Most business leaders focus on the future much more than on the past, believing that their job is to embrace disruption and innovation, transform their organizations, and explore new frontiers. But decades of research on companies worldwide shows that most successful ones are also guided by core values and a clear purpose. These can often be uncovered by conducting a thorough audit of a company’s history, original value statements, and purpose. Then leaders can decide what to preserve and what to let go—celebrating and collaborating around the good while acknowledging and moving on from the bad.
Most business leaders focus on the future much more than they do on the past. With industries and economies changing so rapidly, executives believe that their job is to embrace disruption and innovation, transform their organizations, and explore new frontiers—not maintain the status quo. Management experts encourage such views, often regarding the past as a hindrance to innovation.
