Rowing harder doesn't help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.
Kenichi OhmaeRead
It is hard to let old beliefs go. They are familiar. We are comfortable with them and have spent years building systems and developing habits that depend on them. Like a man who has worn eyeglasses so long that he forgets he has them on, we forget that the world looks to us the way it does because we have become used to seeing it that way through a particular set of lenses. Today, however, we need new lenses. And we need to throw the old ones away.
Interpretation
Letting go of old beliefs is challenging but necessary for growth and change.
The quote highlights the difficulty of abandoning long-held beliefs and the comfort that comes with familiarity. It uses the metaphor of eyeglasses to illustrate how our perceptions can be shaped by outdated perspectives, and emphasizes the importance of adopting new ways of thinking in order to view the world differently and embrace change.
In practice
In a personal development workshop, one might use this quote to encourage participants to challenge their outdated beliefs.
Rowing harder doesn't help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.
What business strategy is all about-what distinguishes it from all other kinds of business planning-is, in a word, competitive advantage. Without competitors there would be no need for strategy, for the sole purpose of strategic planning is to enable the company to gain, as efficiently as possible, a sustainable edge over its competitors.
The world is no longer against us.
Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals.
We are 25 years too late. If the object is to avoid dangerous change, we've already had it. The object now is to avoid really dangerous change.
Leave home, leave the country, leave the familiar. Only then can routine experience--buying bread, eating vegetables, even saying hello--become new all over again.
By surrendering my life to the revolution, I found eternal life
Now we're in the midst of not just advocating for change, not just calling for change - we're doing the grinding, sometimes frustrating work of delivering change - inch by inch, day by day.
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