How good are you at actually spotting what's not possible for your company? In a world where we like to say "if we can dream it, we can do it," focusing on what you cannot do is not popular. That said, I believe exploring what's reasonably impossible for your business is a critical, mature skillset for any entrepreneur. Keenly -even privately- knowing what you cannot realisitically accomplish is critical to defining what is truly possible for your team. You owe it to them and yourself to call flat-out BS on irresponsible visions before you drive everybody off a cliff. The line between blue sky vision and a hijacked company/product strategy can be extremely hard to discern if the boundaries of the impossible have not been identified. There are simple ways you can create clarity, however: Ruthlessly identitfy what aspects of your vision are not merited by present circumstances. That will show you where your wishful thinking resides. Prune the vision until there is a buttressed potential path. Do it again and again. It will eventually take you to the right answer and make you much more fearless.

There is a potent concept in biology called "the adjacent possible." Steven Johnson, reknowned science writer, explores the concept in his latest book, Where Good Ideas Come From, and in his recent Wall Street Journal Article about The Genius of Tinkerers.

Simplified, the concept is as follows: Complex biological systems -both individuals and species- will explore the frontiers of a given landscape. It makes no difference if we're talking about amoebas, fish or humans, we are all riding and defining the boundaries of what is "novel yet possible" at any given time. A fish species might feasibly adapt its eyesight to better suit a new deepsea environment, but it is not going to feasibly develop wings or a vocal language. Neither wings nor a vocal language are adjacent to the fish's present state of biological expression, thus they are not possible.

Whether in fish or human culture, it follows that the more you pull together present state possibilities, the more new future possibilities are also realized. In society, we can see how the adjacent possible is broadened by urban centers where multiculturalism, education, competition and expertise all comingle. It can be messy, but it is undeniably powerful (e.g. Silicon Valley for Tech and New York for Finance). In short, our possible realities "next door" are vastly enhanced when we have more stuff going on around us. I doubt there is any other place on the planet that can top Silicon Valley in its overt obsession with the adjacent possible.Our collective quests to build the "next big thing" are precisely this evolutionary/cultural impulse expressed through entrepreneurial outlets. Our boosterism for innovation is a kind of secular fanatacism... and it works.

But, what benefits are we overlooking by not asking ourselves what we cannot accomplish? What about the adjacent impossible?

It is one thing to dip one's toes into the big sea of the adjacent possible and "dream the big dreams" (easy), but it is another to cup that dream in one hand, pour some out, refine it, then execute the brilliant next possible step to make it real (very difficult). It's harder still to toss out a big dream that was not possible after all... Privately admitting what is not possible for a company is not engaging in negative or defeatist behavior. On the contrary, I view it as applying a very advanced and responsible mental model to the team's operations. After identifying something in the future that is not possible for a company, following up with a series of "why?" questions usually leads to the tactical insights that inform the next steps. It's entirely possible you can find out that what you thought was impossible is possible after all, if the adjacent steps to its realization are changed.

So, what can't your team do?

At my current company, we have a list of things we know we cannot become and a set of skills we cannot reasonably incorporate to our team. It is fairly non-controversial, and we routinely talk in our staff meetings about not becoming these things in our future. I have a shorter more sensitive list of things that I believe are "mirage goals"... they are tempting but still not reasonably possible. I update that list from time to time, and it keeps me honest. I'm well aware that some of these mirage goals could become adjacent possible in our future. At that time, they will become concrete issues for discussion, but they aren't today.

Keep it to yourself, but make your own list of adjacent impossibilities. It'll make you better.