The stories we no longer see

Photo by Kal Visuals

Every IT department knows the problem. Old systems that once worked perfectly but now get in the way. Code no one dares to touch anymore. Technical legacy.

But there's another kind of legacy. One that rarely makes the agenda, because we don't see it. The assumptions that have become so obvious we've forgotten they're assumptions at all.

I call it mental legacy.

Think of the assumption that clients will always need an advisor. Or that growth means: more of the same. Or that your technical knowledge is what makes you valuable.

These aren't facts. They're stories we tell ourselves — until the world catches up.

When the story no longer holds

Imagine you're an accountant or insurance advisor. For years, your technical knowledge was your foundation. And now you're watching algorithms and apps take over tasks that were always yours.

The ground you stood on turns out to be less solid than you thought. Not because you did anything wrong. But because the context has shifted.

What's your value now? How do you stay meaningful to your clients? It sounds like a strategic question. But really, it's a question about who you are.

From coal mining to vitamins

The Dutch company DSM started as a state-owned coal mine. Deep in the ground of the southern Netherlands. For generations, that was the company's identity.

Today, DSM makes nutritional supplements and biomaterials. A completely different world.

That transformation required more than a new strategy. It meant letting go of what the company had always believed itself to be. The old logic — however successful — no longer fit the new reality. And holding on would mean getting stuck.

The meeting that goes nowhere

You've seen it. Meetings where everyone keeps repeating why their perspective is right. Solid arguments, but no movement.

Often, it's not really about the content. It's about something no one says out loud: who are we, actually? And what are we here for?

We assume everyone knows. But that very assumption — that mental legacy — is what keeps change from happening.

The question

What would happen if you didn't start with strategy, but with a different question: which beliefs are we carrying that might no longer be true?

Not to tear them down. But to see what space opens up when you let them go for a moment.