A Dangerous Malady of Business

Denial, failure, refusal to see reality are biggest problems companies. These problems wrecked IBM, Digital, General Motors, Sears, Hoffman-La Roche, Schwinn, American Express, Tandy, Citibank, Xerox, Kodak and the List goes on and on. It stems from what I call “business blidspot”. The three most devastating blindspot are unchallenged assumtions, corporate myths, and corporate taboos. Every company harbors blindspots, or is breeding some as you read these lines. The question is not whether your company will lose touch with the competitive arena but when it will lose touch.

This is not a claim that one can do nothing about losing touch. It is a claim that if one does nothing, blindspot will always prevail. Without taking specific preventive measures, such as ensuring that top managers consider competitive information in making decisions, companies will be hit on the head by change time and again. And, as many managers already know, it hurts.