---
title: When The Definition of Insanity is Insane
description: Whenever a company or a practice develops a new go-to-market approach, a new message or launches a new offering, it takes time for the efforts to lead to results.
---

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# [When The Definition of Insanity is Insane](https://www.liftenablement.com/blog/when-the-definition-of-insanity-is-insane)

 Written by [Doug Davidoff](https://www.liftenablement.com/blog/author/doug-davidoff) | Apr 5, 2007 4:58:45 PM

One of my favorite quotes ever is attributed variously to Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Rita Mae Brown. It goes: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” I think it’s a great statement and it makes a lot of sense. I’ve used it quite a bit myself in an effort to get change started in a variety of situations.

Recently, I’ve discovered there is an evil side to this statement. I’ve encountered people who advocate change simply for the sake of change. What’s worse is that they use the definition of insanity above as the rationale. It seems that when it comes to go-to-market efforts, the definition of insanity…can drive one insane.

Whenever a company or a practice develops a new go-to-market approach, a new message or launches a new offering, it takes time for the efforts to lead to results. In my experience, even under the best circumstances it typically takes 12 -18 months to see a new marketing effort bears fruit.

This hit home recently when I ran into a friend of mine who is in sales. Six months ago he was frustrated with a partnering initiative he had started nine months earlier. He complained that nothing seemed to take hold. But when I ran into him last week and asked how things were going, he was a different person. He told me, “That partnering initiative we started a year ago is really paying off. I mean, it took a lot of blood and sweat, but it’s really working now.”

These two observations (the definition of insanity and my friend’s experience) present an interesting paradox. In marketing, how do you deal with the seemingly contradictory situations where not changing is insane, yet staying the course has proven to yield the best results? Here’s my answer:

[View full post](https://www.liftenablement.com/blog/when-the-definition-of-insanity-is-insane)

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