I need to explain to you my theory of the borderline. The theory of the borderline means that the destiny of a company like Alessi, an Italian design firm, is to work and to live as close as possible to the borderline.

The borderline divides the area of the possible and the area of the not possible. The area of the possible is represented by those new projects that, in the end, the customers will be ready to understand, to wish for, to love, and maybe to buy. The area of the not possible is represented by new projects people are not able to understand and, because of that, do not wish to buy.

An Italian design company, by definition, by destiny, works very close to the borderline. The problem is that the borderline is not clearly drawn. You cannot see with your eyes where it is. Nor can you show it with marketing research. You can only feel it—and only by making use of those qualities that are more and more rare in industrial culture today, such as sensibility and intuition.

Serious, well-organized, mass production companies try to work as far as possible from the borderline. They cannot afford to take too many risks. But by staying away from the borderline, they all produce the same car, the same television set, and the same fridge, year after year. And so industrial products are becoming more and more boring and anonymous.

I finally succeeded in explaining to my brothers and cousins and uncles that they should be very concerned if Alessi does not produce at least one new fiasco every year. Because a fiasco is the proof that you are still on the borderline. Only in the very moment you actually trespass the borderline do you have the chance to actually see where the borderline is. For a microsecond, if you are attentive you may see a flash indicating where it was . . . too late for that specific project, but so precious for your future activity! That is my opinion.

Excerpted from an interview with McKinsey’s Marla Capozzi and Josselyn Simpson. Visit The McKinsey Quarterly to view this article.

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