In 1861, as US President James Garfield was preparing to board a train, he was shot twice. He was a very popular man, even though he had only been in office for six months. Apparently, the president had refused to appoint the shooter to a political position because he did not have the necessary qualifications, even though he was an active member of the party (here, as we know, the lack of qualifications of the "boys" is not considered an impediment to political appointments). This act of revenge took the form of two bullets: one grazed James' arm without causing any damage, the other penetrated his back, lodging somewhere in his abdomen.
The best doctors and minds in the country were called in to help the president. You may not know this, but the first air conditioning unit was created on this occasion to cool Garfield's room - they managed to reduce the heat by 11 degrees, albeit at a very high cost. However, the biggest problem they faced was identifying the exact location of the bullet in the president's body so that they could extract it without causing damage. One of the greatest geniuses of the time, Alexander Graham Bell, at the height of his popularity, believed he had the solution: in the process of inventing the telephone, he had created a metal detector capable of identifying the bullet.
When Bell brought the device close to the president, the alarm sounded immediately. The problem was that the device continued to sound as they moved it around the patient's body, as if his entire body contained metal. It was a failure.
It took Bell a few weeks to discover the reason for his failure: the device had detected the metal springs in the mattress on which the president was lying. Unfortunately, it was too late to save James Garfield, who died as a result of doctors poking around for the bullet. Not questioning assumptions had tragic consequences.
Over years of working with companies, I have seen many brilliant people using metal detectors on spring mattresses.
Doing things because they have always been done that way, using homemade solutions because they are "ours" and not because they are the best. Especially if the company's overall results are good, we tend not to question processes. Positive results almost inevitably lead to some complacency, even if it is sometimes well disguised. Continuously questioning assumptions is fundamental to achieving success and, even more difficult, to maintaining it.
Peter Drucker, one of the great management gurus, said he was paid to ask stupid questions. And there is no shortage of questions to ask: about the industry, the company, the culture, the costs, how to get customers, how to sell, how to collect. What is most lacking is the courage, individually and collectively, to ask questions that may challenge our way of thinking.
In these tumultuous times, companies will take much more than two shots. How many will survive using metal detectors in spring mattresses?
