Challenging Conventional Wisdom
Copyright 2006 Daniel Sitter
Challenging conventional wisdom…what a concept! How few
of us are willing to risk moving out of our comfort zone,
learning to push conventional wisdom aside and grow. Why is
it called conventional wisdom anyway? Why; Perhaps, because
the very idea of it is associated with being safe and
secure. Is that where we really want to be?
In today’s fast-changing and ever-shrinking world, new
ideas, methods, and processes are being conceived,
installed and operated at breakneck speed like never
before. There is little room for conventional wisdom
anymore, unless of course you are content with living in a
bubble, with little direction or growth intentions. I like
the old adage, “if you are not growing, you are dying.”
Marketing and sales, as well as many other fields, require
constant movement and adjustment.
The term “conventional wisdom†reminds me the old excuse
“because that’s the way we have always done it.†This
overly-used phrase is nothing more than a crude crutch for
countless persons. Did you know that someone, in
totally-blind ignorance, once had the audacity to say
publicly that “all the inventions that will ever be
invented had already been invented? There is no need for
the patent office anymore.†As ridiculous as that notion
appears today, that particular statement was made at the
turn of the 20th century. If anything, we can only dare to
imagine the discoveries and advancements that will be made
in the next 5 years, let alone the next century!
Certainly, there are instances where conventional wisdom is
quite appropriate, such as well-accepted norms of behavior,
testing procedures and religious practices. I challenge
however, the notion of accepting conventional wisdom at the
expense of personal and intellectual growth. That is where
the element of fear enters in and restricts so many people.
Generally, most fear at this level is simply imagined in
our minds-eye, thus creating barriers to our progress,
self-development and career advances. This is the point
where we need to train ourselves to be conscious of our
actual circumstances and work through this fear to find the
rewards awaiting us. Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke in his
first inaugural address “The only thing we have to fear is
fear itself.†He truly understood people and human nature.
FDR would never settle for accepting conventional wisdom,
and neither should you.
In the world of selling your own ideas, products and
services, we must be continuously growing beyond our
comfort zone, challenging conventional wisdom along the
way. Our ability to persuade others to our point of view as
well as our ability to match our goods and services to the
needs and wants of others, depends upon living and working
in a dynamic environment, not the static world of
conventional wisdom.
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Daniel Sitter, author of both the popular, award-winning
e-book, Learning For Profit, and the highly anticipated
book, Superior Selling Skills, has extensive experience in
sales, training, marketing and personal development over a
successful 25 year career. http://www.learningforprofit.com
