Strategy-Driven Innovation(sm)

If we assume each individual has a mind, it might be safe to say that every organization has a mind, too. We also have a heart and body, yes? Then one could argue that an organization, collectively, has a heart and body, also.

And, if an organization has a mind, heart, and body, it must have a soul!

For human beings, the “mind-body-heart-soul” connection is the primary differentiation for long term health and longevity. Might this also be true for an organization?

Could this, in fact, be what makes one company different from its largest competitor?

I think so. To me, it seems that the mind is the key to “mindfulness.”

Just as human beings limit most of their progress because they don't like to 'change', organizations also develop such 'mind-lessness'.

This limits our capacity to explore more fully our innate potential within. I liken it to breathing in and breathing out.

Breathing in is what we learn; breathing out is our creative and innovative “output”. This same mind is constantly craving for various sensual short-term, give me the pill, quick pleasures, leading to bondage with the external world (customers, revenue, profits, etc.).

This organizational mind is fickle in nature, just like the human mind, treacherous and hard to control - leading to bad habits.

Bad habits, leads to bad culture. Bad culture, leads to bad character. Bad character leads to organizational demise.

If our journey starts with controlling the individual mind, then the organizational mind will be cultivated organically, from within.