You can hardly turn on the news these days without hearing a report on Toyota and unintended acceleration, cars speeding out of control due to some electronic or mechanical flaw.
The phrase "unintended acceleration" started me thinking. Is it possible that our entire industry--perhaps our entire economy and society--is afflicted with unintended deceleration?
We are living in an era marked by the notion that you can get something for nothing. Remember when the "permanent rise in housing prices" was going to turn the family home into a cash machine? Remember the trillion dollar war in Iraq that was going to be brief and pay for itself? Remember the myriad jackasses who think crowd-sourcing will yield thoughtful marketing communications that actually work?
Unintended deceleration comes from doing things on the cheap. It comes from playing it safe. It comes from trusting "the wisdom of crowds."
It's the love of the safe, the cheap, the tried and true, the embrace of group think that slows down, decelerates, destroys business.
We have constructed and we are cogs in a giant "sameness factory."
Slow down. You move too fast.
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It all happened so fast
A turtle was walking down an alley in New York when he was mugged by a gang of snails. A police detective came to investigate and asked the turtle if he could explain what happened.
The turtle looked at the detective with a confused look on his face and replied “I don't know, it all happened so fast.”
George, when are you performing next in the Catskills? I want to buy tickets.
ReplyDeleteA guy is watching TV when there’s knock at the door.
ReplyDeleteHe goes to the door and can’t see anyone but he looks down and there on the doorstep is a snail.
He picks up the snail and throws it as far as he can.
Three years later, the guy is watching TV when there’s a knock at the door.
He goes to the door and can’t see anyone but he looks down and there on the doorstep is a snail.
The snail looks up and says, “What was all that about?”