We Have Always Done It That Way

Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer has a great WHADITW column in Business 2.0 this month. It talks about the “competency trap”:

“The concept is deceptively simple. Organizations try things. If what they do succeeds, they ‘learn’ that what they have done breeds success. So they persist, becoming ever more focused in what they do, and ever more specialized in the skills they acquire.

But two things invariably happen to undermine success. Competitors soon learn how to do the same thing, and conditions change, so that what worked in the past no longer applies. Companies have trouble adapting because they often build competencies that don’t advance new products, markets, or strategies,. Hence the phrase, ‘competency trap.’”

His response? Avoid excessive specialization, develop peripheral vision, and understand that success breeds its own problems.

Tags: The Way We Lead, We've Always Done It That Way //