Looking back on business failures often reveals blind spots that led to lack of understanding, strategic error and missed opportunities. Protiviti’s Jim DeLoach asks: Are the executive team and board aware of the organization’s blind spots?
We’ve all heard the adage that what we don’t know can be more damaging to reputation, brand image, market standing and competitive position than what we do know. When what we don’t know is something we should know, a blind spot exists. Whether they relate to cultural, strategic, operational or governance issues, blind spots are almost always a factor underpinning a business failure, a massive regulatory sanction or fine, or a loss of trust and market permission to play. In today’s volatile markets and global geopolitical landscape, failure to recognize and act on changing business fundamentals inevitably leads to a potentially lethal strategic error. Since everyone — and every organization — has blind spots, awareness is important.
We define a blind spot as something pertinent to an organization’s viability that the board and C-suite have not focused on at all or enough. In this context, blind spots include significant matters of which leaders either are not aware or have chosen to de-emphasize or ignore. They can be embedded in the human…
