Challenge the known and embrace the unknown

Long back someone told me a story which had a moral to be followed (as per the story teller). It goes like this:

There was a guy who used to package cauliflowers. Day-in and day-out he used to do the same job with great zeal and enthusiasm. He spent years doing that. One fine day someone asked him a question. How can you be so happy doing the same thing everyday? He said that the work is same but each and every cauliflower comes in different shape and size and thus packaging each of them pose a new challenge to me.

The moral of the story (as concluded by the storyteller) is that be content with your job.

There was this smart guy (sitting beside me) carefully listening the story. Later on, I found the smart guy narrating the story to a lot of people in the organization and while people were yet to grasp the stuff, he got promotions one after another and today he heads a mid-size center.

It seems our smart guy embraced the thought process of the story teller and propagated that across the organization and may be it was wiser to do so as the story teller was very influential in the organization.

I think it works or fits at times but somehow, I was not convinced by the idea in totality. I started searching for a different story. And yesterday, I read one story which fits and works as well:

In the late 1800s there was a thriving ice industry in the Northeast. Companies would cut blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds and sell them around the world. The largest single shipment was 200 tons that was shipped to India. 100 tons got there un-melted, but this was enough to make a profit. These ice harvesters, however, were put out of business by companies that invented mechanical ice makers. It was no longer necessary to cut and ship ice because companies could make it in any city during any season. These ice makers, however, were put out of business by refrigerator companies. If it was convenient to make ice at a manufacturing plant, imagine how much better it was to make ice and create cold storage in everyone’s home.

You would think that the ice harvesters would see the advantages of ice making and adopt this technology. However, all they could think about was the known: better saws, better storage, and better transportation. Then you would think that the ice makers would see the advantages of refrigerators and adopt this technology. The truth is that the ice harvesters couldn’t embrace the unknown and jump their curve to the next curve.

“Challenge the known and embrace the unknown, or you’ll be like the ice harvester and ice makers”.

Note: A part of this post comes from a speech by Guy Kawasaki on his hindsights at the age 0f 40 at Palo Alto High School Baccalaureate Ceremony 6/11/95.