When the world is changing rapidly, it is easy to be left behind when you make the wrong strategic decision.

Consider Moscow in 1917.

While the rest of the world was investing in telephone networks, leaders of the Soviet Union – fearing the decentralized nature of phone networks and thinking the top-down management of czars past was the future- made strategic a decision that has impacted the nation for over a century.

The leaders opted for a nation-wide system of loudspeakers.

Their strategic thinking was wrapped in the belief that the centralized government would now have the proper tool to directly mass broadcast to the people while inhibiting their citizen's ability to speak to each other

Their poor strategic decision prevented efficient collaboration between workers and certainly hindered Russia's economic growth and innovation.

The past is often the just past

What worked in the past probably won't serve you well in the future - especially if you are keen to power a nation forward.

-Marc Ross