small number of people need to unlearn their old belief and just do it. What is your Fosbury/Bannister/Thatcher moment?