As you read this, think of the organization you work for; think of the country.

For you and me, the organization you work for and this country, for all of us to keep up, in fact to innovate and remain constantly relevant, we need brains, patience, money, luck and . . . Stubbornness.

Many organizations, and many leaders, keep holding on to paradigms that have long become obsolete. But leaders of such entities, citizens of such countries, management and employees of such companies behave like fat smokers. The fact is, many of them are aware of fat-smoker health risks; even some of them have a strategy to solve the problem within their grasp. But they lack the determination and discipline to keep faith with the solution. The temptation of another cigarette is just too much. It is not a matter of expert knowledge.

That brings us to a medical metaphor: once a tumor is sufficiently advanced before its control commences, medical experts know that the only remedy is always to radically and, perhaps, painfully excise it – even if the patient will be less well initially.

Leadership and management of entity – countries, organizations, and businesses - must therefore know this: develop the energy, the discipline and the focus to resist short-term “fat-smoker” temptations and do what is good for their entity’s sustainable health and wealth.

                        Source: THE BUSINESS MODEL NAVIGATOR.