For nearly 20 years we have guided companies around the world on everything from marketing strategies to solving complex problems, and one of the issues we sometimes come across is old school legacy companies that have been slow to adapt and need a path to transform their mindset/approach.

Going back in time, Einstein truly said it best: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Essentially, if your internal process/team is flawed – especially those with tenure that still make decisions – change will be difficult and also appear almost as a threat to them and the bubble/comfortability they’ve created at the company.

And quite frankly, with company hierarchy/structure and lack of inspiration/vision where teams are focused on working 9-5 then clocking out at 5:01 on the dot isn’t really what’s going to push the needle and make companies incrementally successful by the day. The team is essentially structured on doing the best to make their managers happy and that trickles up the hierarchy, which we’ve seen at a variety of public companies.

Keep in mind that if you’re running a small or even medium sized company these indicators may be hard to see, though when you look at scale (companies like Amazon, Apple, Walmart, etc.) the data starts to tell the story: These are the biggest companies in the world that found the right recipes to keep people happy in a multitude of ways.

The point is, if your company is stuck in a time capsule and weighing micro improvements as wins that are commonplace for smart companies today you’re not staying ahead of the game (the real goal) but instead always trying to catch up which is a recipe for failure.

Years ago our founder (Aaron Schoenberger) was brought in to guide a Fortune 500 company (among others after that) on behalf of the new CEO and what he uncovered was what is mentioned above: A culture based on clocking in and out of work versus actually caring about your job/mission along with the people around you (your team regardless of the focus).

And that approach – giving people a mission/spark to be better – is one of the major things that helped turn companies around behind the scenes.

Going back to the core of this post, executives from all walks of life bring something special to the table and those that are special will always stand out from the crowd not because they’re the shiny object but instead deliver effective solutions, which many times includes being open to change and adapting to the times.

The world is a wild place today and what we outlined above is only a drop in the bucket. More to come soon…