lowest, and opportunities are thinnest. The Obvious is where oceans turn red with blood, like in the Blue Ocean / Red Ocean analogy.
The trap is that most people spend their entire lives trying to strengthen themselves inside this triangle. They build systems, careers, strategies, and even churches around what is Known, Comfortable, and Obvious. But they never step out.
And yet the magic is always outside the triangle. Airbnb didn’ t look at hotels( the Obvious). They looked at unused spaces. Uber didn’ t look at taxis( the Known). They looked at ordinary cars. Netflix didn’ t look at DVD stores( the Comfortable). They looked at streaming before anyone else dared. Safaricom didn’ t look at the rich( the Obvious). They looked at the masses. Moses was asked not to strike the rock( the Known), but to speak to it- the unfamiliar, the outside.
This is why so many miss their breakthroughs. They want innovation without leaving the triangle. They want miracles while clinging to the familiar. They want new results but refuse to leave old formulas.
The winners are always those who dare to step outside into the Unfamiliar, the Uncomfortable, the Unseen, and the Unlikely.
So again, the question is.‘ Where are you not looking?’ If you are still inside the triangle of the Known, the Comfortable, and the Obvious, you’ re not looking where breakthroughs are born.
We have now discovered that many companies that are struggling do so, not because their products are bad, not because their people are lazy, and not even because their markets are shrinking. They struggle because of where they are not looking.
Take this scenario. You have a database of 10,000 people, yet your customer base is only 100. Something is wrong with that equation.
Here is what has happened: those 100 have delivered. They are inside Wale’ s Triangle- the Known, the Comfortable, and the Obvious. They buy, they support, they show up. So, you keep going back to them again and again because they are familiar. They are safe. They are predictable.
The remaining 9,900 are outside the triangle, and you are not looking there. By not looking there, you have simply conceded 9,900 opportunities to your competition.
If your competition takes these opportunities, whose fault is it? It is not theirs. They don’ t even need to be smarter than you. They don’ t need more resources or even better products. They only need to move where you refused to move.
When they do, and they take the customers that were in your database all along, it is not the fault of the competition. It is your fault. You handed them 9,900 potential customers free of charge!
This is why many organizations are blindsided. They obsess over the 100 they know, while neglecting the 9,900 they don’ t. The competition steps in, explores the unfamiliar, and before long, they dominate the very market you should have owned. Go back to that database and look where you were not looking before. Step outside the triangle. Go and get your 9,900.
And this doesn’ t just apply to customers as it applies to products too. Many companies fall into the trap of selling the same product to the same customers over and over. They milk the familiar until it runs dry. Then one day, the competition arrives with something different- something you could have created, but didn’ t. Suddenly your loyal customers are gone. And you’ re upset with the competition. But ask yourself honestly: is it really their fault? Or is it yours for not looking where you should have been looking?
The biggest opportunities are never in the space you have already conquered. They are in the space you have ignored. The treasure is in the blind spot.
So again, the challenge returns to you with more urgency: Where are you not looking? The future of your business, your leadership, and even your destiny may depend on how you answer that question.
In the end, life does not hide its treasures in the places where everyone is looking. It buries them in the shadows of the unfamiliar, in the corners we casually ignore, in the faces we pass by every day without a second thought. And maybe that is God’ s way of rewarding only the curious, the daring, the seekers who refuse to be trapped by the Known, the Comfortable, and the Obvious.
I went to that event thinking I was the speaker, but I left having heard a sermon preached to me without words through Francis. The spokesperson I had been searching for was not out there. He was with me all along, waiting to be seen. The truth is, many of us are living with our“ Francis” every day; solutions, breakthroughs, revolutions disguised in plain sight, hidden by our blind spots.
So I leave you with this one question that could alter the entire trajectory of your leadership, your business, and your destiny: Where are you not looking? Because the next Francis, the next billion-dollar idea, the next Promised Land, is probably already walking with you- you just haven’ t seen him yet.
Dr. Wale Akinyemi is the CEO of The Street Hub – an Organizational Culture and Transformation Consulting Firm. He is also the Founder of African Legends – A publishing House dedicated to telling African Leadership and Entrepreneurial Stories. You can commune with him on this or related matters via email at: Wale @ thestreethub. biz.