My Grandpa Joe owned a gas station back in the day when an “island boy”ran out to your car to perform a full inspection of your tire pressure, wipers, and fluids while filling your tank with gas. That’s right, long ago in a far away land, someone once filled your tank while you sat in your car!
After the first self service pumps were installed, customers would still line up at the full service pumps and wait rather than pump their own gas. After all, “Why would anyone ever want to fill their own tank when they can pull into another station across the street and have someone do it for them?”
Think about the behavioral resistance to a self service pump. Still, some brave station owner reasoned, “I’m not sure about this self serve stuff … but I’ll give it a try and if it doesn’t work out, I can always turn back.” Of course, he never did turn back. And today you can’t find a full service gas station.
The point is that sometimes we need to break away from our daily habits and take a different path. Ask yourself, what have I been doing according to process for the last umpteen years? Can you do the exact opposite?
That’s one definition of innovation.
