Of course there are competitors and the worst are not the obvious ones. Let’s take IBM. I was never employed by IBM but got a lot of education from them and gave keynote speeches at their international conferences. I negotiated with their top management when ITT wanted to sue them.
They didn’t believe me when I told them to watch Intel and Microsoft. When I predicted selling millions of PCs they asked what I had been smoking. John Opel was number 3 at IBM and subsequently CEO. He was guy I had most affinity with when I was negotiating. A long term thinker who told me we have to invent a new industry every ten years to maintain our growth rate. But even he could not stomach my predictions. There was talk of hiring me but I was told John you a wild goose. That we can accept. But you’re a wild goose that other geese will follow that we can’t.
Why could I see things that very bright top managers could not see? They suffered from what I call Ivory Toweritis. Few people would tell them the facts of life. Their past success overwhelmed fears of the future.
