We tend to overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long term. - Tim Hurson

But as important as it is to see what's going on, it's unlikely that merely understanding the situation will do much to improve it. If you're interested in change, you need to develop a sense of possibility.

Training, as practiced in much of corporate America, is an astonishing waste of resources.

When you try to generate ideas, think of yourself as a sales person knocking on a whole subdivision of doors. Some won't open at all, some will open a suspicious crack, and some will slam in your face. But the more doors you knock on, the greater your chances of being invited in.