RIGHT ON~!! New Ideas come from the strangers at the table because they break the "we don't do it like that here" rule. Give me a new set of ideas and a rebel with out a cause and I'll break the ice every time.
I hate a table full of old timers wearing the same brown suits saying "Yes JB, you're absolutely right, JB, " and the productivity charts continue to tank.
A newly arrived rebel with a brand new idea that kicks holes in the side of the ship will do it every time.

Roger Fulton
Yuma, Arizona

I follow these and wonder is FC being contrarian - simply provocative.

Like this one:

What does the age of an idea have to do with wealth?

Why mention it in the first place. Seems the newcommers would be better served if this "insight" wasn't shared with the brown suits and they died froman old ideasm. Why save them ? Why not keep it a secret and make all the newcomers rich?

Then again, do companies die from their old ideas? But I notice lots of companies also die from their new ideas!

Strikes me that the killer is not the idea (old or new) but the faith in ideas in the absence of mindfulness or awareness without ideas. But that's an old idea. I'll never be rich.

When I look at the big picture of management literature - I see shifts between extremes. When trends go to far in one direction, we get reminded to move the other way...

eg. "Innovation" Vs "Renovation", "Core Competencies" vs "Edge Competencies"

As for the suggestion that FC was being provocative and contrarian... dramatization for illustration purposes only? Eg. Tom Peters knows you're not gonna get a point across sitting on the fence.

It is up to us to balance the paradoxes and discover what works!

I agree with your insight - Though I've found locating the pendulum to be a little more difficult.

I have a deeply held suspicion that there are two pendulums ( and may be more).

One is in the mind and the other in located somewhere near behavior. The mind swings out wide and fast whilst the swing of behavior ( to match the idea) is narrow and slow. The two seldom line up and may explain why a companies current belief rarely matches their actions.

Another paradox to balance?

Very true - the playing field is multi-dimensional.

And unless I have a really important decision and the luxury of time, I look at data I have, and leave the paradox balancing to my instincts! =P