Giving Birth to Business Breakthrough

There are few creatures on earth so stunningly innocent and supremely hilarious as a first-time human parent.

“So…
(which is currently the most frequent start to any sentence in the English-speaking world)…
How on earth did you deal with all these baby things before Google?”

(And they’re not joking)

Then there’s the emergency phone call…
”You’ll never guess what just happened to her today?”

(Oh my goodness. What has happened now?)

“She opened her mouth…”

(Yes…?)

“And there it was.”

(Right… There what was?)

“Well, there was this tooth.
Poking right through her bottom gum.
I mean. We couldn’t believe it!”

(For crying out loud!
Strike me down with a feather!
A tooth in a baby’s mouth!
What is the world coming to?!)

Then there is the first-time mother who…
whilst folding down a pram the size and complexity of Optimus Prime…
(with gravitas, and careful to cover every detail)…
Explains how important it is to know how to deal with the aftermath of baby’s milky-vomit projectile.
The kind that we’ve seen hit a stranger in the back of the head from 4 metres (or is that 12 feet?).

(Completely forgetting that she is one of the children whom we baby-sat and cleaned up…
…from the time she was six months old).

Meanwhile, we are awash with Facebook and Instagram pictures…
of friends’ and neighbours’ youngest…
taken at 30-minute intervals.
Day and night.

it’s all very funny and lovely and endearing.
And perfectly natural.

It’s rather like a business leader with new-found knowledge gained from the latest book in their reading list.
Or from a Best-Practice meeting they’ve just attended.

What they’ve read is probably the greatest leap forward since the dawn of Mankind.
This is going to solve their people-management woes and confusions.
This is going to be their huuuuge revenue-generating business breakthrough.

Except it’s never quite as simple as that, is it?

The truth is rather more subtle.
Only partially contained in New Knowledge.
And success is usually the cumulative results of factors…
…acting together as catalysts.

Most importantly, the factor that tips everything from Knowledge to Insight…
From Insight to Wisdom…
Is…
US.
ME.

The way we believe the world works.
The way we think and behave.

This is usually the X Factor.
The catalyst that creates business ignition from this new-found knowledge.

The truth is…
We don’t raise children.
They raise us.
They demand that WE change if they are going to stand a chance in this adventure we call “Life”.

So it is in business.

We’ll give birth to better results.
We’ll accomplish more of what we yearn for.
We’ll reap greater rewards.
We’ll do all of this.

But we’ll do it when we’re prepared to ask ourselves this question:

”If I’m going to make this new knowledge work in our business…
What do I first need to change about ME?”