On pendulums.
Tara – (via JP) (two of my favorite commentators btw) – once again does my work for me when she explains why she is so ‘extreme’. Those who have worked closely with me over the years will recognize the pendulum metaphor (that Tara so clearly brings to life below) as one I’ve used many times to explain my (sometimes) ‘burn-down-the-cathedral’ attitude. (replace “traditional marketing” with “traditional investment banking” and “pinko marketing” with “digital markets”)
I don’t actually want to ‘burn down the cathedral’ (well maybe little bits of it!) Rather I take the view that unless you pull very very hard away from ‘conventional wisdom’ or ’status quo’, there is no way on earth you are going to move the needle. Especially in large organisations. It’s just physics really. Indeed the embedded irony is that if everyone actually (by some act of supreme karmic benevolence) did come over you’d almost inevitably ‘overshoot’ (what I believe to be) the optimal state… (although it would be kinda fun I’m sure)
Maybe it’s just that when you grow up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains anything seems possible. And nothing seems too extreme. 
