Sticking to what you do well ...

I came across this shop in Lisbon, Portugal. They sell eels in cans. Only eels in cans. One flavor. They have two sizes, big size and small size. And they have been selling eels in cans and only eels in cans since 1942.

I found it a refreshing approach in a world where we are constantly bombarded with "new and improved". Found your favorite tooth paste ? Very likely you will no longer find it in in six months or so, replaced by dozens of "new and improved" flavors, sizes and packagings. Toilet paper for some time comes in double (2x) size and triple (3x) size. And I recently came across another "innovation": we now have 1.5 x and 2.5 x regular size. Really running out of ideas on the never-ending "new and improved" front !

If a company can survive for nearly 80 years on canned eels, let this be an inspiration to stick what you really want to do and do not allow yourself to get sidetracked, however tempting this may seem, and however many others are running around after every new trend and opportunity that comes around !

What questions were not allowed ?

Samsung's debacle with the Note 7 caused a loss in profit of more than 2 billion US$ and the company's image will be dented for a long time to come. Who will rush out to buy the Note 8 ??

The official cause for the batteries catching fire has not yet been communicated and there will undoubtedly be technical explanations about the reasons the phones overheated and started to melt. And maybe a few engineers will be shamed (publicly, undoubtedly) and for sure a good part of the blame will end up in the lap of the suppliers who built the batteries.

But very likely, someone, at some point, at Samsung or at the supplier, had raised questions about the stability or safety of the new generation batteries that were being rushed through production to meet the deadlines. Maybe it was an engineer or technician who thought that some test results were too borderline to allow for the next phase in design and production  ... And they were probably told that the impact on the timely launch would be too important. The Challenger and Titanic disasters are examples where people had raised questions and concerns but been overruled or ignored.

These are dramatic examples. For sure your company will not end up in the headlines to this extent. But just wonder how difficult questions are dealt with in your organization ? Are they written off as disconnected with the business priorities ? As a disturbance ? Or are they looked upon as a way to challenge current practices and do better in the long run ? The impact may not be as dramatic as in Samsung's case, but the way you deal with questions will definitely impact how your organization grows ...