“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” — George Bernard Shaw, Maxims for Revolutionists
It is probably the number two task of leadership — asking. You ask people to do things, and when they do — well, stuff happens.
But what really extends your ability to make big things happen is asking for things that are “unreasonable.”
What is unreasonable? Asking people for things you have no right to expect from them, which under ordinary circumstances, you would expect them to say, “no.” But asking anyway.
The trick is to expect them to say yes, and not worry about whether they do or they dont.
Create a game in your business. The game is for everyone to continually be unreasonable in what they ask of each other. And not just internally — externally as well. Include all your stakeholders in this game. (You choose whether or not to tell them about it the game.) Do you think this game could rocket your project forward?
If making requests is not a...