MAL682025 The Dearth In Modern Marketing | Page 48

never see“ success” listed as a threat in a company’ s SWOT analysis. Nobody ever says,“ One of our weaknesses or one of our threats is our success.” But it is true. Success creates a subtle arrogance. It blinds you to anything outside the formula that made you successful in the first place.
Here’ s the danger: what was once new, fresh, and disruptive eventually becomes routine. The very thing that made you stand out becomes the prison that locks you in.
Nokia once controlled over 40 % of the global phone market. Their success came from building durable phones with long battery life. That was their secret sauce. But when the smartphone wave came, Nokia was blind. They held tightly to the very formula that once made them kings. By the time they realized the shift, Apple and Samsung had already rewritten the rules. Nokia’ s past success had created a blind spot.
The same thing happened with Kodak. They invented digital photography! But because they were so successful with film, they refused to disrupt themselves. They were blinded by their own success in film, and that blind spot buried them.
Even in everyday life, we see this. How many people start their careers hustling, innovative, open-minded? They look for opportunities everywhere because they have nothing to lose. Then they taste success. Comfort sets in. Patterns form. They no longer chase the unfamiliar; they cling to what worked yesterday. Soon, they are overtaken by younger, hungrier, more innovative people who are willing to look in places they now consider irrelevant.
And this is exactly what happens in corporations. Grameen Bank pioneered microfinance, but today microfinance is the norm across the globe. The pioneer’ s advantage diminishes because everyone else studies you like a live case study. They learn from your mistakes. They copy your strengths. And then they improve on them. The vulnerability of success is that it gives others a platform to build on while you stay trapped in what“ used to work.”
Look at Blockbuster. Their success was renting DVDs and profiting from late fees. That success blinded them to the idea of streaming. Netflix, an underdog, looked where Blockbuster was not looking and today Blockbuster no longer exists.
Even in sports, you see it. Teams that win championships often fail to replicate the wins, not because they got weaker, but because their past success became predictable. Opponents study them, decode their strategies, and then beat them at their own game.
Success breeds blind spots and some key things that every leader needs to note are: Yesterday’ s breakthrough can become today’ s comfort zone. Yesterday’ s winning formula can become today’ s greatest weakness. Yesterday’ s innovation can become today’ s blind spot.
The companies, leaders, and individuals who survive are those who never let success blind them. They treat success not as a final destination, but as a temporary station. They ask themselves daily:“ What new blind spots is my success creating? Where am I not looking?” The moment you stop asking that question, success quietly becomes your biggest enemy.
This pattern is not new. It is as old as man. When the children of Israel cried out for water in the wilderness, God told Moses to strike the rock. He obeyed, and water came out. In that moment, Moses had found the winning formula. It worked. The people were satisfied.
But sometime later, when the people once again cried for water, God gave Moses a new instruction: This time, don’ t strike the rock; speak to it.
Here lies the danger of success. Moses had tasted results with the rod in his hand. He had seen the miracle once, and his mind locked onto that pattern. Why dump what worked before? Why abandon the tried and tested? After all, who had ever heard of speaking to a rock? It sounded foolish. It sounded unfamiliar.
Yet here’ s the irony: before Moses struck the rock, who had ever heard of hitting a rock to bring out water? Both instructions were unusual. Both required faith. But once Moses tasted success from the first formula, he clung to it. The unfamiliar had become familiar, and he could not let go.
That inability to move on from the familiar to the unfamiliar cost Moses dearly. He struck the rock again instead of speaking to it. Water still came out because God is merciful but Moses missed his place in the Promised Land. The man who had led millions out of Egypt, who had faced Pharaoh, parted the Red Sea, and climbed Sinai to meet God, was denied entry into the very land he had labored toward. Why? Because he could not shift from the familiar into the next instruction, the next dimension, the next unfamiliar space.
And that is the danger we all face. Success locks us into old formulas. We cling to what worked yesterday and miss what God wants to do today. What was once fresh revelation becomes stale tradition. What was once the tool of victory becomes the idol of limitation.
Think of how many people are missing their place in their promised land today not because they lack talent, not because they lack opportunities, but because they refuse to let go of the familiar. They are still striking old rocks when God is calling them to speak new words. They are still clinging to old methods when God is opening new doors.
The question then echoes through the corridors of history and through the chambers of your heart today: Where are you not looking?
Because the voice of destiny is often found in the unfamiliar. And your Promised Land may be locked behind your unwillingness to leave yesterday’ s formula.
This is where Wale’ s Triangle comes in. This is something I developed many years ago as I studied innovation across different sectors of society
At the three tips of the triangle are The Known, The Comfortable, and The Obvious. These are the three dimensions where most people and organizations prefer to live. They are safe spaces. They are predictable. They are controllable. And because they feel safe, people cling to them.
Innovation however never happens inside the triangle. Breakthroughs don’ t emerge from the Known, the Comfortable, or the Obvious. They only happen outside.
The Known is what you’ ve already mastered. It’ s what fills your CV, your profile, your report cards. But if you only ever repeat what you know, you will never grow. The Known is your comfort zone disguised as competence.
The Comfortable is what requires little or no risk. It doesn’ t stretch you. It doesn’ t make you sweat. It gives you the illusion of progress because you’ re“ doing something,” but you’ re only circling within the same safe boundaries. Comfort has never birthed greatness.
The Obvious is what everyone else sees. If everyone sees it, everyone is chasing it. That means competition is highest, margins are
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