Have you seen this video making its way around the social media channels? I have been one of those dads tirelessly pitching baseballs to my children and then chasing them down – either because they missed the pitch or because they connected. In both cases, I was walking up or down the street a lot.

This dad had probably done that too. And grew tired of it. And started to think: “There’s a better way to do this.” And using a fishing pole and line, he relaxed while his child got in plenty of practice.

How many times have you done the same in your business life? Tried the same way of solving the problem because …. It worked in the past. I am reading Adam Grant’s “Think Again.” I love the way Grant thinks. Or rather, re-thinks.  Human beings are programmed to think via our routines. We hard-wire our brains. And this is good in many situations – you’ve learned to ride a bike, drive a car, make a spaghetti recipe, because you do the same thing again and again.

But business problems are not always solved best by the former solutions.

And new products that come to market are often based on what the maker thinks the customer would want. In 1997, why would you ever think you would need a phone that plays music? You had a perfectly good Walkman.

Holly Greene of The Human Factor suggests the biggest threat to your business may not be new technologies, changing markets or unseen competitors. It’s what you think you know and what made you successful to date.

Let me know if you want to hear Holly on a one-hour webinar this week. It is on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. Use this link to register.