I’ve been delayed posting because I’m traveling around India. What a wonderful country that is regularly creating new Challenges for old businesses.
Auto traffic in India is always difficult, primarily due to very poor quality, and insufficient, roadways. But on a recent journey traffic was particularly snarled. Finally we reached the cause – there was a trio of cows standing in the road looking as placid as imaginable while autos found their way around the cows.
I commented to the driver that this seemed a problem worth solving. India is no longer a slow-moving agrarian state, but rather today it has become a fast-paced technology-led country with new demands. Especially in the cities. While the past need not be forgotten, surely small changes could be made to more effectively move toward the future. Why would they continue to allow cows to wander onto the roadway? Why not put up roadside fencing? Why not have people along the road keep the cows off – or at least lead them off when they wandered on? He looked at me like I was from Mars. "Why would we do those things?" he asked me.
Finally, I understood the often used phrase "Sacred Cows." We say it in business meaning something that is unchallengable. All executives say "around here, we have no sacred cows." But in fact they do. They see them, but they do not recognize them. Just like the driver who was very willing to accept cows on the roadway, business leaders can see the things that impact their business, but they don’t recognize them as something which is changable. Just like the driver looked for ways around the cows, rather address the notion of cows blocking the roadway altogether, business leaders look for ways around the Challenges as they focus on the immediate problem. They accept these things (their sacred cows) as given, and they look for ways to maneuver around them without impacting them. They ignore the Challenges and overlook the Lock-in as they march forward focusing on the problems being created by the Lock-in and the Challenges to it.
Once you are Locked-In you have created your sacred cows. You then institutionalize them with your processes. Activities are based on the notion that these things will never change. And then, we don’t see the Lock-in anymore. We are blind to the notion that these Lock-ins can, in fact, be a cause of our problems in a changing environment. From inside, the sacred cows become invisible as something that can be changed. And to outsiders that is the obvious sign of Lock-in.
Every business has its sacred cows. It is unavoidable as the business defines its market, customers and competencies. But long-term success requires you bring along people who can point out these sacred cows, and identify the Challenges which will lead you to suffer by maintaining the sacred cows and processes which support them. Just as India must fix its roadways, including the impact of wandering sacred cows, if it wishes to maintain its growth rate, businesses must identify their Lock-ins and develop ways to address them to maintain growth.