Trade a Problem for a Dream
Problems come at most of us, often “thick, fast, and furious.”
We find ourselves enmeshed in them, and any entrepreneurial
dreams we have fly by like the months and years we spend solv-
ing old problems. That’s not all bad. One researcher observed that
organizations who addressed and solved one major problem each
year were the ones that survived and thrived.
At the same time, Peter Drucker points out that generally, “it
is more productive to convert an opportunity into results than to
solve a problem.” Sometimes we should
reprioritize so we can put those dreams
front and center.
Drucker also advises that our efforts cre-
ate the new, not just add an element to
what we are already doing. And, he advises us to think big. “As a
rule,” he says, “it is just as risky, just as arduous, and just as uncer-
tain to do something small that is new as it is to do something big
that is new.”
If Drucker is right, that’s a huge incentive to break out beyond
our ordinary thinking and ordinary tracks. Certainly this is the
way Billy approached the launch of Christianity Today.
When Billy was seeking wisdom and support among his min-
istry and business allies, they assumed the new publication would
be published by his own organization. Certainly that was the sim-
plest. To create a separate board and separate location and facili-
ties would take lots of additional effort, both short- and
long-range. But Billy was convinced the offices should be located
in Washington, a strategic city for the launch of a national publi-
cation of influence. He wanted a separate board of directors and
staff, with leadership from the academic, ministry, and business
communities to give it credibility.
He was presciently creating an example of Drucker’s later
assertion that “in business, the successful companies are not those
that work at developing new products for their existing line but
those that aim at innovating new products for new businesses.”
Drucker’s words, written forty years ago, have often been validated
Birthing DreamsTaking a new step,
uttering a new word, is
what people fear most.
FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY