Episode 703 - Rear-View Mirror

In this week’s episode of Monday Morning Mojo, Phil shares a simple moment from his daily drive that opens the door to a deeper reflection on innovation, mindset, and momentum. A glance in the rear-view mirror becomes more than just a driving habit, but a metaphor for how we grow, adapt, and lead. With a nod to history and a challenge to stay forward-focused, this episode offers a fresh lens on what it means to keep moving with purpose.

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Dorothy Levitt: Britain female race driver https://eastendwomensmuseum.or...

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Transcript

Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I'm Phil Buchanan, executive chairman of Cannon Financial Instant. To. I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push and motivational insight to live your best life. Thanks for joining.

 Good Monday morning, Cannon Nation. It is Phil here with episode 703 of Monday Morning Mojo. Like almost every day that I'm in my hometown of Athens, Georgia, I drove to our corporate offices this morning. It's about a 15-minute commute from my home via city streets and two different four lane highways that I make my way to the Cannon office.

Like all drivers, I try to keep my eyes in constant motion. When I'm behind the wheel, I'm looking for upcoming traffic. I'm trying to watch for cars that might be merging into traffic, and for other vehicles that may be approaching from behind or in the outside lanes. Now, most of the views that I observe are out the front windshield. But obviously, I've got occasional glances to my two side mirrors and my rear-view mirror.

On arriving at my office today, I chose to back into a parking space. Thus again, I had to use my rear-view and side mirrors. When I put my car in park, I thought to myself that somebody at some point was pretty insightful to have put rear-view mirrors in cars. Thus intrigued, I sought Google's help in helping me with the history of mirrors and cars.

It seems that a Mrs. Dorothy Levitt in 1909 actually advised drivers to carry a small mirror with them in their cars when driving, but she did not suggest permanently attaching the mirror. In 1911, Ray Herron attached a mirror to an Indy ray car, so as to be able to spot approaching racers during a race. In 1914, Mr. Chester Weed received a patent for a mirror attachment for automobiles, but it was Elmer Berger in 1921 who received the patent for the rear-view mirror concept that we still utilize today.

It was referred to in the patent applications as a "cop-spotter". Now, following Berger’s Patent, the rear-view mirror became integral in automobiles the world over. Now, you know, it's interesting, the story of the rear-view mirror follows that of other significant innovations through time. There are usually early ideas that languish and evolve a bit before someone or some group capitalizes on the idea, perfects it a bit and takes it mainstream.

For example, there were MP3 players before the advent of the iPod. There were certainly mobile phones around before the advent of the iPhone, but it was Apple that elevated both of these concepts and took them mainstream. The key to broad adoption of any innovation is rarely dependent upon the original idea.

Rather, it's on taking those good ideas, approving upon it, sometimes very slightly, sometimes in a significant way, and then making it very accessible and relevant to consumers. This is true in almost every area of commerce. I often hear business professionals lament the fact that some other organization or some other individual has introduced a service or a product that is innovative and game changing. 

Now, rather than throwing a pity party that someone has beaten them to the punch, the very best business leaders seek ways to incorporate and improve upon ideas in ways that are beneficial to their clients. Too many firms suffer as a result of refuting ideas that are NIH. That means not invented here. Great ideas should be incorporated, not panned and lamented. I want you to think about this mindset.

I want you to adopt this type of mindset, and I think you'll find that you're able to grow innovatively in ways perhaps you're not doing today. Now, back just a moment to the rear-view mirror. Again, this is a fantastic innovation. But, you know, there are both physical and psychological reasons that rear-view mirrors are sized as they are relative to the windshields in vehicles.

Intellectually, we all get the the physical limitation reasons, but let's always remember the psychological side as well. In life, be it personal or professional, we all need to be moving forward and to have that forward focus. 

Moving forward, being active, progressing requires greater attention as to what's in front of us versus what's behind us. Our history, our past need not and should not continually define us. Rather, it's who we are today, it's how we grow forward that represents the true us and speaks to our value. Now, glancing in the rear-view mirror is important, but doing it too often will cause us to take our eyes and our focus off the front windshield.

See, it's what's in front of us. It's, it's the here and the now. That's where true opportunity lies. Keep focused on moving forward. Keep focused on that front windshield. Do the small glances just to make sure that you're secure and safe, but be forward moving. Because it's with that, that we find our true destiny.

Monday Morning Mojo is the production of Cannon Financial Institute, executive Producer of Monday Morning. Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner. Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.