They can have new factors essential to success, both internal and external. Corporate capabilities change, as do market conditions. And beyond the sunk costs, those ideas represent a treasury of knowledge, perspective, creativity, skills, and capability. To retrieve that knowledge, we must identify the driving issues, find new gaps and fits, and manage the treasury. Many issues and factors must be considered in mastering the skill of identifying and building value from old ideas.
Old ideas freeze our brains into old thoughts and patterns.
Their very existence makes it difficult for us to see new possibilities. Our biggest competition is not our rivals but the way we currently do things, because it affects how we see opportunities. This preconscious processing of information happens with lightening speed and precludes objectivity. Precognitive commitments begin to be established in infancy, maybe even in utero, in every animal species. If you capture and keep ordinary houseflies in a jar and then remove the lid after a few days, you will find that most of those flies will stay right where they are, in the jar.