The Sacred Cow Test
In Why Is It So Hard to Tackle the Obvious?, C.K. Prahalad argues that companies need to stop looking at threats and opportunities through the lens of the "dominant logic." The dominant logic being the "sacred cows" the organization holds dear, such as Kodak's loyal allegiance to film photography at the dawn of digital.
Prahalad, an outstanding business thinker who died earlier this year, says the moment your organization spots signs of change in the atmosphere "executives must decide what they can preserve -- and what they must discard -- in the dominant logic as they prepare to transform the organization."
CEOs can identify sacred cows by asking senior managers the following three questions :
- What do we consider good performance?
- Whom do we promote: executives who can extract profits from the current business model or those who can lead the company into new businesses?
- Do middle managers focus on change or the status quo?
At Kodak, I'm sure the three questions were answered thus: Increasing film sales is a key measure of good performance; we promote people who can extract profit from the current business model; middle managers focus on the status quo.
How would your senior managers answer these questions? How do you think managers at Apple or P&G or Google would answer?