Greek author Eugene Trivizas became famous not only for his imagination, but because he dared to change the ending of classic fairy tales.
In his story “The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig,” the roles are reversed. The wolves build stronger and stronger houses, yet each is destroyed. In the end, they try something completely different — a house made of flowers — and the pig, touched by its beauty, changes his ways.
The story works because it questions an assumption everyone accepted: that the answer is always to build higher walls.
Organizations often follow familiar scripts. When something fails, the reflex is to do more of the same — more controls, more pressure, more of what already exists.
Transformation starts when leaders are willing to ask a different question: what if the ending doesn't have to be the one we expect?
Changing the ending requires courage, creativity and a willingness to challenge long-held beliefs about how things must work.
The stories we inherit are not fixed. Neither are the futures of our organizations.