A recent article in Forbes Magazine by Lee Gomes said that a more effective form of innovation than disruption is to do a Deep Dive. Since this also happens to be the title of my new book on strategic thinking (Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources and Taking Smart Action), I decided to investigate further. Gomes’ perspective on a Deep Dive is that a company’s intense focus on addressing their key business issues “…ends up creating new and unexpected opportunities.”
Many managers are struggling today with how to grow their business. Instead of taking time to think more deeply about the key issues, their anxiety tends to spin them off like bumper cars in dozens of different directions in hopes that their flurry of activity will run them into a solution. As Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu wrote, “When people wish to see their reflections, they do not look into running water; they look into still water. Only that which is still can hold other things still.”
How still are you?