Whether working as an "intrapreneur" in large companies, as a small business owner, or as an advisor to many companies, it is likely that you have experienced "Flat Forehead Syndrome.” It is the result of beating your head against the brick wall of:

• "We've always done it this way!"
• "If it ain't broke, why fix it!"
• "But my neighbor said his dad didn't have to do this!"
• "I've been doing it this way for X years and the IRS hasn't said anything!"

(As always, feel free to add your favorite response!)

Like many "syndromes," there do seem to be some common characteristics:

• Resistance to change;
• Rigid perspectives;
• Reluctance to spend the pennies to save (or make) the dollars;
• Yesterday focus;
• "Not me," "someone else."

There are also some accompanying maladies while, not directly part of the core syndrome, seem to appear frequently to exacerbate the symptoms:

• Single industry focus: the presumption that things invented or done in another industry aren’t “applicable” to your industry;
• "Should"-itis: the belief about how things “should be” gets in the way of the reality of how things are;
• Possibility-chondria: the view that all things are possible and so count as options, even if the probabilities are remote and the capabilities of the organization are non-existent;
• Obsessive entitlement compulsion: the mindset that the way we want to do it should be the only justification, regardless of regulations, practice, or other constraints;
• Better mousetrap myopia: confidence that because “we have the best, newest, most innovative product (or technology), of course they are going to by it—so what if it isn’t proven!
• Short-term vision: the assurance that whatever we need to do today doesn’t have to take into consideration the impact on future periods;
• Long-term blindness: the inability to align the organization’s activities, operations, and resources toward a strategic objective and action plan;
• Four-wall focus: the conviction that happens within the business is all that is relevant; taking a specific path and staying on it without considering new information, changes in economic conditions, competition, or other external factors;
• Tunnel vision: the failure to recognize that the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.

Getting a treatment program in place for your organization, team, or self is challenging. We all enjoy the cartoons that poke fun at “Corporate America.” We rant and rave at “big corporations,” inadequate judicial systems, overburdened educational systems, and idiot bosses. “They” aren’t getting it. We seldom recognize ourselves and our role in those situations.

(A quick aside, I remember the first time I read a Dilbert comic strip. I was convinced it was a nom de plume of one of my coworkers getting great copy out of my misery!)

To begin treating Flat Forehead Syndrome, its underlying causes, and its related maladies, we first have to recognize that we all contribute to it. In part it can be attributed to individual differences in any or all of the following areas:

• Style
  • communication
  • interpersonal
  • risk tolerance
• Skills, knowledge, and abilities
• Experience
• Expertise
  • breadth
  • depth
• Adaptability
• Perspective
• Security
  • personal
  • position
  • financial

It is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to suspend judgment and gather the facts, setting aside emotion and personal interest—whether it is in being right or simply being in control. As business leaders and managers, it is our fiduciary role to act in the best interest of the company we work for and the people we work with. When we have an emotional and/or financial stake in the outcome of a situation, then we struggle to find the best path—that is only human.

In dealing with situations that cause Flat Foreheads, consider these points:

• Encourage full disclosure of issues, attitudes, and factors;
• Respond to the facts and not emotions;
• Address the situation, not the person;
• Consider third party involvement to mediate the situation;
• Understand the options for the relationship and the business:

• do nothing
• conced
• withdraw
• escalate
• mitigate
• delay
• compromise
• decide

You don’t have to spill your guts on the table. Simply walk yourself through the process of defining your perspective and then attempt to do the same for the other perspectives. The process of setting down your point of view—building a case, making an argument—will often be sufficient for you to begin opening the door to other views. If you have to put down the logical points and facts of your position and then repeat the process for other options and opinions, you will probably discover strengths and weaknesses in your evaluation of the situation that you hadn’t considered.

If you are currently in the process of preparing to beat your head against a brick wall, take the time to develop your thoughts, facts, data, and opinions fully. Take the time to anticipate what objections and obstacles may be put in your way. Have a plan to get around those obstacles—build a bridge, take a different route, or prepare the dynamite. The more prepared you are for the issues, the challenges, the questions, and the brick wall of resistance, the more nimble you can be in how you react.

Oh, how I wish I could say that the brick walls will all come tumbling down in the face of reason, logic, and clear solutions. Unfortunately, life isn’t a television show where the script directs a positive result inside of an hour (even stopping for commercials). Acknowledging that there will always be brick walls somewhere, we need to look for ways to tear down the ones we can, climb over the ones we can’t tear down, and walk away from the others with our foreheads intact.