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Posted March 6, 2009 Everything I know is wrong. Allow me to explain.
Long ago I thought I knew everything worth knowing. And I thought I knew everything that I didn’t know, such as brain surgery, higher mathmatics, economics, etc. It was a great awakening for me to learn how little I knew, and how much I didn’t know that I didn’t even know that I didn’t know.
One of the great toy companies of the 70’s and 80’s made a famous dough product with a wonderful smell. They wouldn’t sell dough sets that made food items, however, as they didn’t want kids to eat them, or to suffer whatever legal issues might come of that.
Another aggressive, fast growing toy company of that era introduced their own dough line, and most of it was about molding fake food items out of dough. It was a hit, and the former company had to eat its proverbial lunch (probably made of doh as well). They held sacred that they shouldn’t and couldn’t mold foods out of dough, and they were wrong. They lost many millions in business as a result of ‘knowing’ something, and being wrong.
This same great toy company was a leader in R/C vehicles at the time and believed that kids wanted realistic vehicle performance, not crazy stunts. That very same aggressive up-and-coming toy company with the fake-food-dough then proceeded to introduce a wild action, crazy stunt R/C vehicle, and it was a hit. The former company got its head handed to it again. They thought they knew kids wanted real vehicle action, and they were wrong. And thus they were driven out of the R/C category.
Most everything I know or hold true will be proven wrong one day. Believing something doesn’t make it true. It is useful to question our basic assumptions, our sacred beliefs in business and in life.
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