![]() LifeUSA took shape at a time when the insurance business was synonymous with poor service, slow decision-making, and bureaucratic complacency. That picture became a compelling reality. We painted a picture of the future we wanted to create.” But because we reminisced about the future, we started out as a national company competing against the giants of the field. “If we had listened to the experts,” he says, “we would have limited our goals and focused on the states around Minnesota, where we were based. That was the spirit behind LifeUSA, MacDonald’s memorable contribution to an industry whose record of innovation is pretty forgettable. The art of starting something new, he says, is a matter of “reminiscing about the future.” That is, conjuring up a set of ideas and practices that are so extreme that established companies can’t begin to make sense of them, let alone respond to them - and painting a vivid picture of what your organization can become if it delivers on its change-the-game agenda. Robert MacDonald, one of the most offbeat and opinionated insurance-industry executives I’ve met (yes, I know, he doesn’t have tons of competition), has a way with words when it comes to innovation. In this post, I thought I’d highlight one of my favorite pieces of language from the book - a phrase that seems particularly appropriate as we begin to think about resolutions for the New Year. A note from Bill: My new book, Practically Radical, launches two weeks from today.
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