Ghost Stories
Ghost stories exist beyond the campfire.
These are not the stories about why your stapler magically appeared in a bowl of JELL-O overnight.
No one told you, but that was the Brand team having a laugh after a Friday Social.
Ghost stories run rampant in organizations, and like a real ghost, go mostly unnoticed.
Perhaps people are wary of updating a system, changing a process, or trying something different.
The wariness stems from stories in the past where something similar was tried and it backfired, did not work out, or someone got really upset.
These are ghost stories.
There is no formal documentation, no analyzed or qualified dataset, and certainly no contextual evidence beyond, “Careful… remember when _____ happened?”
Like a ghost, they spook you; also like a ghost, they provoke irrational decisions.
The scariest thing about a ghost story while camping is the subsequent paralysis that takes over with fear.
For business, the crippling effect creates a wasteland where good ideas perish.
The scary thing about ghost stories is not the ghost, but the lingering, long-term impact of believing they are real.
Nothing a cup of joe cannot fix,
-Morning Cup