Learn from the Past, Rather than Live in the Past

We should never ignore the past, we should learn from the past and use our experiences to shape our thinking. The danger is that you take that too far and that you live in the past.

The French built The Maginot line to keep the Germans at bay - a series of anti tank traps, observation posts and pillboxes. Great for how the previous war had been fought - static fighting. But in 1940 the line was broken by thousands of well armed German troops who unlikebefore, were highly mobile. Times had moved on, what worked in the past no longer worked now.

This is so true for business. You can have a "lessons learned" after large events, then when faced with new challenges look for the trends on what was important last time and ensure that you have improved your approach as well as updated it for today's world.

Experience the past to live the future!