As a young man history classes bored me. Now they fascinate me.

• America’s first depression occured in 1819 when the government sold large tracts of land and provided “easy” credit. Hmmm, sounds like 2008.
• We sing the praises of Silicon Valley (and worry about its competition) in the first part of the 21st century. Akron Ohio was a technolgy center at the beginning of the 20th century — for tires. Hmmm, maybe there is something to learn.
• The sheet music publishing industry was rocked on its heel by the intrusion of the Victrola (record player) into homes around the country. The book publishing industry is being rocked by the intrusion of tablets into the homes and hands of people around the world. Hmmm, maybe they should lead the parade instead of watching the parade go by.

History isn’t so boring after all.

I was reading some medical history over the weekend and came across a couple of interesting tidbits.

• When the stethoscope was invented, many doctors refused to adapt it because it “got between them and their patients.” They liked the tried and true way of putting their ear to the patient’s chest.
• Surgeons often rejected the early use of antiseptics because it slowed them down. It seems that the mark of a “good” surgeon in the early to mid-1800s was how fast they could perform an amputation.

Question: What new tool or technique are you rejecting because it “gets in your way?”

The post-Christmas, pre-New Year time tends to be a bit slower for many of us. Take some time to reflect on the past year and honestly assess your role in both the successes and challenges of your team or business. What did you do (for better or worse) that impacted the performance of the people around you.

Reflecting is a hard-won skill found in people who are really trying to prepare for their future. It’s one of the eight skills I highlighted in my first book and it’s one of the top three skills least  used in most businesses. We have plenty of reasons for not reflecting (too busy is top-most) but no real excuses. It something we need to do if we want to improve.

The past is the past — spend a few minutes thinking about what you did right and wrong in 2011 and get ready for 2012. More adventures lie ahead of you. Happy New Year.

I have a friend who regularly (about once per quarter) holds a team meeting with a single agenda item: Surprise me!

She knows that sooner or later she’s going to be surprised about her business. So she holds these meetings in order to get surprised by her team (and then do something about it) before she gets surprised by her competitors.

The meeting rules are pretty simple. She goes from team member to team member to see if they have something that might surprise her. If they bring up a topic that she’s aware of she simply thanks them and  then goes on to the next person. If someone surprises her (tells her something she doesn’t know about the business) she rewards them with a big bag of M&Ms.

The meeting is good for her — she learns something new — and the meeting is good for her team — they know she values their observations.

All of us have too much to do and, consequently, we often miss changes in the competitive landscape. Take a risk — get surprised by your team. It may be very valuable.

George Santayana, the poet and philosopher stated: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Rufus Fears, my favorite history teacher, states: “One of the lessons of history is that we don’t learn from history.”

Unfortunately, both seem to be right on the mark. We’ve had tulip bubbles, dot-com bubbles, real estate bubbles, and, I’m sure, we will fall prey to another bubble in the future. Likewise, lifecycles are destiny and every product, every company, and every career will eventually mature and go into decline. And yet we are continually surprised when it happens.

Today’s Chicago Tribune has an article by Phil Rosenthal about the ten year anniversary of Enron’s bankruptcy. Ten years!!! Where does the time go and what have we learned?  Well, considering the reality of Tyco, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madoff and MF Global, we’ve learned that George and Rufus are still right.

What might this mean for me and you? Well, as part of today’s MindLab exercise, let’s start by spending a few minutes on the following three questions:

1. Do I spend time to even try to understand past events and “learn from history?”
2. Can I list even three lessons that I need to apply to my thinking about today’s actions?
3. How do these lessons affect my vision, values and goals?

Want to prepare yourself for the future? Think bigger than your job. Think about what happening in “bigger boxes” and consider how you and your job might be affected.

What's happening in your "bigger boxes?"

If you are serious about “thinking bigger” you need to “read wider.” Grab a recent edition of Business Week or The Economist and consider how some of these stories may affect you and your company in the not-too-distant future.

My friend Leo often works with organizations facing a tough decision. One of his opening questions is “How much time do we have? Five minutes? Five hours? Five days? Five weeks?” He tries to get his clients to deal with the reality of an irreplaceable resource. We can borrow money. We can use subcontractors. We can rent space. But we only have so much time and we have to use it wisely.

We don’t want to “shoot from the hip” nor do we want to succumb to “analysis paralysis.” But if you wait before you start acting, you only reduce the amount of time you have left and will force yourself to take greater and greater risks. How much time is left before your competitor forces you to react? How much time is left before your best workers retire? How much time is left before your kids are “grown and gone?” How much time is left before you retire?

How much time is left?

I’ve been away from this for a while but have decided to return in a more focused manner. My intent is to issue a weekly thinking exercise to help anyone interested in improving their critical and strategic thinking skills. I hope you find these comments and exercises helpful.

Assumptions Gone Bad:  Assumptions are the foundation of personal and business strategy. Sears assumed they understood the  needs and wants of middle-class America. True for about a century; wrong for the past fifteen years or so. Martgage and financial service companies assumed that the price of a house would always go up. Right for fifty years — bad assumption starting around 2007.  Kodak assumed that film would gradually decline and that they had time to shift to a digital world. Oops.

Look at the assumptions you have been using in your personal and professional life. Are any of them “going soft” on you? Do you have a big decision coming up? Document your assumptions, vet them with people you trust, and review them every six months or so. Watch for “assumption erosion.” It’s a killer.

OK, this is shameless self-promotion, but I have to say that I’m really looking forward to the challenges of 2010.

New Book: My friend Leo Hopf and I have finished the final rewrite on our strategy book that will be published in May or June of this year. ReThink, ReInvent, RePosition: 12 Strategies to Make Over Your Existing Business has been in the works for a while and our publisher moved it to the front burner. The timing is perfect for companies as they come out of the current recession.

New Offerings: I’ve been facilitating workshops focused on critical and strategic thinking for about six years now. I’ve added two workshops to my offerings.

• Making and Influencing Better Business Decisions is the “follow-up” to the strategic thinking workshop.
• ReThink, ReInvent, RePosition is a one or two day workshop exploring the twelve strategies and challenge of changing an ongoing business.

New Office: The southwest has appealed to me for quite some time, so I’m adding an office in Tucson, Arizona. Now all I have to do is build a book of business.