I’m trying to figure out just how effective the Office 2.0 applications were that Ismael used when he assembled Office 2.0. And by clicking through to SiteKreator I came across 3tera and Vlad Miloushev’s Off Message blog, where he says:
The problem with telling a consistent story is that if the story is good enough for other people to buy into, you may end up buying into it yourself. To buy into your own story is very dangerous. Because a good story is always a reflection of the real world, but it is, by necessity, a simplified version of the real world. The difference is often subtle, but it has killed more companies than inept management or financial shenanigans. As Roy L. Smith once said, “the successful man is the one who finds out what’s wrong with his business before his competitors do”. Doing this is hard enough. Buying into your own stories makes it a lot harder to do.
So many software vendor representatives fall into this trap to the point of thinking that any criticism strikes at the heart of their company and the adverse position therefore needs ‘correction’ before the heresy takes root. This is utter nonsense. Vlad’s post is refreshing not just because it is open but because it is rooted in reality. Hence Vlad the Inhaler as the title to this post. Business needs a lot more of that style of communication – IMO.
The same is true on the other side of the media fence. Like the many commentators who build reputations based on a position and then seem forever bound to defend something from which people may well have moved on. It’s futile. Nick Carr often looks like an example of that to me.
I know what it means to get stuck in a position that’s becoming increasingly untenable. Painful and uncomfortable. That’s why I prefer to view my thinking as strong opinions, weakly held. That way, when the ground shifts, I’m not boxed into a belief system from which I can’t escape.
A good example is my recent modification of thought around online/offline. At one time I would have stridently argued in favour of online to the exclusion of offline. Today, I’m not so certain. My experiences about the variations in wifi costs around Europe and the US is a case in point that illustrates some of the practical realities it is all too easy to overlook.
Does that mean I’m flip-flopping on Office 2.0 concepts? Not at all. I’m merely shuffling my position to reflect experience while keeping my eye on the long term goal.
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