Jul08
15
Knowledge, Perspective and Institutionalism
One of the most inspirational characters I’ve ever met is a guy by the name of Rich Mulholland. Rich runs two companies, Missing Link and Thunk!, the former being a ‘presentation strategy company’ and the latter a ‘perspective lab’. Rich’s story is an inspiring one - having progressed from rock band roadie to uber-successful entrepreneur in a decade, he is widely known and recognised for his irreverent style, piercing business insight and extensively tattooed body! Personally, Rich has been the source of valuable advice regarding my business and speaking style.
In conversation with him and a client of mine the other day Rich made an interesting statement that has had me thinking non-stop since. I’d like to share it with you. In the course of explaining what Thunk!’s business was all about he put it to us that there is an inverse relationship between knowledge and perspective - or more specifically between the knowledge we have about our specific industry, skill or art, and the perspective we have about it. It was a simply theory that hit home like a concrete block - and I realised it embodied what I’ve called ‘institutionalism’ in many of my presentations - the seeming inability of many companies or brands to see past their own noses, simply because they are so good at what they do.
Take a bank for example. When you work at a bank (at least in my experience of consulting to banks in South Africa), you are fed pro-bank propaganda on a daily basis. I’ve actually heard banks instruct employees to call the competition by their colour - it’s not ABSA, it’s the red bank. It’s not Standard, it’s the blue bank. For crying out loud! Add to that the propensity to use bank speak and to focus on incrementally improving on everything the competition tries to do and you land up with a whole building of people who can only think bank, and very few people who still think like a… CUSTOMER!
That’s why we hire ad agencies - to add a creative perspective to the mix. But then we make the mistake of having the same agency for 15 years, and guess what - they become so knowledgeable about our business that they too lose perspective. We institutionalise our suppliers like we institutionalise our staff.
So often innovation in an industry vertical, as I’ve alluded to before, happens in small increments. Every now and again a competitor enters the market and changes the game completely. Seldom is it an existing market leader that changes the game. Guy Kawasaki embodied this truth in a talk he delivered to Palo Alto High School in 1995:
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in life is to accept the known and resist the unknown. You should, in fact, do exactly the opposite: challenge the known and embrace the unknown.
Let me tell you a short story about ice. In the late 1800s there was a thriving ice industry in the Northeast. Companies would cut blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds and sell them around the world. The largest single shipment was 200 tons that was shipped to India. 100 tons got there unmelted, but this was enough to make a profit.
These ice harvesters, however, were put out of business by companies that invented mechanical ice makers. It was no longer necessary to cut and ship ice because companies could make it in any city during any season.
These ice makers, however, were put out of business by refrigerator companies. If it was convenient to make ice at a manufacturing plant, imagine how much better it was to make ice and create cold storage in everyone’s home.
You would think that the ice harvesters would see the advantages of ice making and adopt this technology. However, all they could think about was the known: better saws, better storage, better transportation.
Then you would think that the ice makers would see the advantages of refrigerators and adopt this technology. The truth is that the ice harvesters couldn’t embrace the unknown and jump their curve to the next curve.
Challenge the known and embrace the unknown, or you’ll be like the ice harvester and ice makers.
Perspective is priceless. Perspective changes the game - which is why Thunk! will be a successful business.
I’ve challenged our clients time and time again on the untapped R & D resource that are customers. Customers can provide us with the perspective on our business, even though they are ‘users’, that we start to lose when we become really smart. Your customers could be the best source of perspective that you have at your disposal - are you harnessing it?
I’m feeling pretty passionate about this at the moment because it’s exactly the challenge Cerebra faces - we’ve been around long enough (relatively speaking) to be considered (and I daresay consider ourselves) indsutry experts. This may seem to be a compeitive advantage but it is also a very dangerous place to be - expertise breeds complacency. Newcomers to the scene are thinking of things, and doing things, differently. I hoped you’ve noticed, be it 27dinner, Afrigator or Cerebra, that I’m constantly asking ‘users’ for their view on new launches, innovations and developments. Bottom line, it’s where all my good ideas come from. That is, my good ideas come from you. And I don’t pay you a salary 
[...] mikestopforth.com wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt One of the most inspirational characters I’ve ever met is a guy by the name of Rich Mulholland. Rich runs two companies, Missing Link and Thunk!, the former being a ‘presentation strategy company’ and the latter a ‘perspective lab’. Rich’s story is an inspiring one - having progressed from rock band roadie to uber-successful entrepreneur in a decade, he is widely known and recognised for his irreverent style, piercing business insight and extensively tattooed body! Personally, Rich has been t [...]
Here is a link to an article from Theodore Levitt called marketing myopia, written in 1960 and still misunderstood even today it should be essential reading for everyone in marketing - the ice cutters as well.
http://www.dallascap.com/pdfs/MarketingMyopia.pdf
If you are in marketing and have never read it - 1000 push ups please!
[...] [...]
Well said. For me that’s actually what makes the concept of brand perception such a cool thing - the ideas and reactions of people external to your company arguably define your business just as much, if not more than you do - so it stands to reason that companies should put greater stock in these opinions, especially when they’re negative. I also have to admit that being a new-comer like myself, it’s comforting to think that my relative inexperience can sometimes count in my favour.
Your post reminds me of an analogy i heard recently; “Living in the monkey cage”. Basicaly,when you first enter a monkey cage, it stinks. You don’t like to be there, and you can see all sort of reasons why you should *not* be there. But the longer you stay, the more accetable it becomes. before you know it, you’ve taught yourself to ignore the unpleasantires, and are Ok with the status quo. But anybody new who enters the cage, or who visits you is as put off as you were in the beginning. They bring a new perspective to something that should be obvious at all times.
Now, of course I am not saying that business/banks etc are monkey cages, or that we are monkeys or;- any other metaphors you might draw from this story
But I am saying that a new, fresh outlook from an outsider is often (always?) a very good thing. It is one of the reasons why Meg W. from ebay stepped down after 10yrs, despite taking the company to great success.
it is also the reason why boards have non-executive board members, who are not too embroiled in the company, but who can offer a new perspective.
I have often thought that we need an informal gathering of web thinkers and entreprenuers in SA to offer advice, and this different perspective. it is just too easy to get so bogged down with everyday, that you do not see the forest for the trees.