Watts next?

Entrepreneur, April, 1997 by Robert McGarvey

Entrepreneur: What can an entrepreneur do to think a bit more like you?

Wacker: We're sitting in one of those rare points in time where what was spills over into what will be. If anything, I try to help companies understand that everything they have learned that has let them be as successful as they are may actually work against them in the future.

The first thing you have to do is start listening to people whose points of view are different from yours. Most people don't listen well - they're thinking about their response instead of listening.

So many great thoughts are simple. The most profound thought I know is "No matter where you go, there you are." Here's another example: If a customer has a problem, the biggest mistake you can make is to defer it to another person. That's simple. But how often do we get it wrong?

Entrepreneur: Aren't many people simply shutting down to growth possibilities in the face of rapid change?

Wacker: We've never had more species going extinct in the history of humanity than we do now. But in less than five years, we'll have more new species being created than go extinct.

To borrow from the movie "The Lion King," what we see here is the circle of life. Some people are saying "I don't know how to cope." But many more people are saying "I can make this future work for me." All we're seeing is an accelerated evolution. It's Darwinian.