17/07/2026 by Tim Cooper-Cocks of https://www.cw-chamber.co.uk/
Why opportunity belongs to those prepared to think differently
“To change the future, we must first disturb the present.”
Whether William and Catherine Booth ever spoke those exact words is uncertain.
What is certain is that they lived them.
When they began their work in the East End of London in 1865, they challenged accepted thinking. They refused to believe that poverty, inequality and lost human potential were simply facts of life. Instead of asking, “Why doesn’t somebody do something?” they asked a better question.
“Why not us?”
History has a habit of making courage look inevitable.
It wasn’t.
Every significant movement, every successful business and every meaningful innovation begins the same way.
Someone chooses to question what everyone else has accepted.
That thought has stayed with me throughout my career.
As an International Trade Advisor, I spend much of my time talking to businesses about overseas markets, exporting and international growth.
People often assume those conversations begin with customs procedures, regulations or shipping.
They don’t.
They begin with mindset.
More specifically, they begin with one simple question.
“What if we’ve been looking at our business too narrowly?”
The certainty trap
Every generation believes it is living through uniquely uncertain times.
Perhaps that’s because uncertainty always feels personal.
Looking backwards, history appears logical.
Looking forwards, the future feels unpredictable.
Today’s business leaders face geopolitical tension, artificial intelligence, changing regulations, supply chain disruption, inflation, labour shortages and rapidly evolving customer expectations.
Yesterday’s leaders faced industrialisation, world wars, recessions, the arrival of computers and the birth of the internet.
The names change.
The uncertainty never does.
Yet businesses continue to grow.
Communities continue to prosper.
Entrepreneurs continue to build remarkable organisations.
Not because uncertainty disappeared.
Because they learned to lead despite it.
Standing still is rarely safe
One observation has remained remarkably consistent throughout my career.
Businesses rarely fail because they lacked opportunity.
More often, they fail because they stopped recognising it.
Opportunity rarely announces itself.
It usually arrives disguised as change.
A new technology.
A changing customer.
An unexpected enquiry.
A different market.
A partnership that didn’t exist six months earlier.
Some organisations become excited by those possibilities.
Others become uncomfortable.
The difference often determines which businesses grow and which slowly become spectators while others shape the future.
Standing still feels safe.
Until the world has moved on without you.
Looking beyond our own horizon
One conversation earlier this year reinforced this perfectly.
I was talking with Paul Scanlon, founder of The Herd.
We weren’t discussing export documentation or international trade.
We were talking about ambition.
Businesses don’t become recognised internationally because they decide to “go global” one Monday morning.
They become recognised because they become exceptionally good at solving problems, serving customers and continually improving what they do.
Excellence has a habit of travelling.
Reputation crosses borders long before offices do.
That is true whether you manufacture engineering products in Warwickshire, develop software in Coventry or provide professional services from a small office anywhere in Britain.
International opportunity often follows businesses that simply refuse to stand still.
Curiosity is a competitive advantage
I’ve seen the same mindset in my long-time colleague Tim Holmes.
One thing has always impressed me.
He rarely accepts that there is only one way of doing something.
Rather than asking,
“How have we always done this?”
he asks,
“How could this work better?”
That single question changes everything.
Innovation doesn’t begin with technology.
It begins with curiosity.
The businesses that continue growing aren’t necessarily those with the largest budgets or the biggest marketing departments.
They’re usually the ones prepared to challenge their own assumptions before somebody else does it for them.
International trade is simply another conversation
Perhaps this is why I enjoy helping businesses explore international markets.
Exporting isn’t really about shipping goods overseas.
It’s about possibility.
It’s about recognising that your next customer may not live fifty miles away.
It’s about discovering that your expertise has value beyond the market you’ve always served.
It’s about building resilience through diversification.
And sometimes it’s simply about having the confidence to begin a conversation you have been postponing for years.
Every exporter had a first customer.
Every international business had a first enquiry.
Every global brand was once unknown.
Nobody begins at the finish line.
Five questions worth asking
If I could leave every business leader with five questions, they would be these.
What assumption have we accepted without challenging?
What opportunity are we dismissing simply because it feels unfamiliar?
If we were starting our business today, what would we do differently?
Where could one new relationship change our future?
What action could we take this month that our future selves would thank us for?
The answers will be different for every organisation.
The questions are remarkably universal.
Creating tomorrow
William and Catherine Booth never waited for perfect conditions.
If they had, their movement would never have begun.
Business leadership demands the same courage.
Not reckless optimism.
Not blind confidence.
Simply the willingness to challenge comfortable assumptions before circumstances challenge them for us.
The future is not built by those who correctly predict it.
It is built by those prepared to shape it.
History rarely remembers those who waited until everything became certain.
It remembers those who acted.
Perhaps that is the real lesson the Booths leave us.
Changing the future rarely begins with changing the world.
It begins by changing the next decision.
The next conversation.
The next question.
Because to change the future, we must first disturb the present.
About the Author
Tim Cooper-Cocks is an International Trade Advisor with the Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce. For more than thirty years he has worked in business development, helping organisations build strategic relationships, identify opportunities for growth and develop the confidence to enter new markets. His work is founded on a simple belief: sustainable success comes from curiosity, trusted relationships and the willingness to take action before circumstances force change.
Author’s note: This article is inspired by the lives and legacy of William and Catherine Booth, founders of The Salvation Army. The phrase “To change the future, we must first disturb the present” reflects the spirit of their work but is not a verified historical quotation.