Impressionist artists were excluded from top official exhibitions because their “fuzzy paintings” did not fit the mold (i.e., set of assumptions) of what constituted great art of its time.  So Monet, Van Gogh and others formed their own association, held their own exhibits, and attracted an art dealer who needed to differentiate himself from established art sellers. And that’s how modern art was born. Do these century-old reinvention patterns feel familiar? Treating an assumption as a fact can be very dangerous, as dealers of classical art discovered. Great leaders are willing to unearth hidden assumptions and challenge their validity. Consider the watch industry, at the edge of creative destruction with the explosion of digital communication devices telling time.  If you’re like me, a millennial generation parent, you may know that look of disbelief when you ask your child if she’d like a watch…