Learning to see

Fundamental #2 – habitually overcome your
limiting paradigms.

Paul Poirier
August 19, 2020

3 min read

Paradigms are critically important rules and regulations that tell you how to successfully solve problems. Paradigms act as filters that screen data that enters your mind. When data enters that does not match an existing paradigm, you try and distort the data to fit your rules. This is called the paradigm effect and why it is so easy to say no to a new idea. Let’s be honest, human nature is to avoid the pain of change. We are great at reacting to immediate dangers, but when a threat happens gradually over time, we are like a deer stuck in the headlights.

Although paradigms are common and useful, I recommend that you put your ear on the track in order to hear the paradigm change train coming. It is always coming. I would argue that a leader or individual who does not have a formal structure for overcoming limiting paradigms, puts their future success in peril.

To succeed, there must be an understanding that organizations are shadows of their leaders. This can be very bad or great news. Very bad if you are a company’s chief decision maker and your limiting paradigm becomes the only way of doing things. Your organization will be saddled by paradigm paralysis and significant pain awaits everyone within your company. However, if you adopt the fundamental of habitually overcoming your limiting paradigms, there will be more than enough opportunity for you, your business, and your people to achieve greater success with less effort.

For an organization to succeed in adopting any of the six fundamentals we teach of more success with less effort and specifically fundamental #2 – habitually overcoming limiting paradigms, change must be driven by the chief culture officer, a company’s owner, CEO, or president. The chief culture officer must be committed to creating a deep personal commitment throughout their organization. All of their employees must feel that the train is heading North. The only choice is to get on.

Leaders who are committed to implementing, practicing and making sure that the right business fundamentals are engrained within their culture, will be much more efficient with their energy and time. Improved efficiencies allow the leader to spend most of their time on what is the single greatest contributor to their future success, innovation. Innovation is the source of economic leadership and the foundation for competitiveness in a global economy.

Paul Poirier – A senior advisor with EISA and ABATE. Paul can be contacted via email: paul@abate.guru