On Paradigm Shifts (go back »)

What is a paradigm shift? Let's look at it from the context of science. Let's say a person comes up with a proven theory a long time ago. For instance, a mathematical equation: A + B = C. Then as time goes by, more people accept that mathematical equation until it becomes the norm. It gets taught in schools and researchers start using it to create other mathematical equations. Products and strategies are designed according to these mathetical equations. Funding was given to create more equations. Then one day,  some person proves this mathematical equation wrong.  Everything produced by this mathematical equation would have to be re-examined. Investments were wasted. Nothing is certain anymore. There is panic and fear. There is a need for new direction.  By proving this equation wrong, the researcher has created a paradigm shift. Other examples of paradigm shifts include the theory of the Big Bang, the notion that the earth revolved around the sun and no the other way round, and that the earth is round. Paradigm shifts are useful and necessary, but they are also expensive. In terms of a business, a paradigm shift is when you change the very core foundations the business is built on. Such shifts can make or break a company.

Let's look at the example of a house. A change could range from the moving of a few furnitures, the re-decorating of a room, to a total renovation of a home (in business, this would be likened to business re-engineering). When you talk of a paradigm shift, you have to move all your stuff out of your home, demolish the home, relay its foundations (digging deep into the earth), rebuilding the home, then renovating or re-decorating it.

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