You know these quotes: “They didn’t know it was impossible, so they did it – Mark Twain” or “Those who think it’s impossible are asked not to disturb those who are trying”.

When we talk about transformation, organizational evolution in my context, we often hear: “ideally, we should…”. At the beginning of my encounters, I would respond: “yes, I understand”.

I stopped.

My role is to make the implicit explicit. My role is to have a benevolent, but challenging perspective. So now I respond: “no, it’s not an ideal. It’s a real possibility. If you observe the organizations that have achieved this ideal, they tried to implement it”.

So I adapt these quotes to my context: there are those who say: ideally, and there are those who try.

Not all have succeeded. But to borrow a advertising slogan this time: “100% of winners played”, 100% of those who succeeded truly gave themselves the means to succeed. Not all reached the ideal, but those who succeeded tried.

I thus think it’s healthy to tell leaders who are questioning themselves that you must give yourself the means for your approach. And that what may seem impossible, excluded to them, is perhaps, is often, precisely, the key to success. We talk about changing a system, you don’t change a system without digressing from its norm to paraphrase Frank Zappa (“without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible”).

That’s why we must be benevolent, but challenging if we truly want to change the organization’s system. All the work consists of moving forward on this path. It’s not about having a rigid posture. The destination must not be an imposture.

When you hear “ideally”, remember not to let it pass.