It’s
hard to change – opinions, habits, approaches, even products.

Day
to day needs of getting something accomplished (or preserving revenue) can trump
our ability to consider alternatives.

Our
time is so limited that we disregard the changes we see in the world around us as
inconsequential – or we miss them all together.

Other
times we see what’s going on, but we feel our past successes prove that we’re
on the right track.

It’s
always worked before. It’s how we make money.

Every
once in a while we see a company take action counter to this natural trend.

Nature decides to let
people post their job openings for free.

AOL
walks away from Internet access as a product line.

And,
although scary for publishers, Google launches universal
search.

Outsell Inc.’s commentary on the
launch (subscription required):

“…This move appears to be a
180-degree turn for the company which had previously launched dozens of
vertically focused sites. Which raises
the question, "Why move in the opposite direction of your current strategy
when you’re the clear winner in the marketplace and your lead appears to be
growing every day?” Especially since from a user perspective, the changes were
dramatic enough to cause some confusion, yet not significant enough to noticeably
improve most search results…”

Why
indeed?

Maybe
Google knows that if you’re not looking for what’s next your competitors (or a
couple of college students) are!

What’s your sacred cow?

Are
you ready to promote its extinction?

Are
you ready to kill it?

Someone else is!