This happens easily for big successful organisations. Over decades a strong culture aligned with how they succeed forms. Once the market changes requiring a culture change, a seemingly invincible company suddenly stumbles. They simply can’t respond even if they what they should change.
Ex. Rolls Royce CEO stated this phenomenon well: culture eats strategy for breakfast.
You love what you love. If others don’t, that’s cool. I quite like some songs by Nickelback, but they aren’t quite my favourite. I find myself listening to Creed from time to time and I think they are great.
As for AB, the best band ever as far as I’m concerned. There is not a single AB album I haven’t played again and again. I’ve seen them live ten times or so, and will go see them every time I get the opportunity. And Myles could sing the phonebook and I’d still love it.
Remember when email was useful? I remember when it was magical!
Time for a story from the ancient times. I had this idea and asked my professor for advice. He said he knew a person on the other side of the world who would know all about it. “This is his ‘email’ address.”
I had never heard about ‘email’ so I needed to learn what it was and how to send one. I wrote my message and off it went. The very next morning I had a reply. One of the best experts on a topic I was keen about had shared their thoughts from the other side of the world, just like that.
In that time, a long time ago as you’ll appreciate, that interaction was magical.
In an instant I understood the power of the Usenet. A while later and with a couple of additional protocols they started calling that the Internet.
I think there is another aspect that is important: limit the blast radius. Shit inevitably happens when you create something new and complex, and when it does, you’d rather minimise the impact where possible.
For Glasgow, it has to be chicken tikka masala.
Almost all albums I love most took several listens to get into. Music that sounds great on first listen often becomes boring quickly. More challenging stuff takes its time but in the end delivers much more pleasure.
The story of Nokia the company is long and meandering. Its roots go back to late 1860’s in the town of Nokia in Southern Finland, near the city of Tampere, from where they’ve gone through all sorts of businesses, including rubber boots and industrial capacitors to name just two. You might even find an old Nokia TV knocking about. The mobile handsets phase was in some sense but a blip in the story, although a spectacular one. I’m sure they’ll keep going in one way or another for a fair while still.
Never ever let facts get in the way of a good story!
However, wiping eyes with fresh chillies is clearly preferable to either.