The other night a friend and I took a night walk in the freshly fallen snow. We walked about a half-mile, our footsteps leaving perfect tracks on the untouched blanket of powder. We decided to turn around when the cold got to us, and found that we were now facing into the wind.

Instinctively we turned around backwards because the wind was so cold. We took a few steps backwards and realized there was really no need to face forward. Our tracks in the snow were perfectly clear, and we could easily walk backwards and see whether we were tracking in our previous footsteps or not.

Intrigued, we kept walking backwards. The path wound along, over hills and around corners, and we never had any trouble navigating backwards without looking because we could tell right away if we had veered a little left or right, diverging from our previous tracks.

The only problem is that it created a strange feeling of disorientation. Some part of us insisted that we couldn't possibly navigate the half-mile home on a winding path without looking. That part was our experience of course - under most circumstances, one needs to look to navigate.

But the circumstances were different than usual. There was a substantial penalty for looking (the wind) and a substantial assistance for not looking (our old tracks). The best thing in these circumstances was very different than the best thing in most circumstances. And yet, our experience of previous successes wanted to resist that, wanted to insist that the usual way of doing it was inherently superior because it brought us success in the past.

It made us think about our changing times. The economy is changing, society is changing... In what other areas of life might we be clinging to an old way of creating success, when a new way would serve us better right now? It doesn't make the old way wrong - we sure could have just gritted our teeth and faced the wind with determination and toughness - but maybe there is a more elegant solution if we're open to some unconventional thinking. Because we are ninja, we walked backwards, and we got used to it, and then we got good at it. We arrived home safe and warm, and with a little broader perspective.