Why does everyone drive the same car as me these days?

About a year ago my wife and I were in a car dealership looking to change our family car. It would be a unexciting, but roomy family saloon. As we stood waiting for a test drive another vehicle drove past; one I honestly do not remember seeing before. It was a hard top cabriolet (as opposed to a rag top)and just the sort of thing we would need to replace our second, "fun" car.

I enquired about the car and discovered that in fact production of the car had just stopped and the remaining cars were on sale at a substantial discount - happy days!

That is how we bought our Foed Focus Cabriolet as shown in the picture. Of course as soon as we drove it on the road we started seeing the same car, albeit in different colours, all over the place. Our sensitivity had been heightened and now we registered what had been right in front of us for some time including in front of two houses down our own road.

The reason I mention this is because last night I gave a talk about how we need to change the we do change as the world becomes more complex and demanding. I have felt for some time that I was somewhat alone in my concern that unless we do something better/different/smarter our levels of success will fall, but in preparing for last night I became aware of considerable debate around the subject in different quarters. Material I had not noticed before

One realistaion was that there have been quite a lot of related discussion threads on Linkedin. The number and quality seems to be rising and is probably an indicator of rising dissatisfaction and interest in answers.

I also note that while there has been a call for greater regulation in response to the JPM CIO debacle and the continuing issues around Greece, but at least some are now recognising and arguing that the default "industrial" approach is not helping and more of it won't make any difference other than burden the economies.

It is probable true that there has been discussion around for some time, but that I was only sensitised whilst preparing for my talk. It could also be that the time for this debate has just come and my observations are coincidental, but I suspect that is the lesser reason.

The point of this post was to capture the power of sensitivity and the way it opens one's eyes. I will continue to worry about and agitate about change, but more broadly there is a broader lesson for me. That is to remember that if something is becoming important to me, I should look for ways to heighten my sensitivity in order that I can be more observant and absorbent of other related intiatives and discussions - this should be a great help in eventually finding better solutions.