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.
To See the Way Forward, Look Back
Revisiting your founding ideals can help sharpen your purpose and values.
From the Magazine (November–December 2022)
· Long read
Summary.
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.
A version of this article appeared in the November–December 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review.