Do you see what you believe, or believe what you see?

My teenage daughter, like most kids her age, loves the look of fast sports cars. She is particularly amused by the fact that she shares the same name with a Lotus sports car, the Elise.

One morning recently, as I was driving her to the school bus stop, she excitedly pointed out the car in front of us. “Look dad, it’s an Elise.” Until then, she had only seen the car in magazines and online. I gently pointed out that the car was not an Elise, but a Corvette. But she was not to be deterred, as she insisted it was an Elise. That is, until we pulled up next to the car and she could clearly see the Corvette badge.

Later I reflected on this incident and wondered what it was that made a teenager who had never seen (or had a live experience with) a Lotus Elise, believe her own mental image of the car more than the feedback from someone three times her age, who has actually seen (had an experience with) the car in question. Was it youthful self confidence, or worse? And, I wondered how often the same phenomena occurred in business settings. I have seen managers reviewing market data and completely disagreeing on the potential opportunities. I have seen financial data which suggested financial deterioration, interpreted in a favorable light. And I wondered, were these people really seeing the same things?

I did not get very far with my exploration of these questions until I came across a piece written by Daniel Levitin:

The word pitch refers to the mental representation an organism has of the fundamental frequency of a sound. That is, pitch is a purely psychological phenomenon related to the frequency of vibrating air molecules. By “psychological,” I mean that it is entirely in our heads, not in the world-out-there; it is the end product of a chain of mental events that gives rise to an entirely subjective, internal mental representation or quality. Sound waves – molecules of air vibrating at various frequencies – do not themselves have pitch. Their motion and oscillations can be measured, but it takes a human (or animal) brain to map them to that internal quality we call pitch.

We perceive color in a similar way, and it was Isaac Newton who first realized this. (Newton, of course is known as the discoverer of the theory of gravity, and the inventor, along with Leibniz, of calculus. Like Einstein, Newton was a very poor student, and his teachers often complained of his inattentiveness.)

Newton was the first to point out that light is colorless, and that consequently color has to occur inside our brains.

Excerpts From This is your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin

In essence, Daniel is saying that things like color and sound are not absolutes, people hear and see the same thing differently. Thus, some see a glass with some liquid and by focusing one way or the other can see a half-empty or half-filled glass. Several people might be listening to the same CD, but concentrating on different elements of the music and subsequently liking or disliking what they are hearing.

In a business setting, the implications are stunning. If everyone is seeing your markets, customers, performance, numbers the same way, and there are no opportunities for alternate explanations, you very well may be missing important elements. You might be looking at data that shows revenue growth, but nuances such as whether the growth was in line with the rest of the market, with targeted segments, due to lucky wins, or fundamentally based on purposefully managed activities delivering better value to customers are incredibly important distinctions. Management teams that lack diversity of thought, or avoid honest questioning of the facts, will almost always be blind-sided by an alternate reality.

Are there alternate realities or interpretations that can be inferred from the same set of facts? Absolutely! Just examine the optical illusion above. Some people see the young girl, others an old lady. They are both present in the same set of facts. What you choose to see is a matter of where you are looking. You can only see both pictures when you shift your perspective, an activity that might serve you well in your business.

“This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession” (Daniel J. Levitin)

New Age Job Survival

Daniel H. Pink has written a terrific book called “A Whole New Mind – Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future”. I recommend it to anyone who is concerned about job survival in this new age.

Daniel postulates that the world has evolved through three distinct ages over the last 150 years – The Agricultural Age, The Industrial Age, and The Information Age. More importantly, he speculates we are entering what he calls The Conceptual Age. One which favors “Right Brainers” (creators and empathizers) over the traditional “Left Brain Skills” (analysts).

We have arrived at the new Conceptual Age, due to three major forces which have essentially changed the rules of competition. These forces are Game changers on a global scale, which Daniel describes as Abundance (excess of available choices), Asia (dramatically lower cost), and Automation (machine driven productivity). To survive in this new age, Daniel argues, you must ask yourself three questions:

1. Are you doing something that cannot be done cheaper by someone overseas?

2. Are you doing something that cannot be done faster by a computer?

3. Are you offering something that is in demand (differentiating) in an age of abundance?

If you answer yes to these three questions, then you are safe (for some time). Answer No, and you are in deep trouble.

I have argued on this blog (“Lifetime Employment – Apply Here”) that only employees and companies capable of changing faster than customer choices are changing will survive. The fact is, low cost labor (Asia), and massive productivity improvements (Automation) have created far more choices (Abundance). And, the information age has enlightened consumers as to the availability of these abundant choices. The result is a need for more differentiation. Products have to stand out, they must have soul (“Are you obsessed about Quality? Do your products have soul?”). Similarly, new skills are required for you to stand out.

Read the book to find out which skills Daniel Pink believes will be more important in the future!

“A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” (Daniel H. Pink)

Fundamental Beliefs – Guiding principles for strategy

I am frequently asked about the most important factors that shape my views on strategy. And to that question, my answer is always simple. I am driven by three fundamental beliefs:

1. Customers always choose the best available

What is best is defined by each customer. It could be price, availability, specifications, or some other variable. Whatever the utility curve the customer is using to determine their preference, they will choose the best they can afford, from what’s available, wherever they can find it.

2. The best is always changing

The best changes over time because customer preferences change, what competitors offer changes, or because what companies provide to their customer changes.

3. Only companies capable of change are sustainable

The inevitable conclusion is that companies must change. And, they must change faster than the customers are changing in order to stay relevant.

For me, the only constant is change!