“I went to school on Tom’s ideas!”
Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com
A Clear Eye.
On customers, brands and marketplace success
by Tom Asacker
“I went to school on Tom’s ideas!”
Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com
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"The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia."
I've been doing a lot of traveling of late (probably too much), presenting to some very large and diverse groups of conference attendees and corporate clients; from P&G's brand managers, to owners and GM's of television and radio stations, to executives and managers of hotels, retirement homes, rental properties, rep firms and ad agencies. I typically begin my talks by displaying an image of footprints in the snow, while recounting a powerful, metaphorical story that goes something like this:
"Do you remember when, as a child, you'd wake up to a pristine, snow covered landscape? You'd rush out the door on your way to school, zigging and zagging, pushing and dragging your feet to create a one-of-a-kind path? And invariably, the next kid in the neighborhood would leave his home and follow your crooked path, kicking away more snow on his way. And then the next kid, and the next, until eventually there was a well-worn, precisely defined route all the way to school.
Well, that's what happens with your mind as well. If you think the same thoughts, or preformed the same task over and over again, you will develop a neural pathway in your brain. Like a dry path in wet snow, it becomes a comfortable route; a path of least resistance. To remove this habit or old way of thinking takes a focused effort. It requires that you step out of your rut and get your brain wet, cold and uncomfortable."
The audience members typically nod, signaling their understanding. And then they go right back into their subconscious ruts, rejecting new concepts and rationalizing familiar ones. Men, and women, love inertia. And to my way of thinking, inertia is the silent killer of most businesses and, in some cases, entire industries as well.
Inertia in business, both up and down the chain of decision-making, is no different than inertia in other aspects of one's life; it has to do with protecting one's identity, immediate self-interest and interpersonal relationships. Here are just a few thoughts that form when someone is exposed to a new business concept or idea; albeit most are below people's level of conscious awareness:
I'm sure there are more (If you have a favorite, post it in the comments). My point is simply this: the main enemy of ideas is not fear of change, but love of the way things are right now. Discomfort be damned.
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» Intertia from The Voiceover Boblog
One of my greatest challenges as a voiceover talent (tell me if this is familiar) is inertia. As you may remember from your time in school, inertia is defined as a pair of rules.
Things at rest tend to stay at rest.
Things in motion tend to stay in mot... [Read More]
"Tom is timely, thought provoking and all about the new brand vision packaged as a Seinfeld stand up. I went to school on his ideas."
- Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and CEO, Eons.
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Another good post Tom, but what, if anything, can be done about it? Are we doomed to irrelevance?
Posted by: kyri andreou | July 13, 2007 at 04:46 AM
Tom,
Very nice post. Let me add a few:
* That may work for some people, but my situation is different. That won’t work for me.
* What happens if I try it and I fail?
* That is not the way it has always bee done.
* If we do make this change, my job may become unneeded or altered beyond recognition.
Have a great weekend!
Posted by: Bill Gammell | July 13, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Tom
Peter Senge provided a list of the 'blockers of change' in his book 'The Dance of Change'.
Managing the downside of blockers of change is just as important as managing the upside of a well designed change programme.
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager
Posted by: Graham Hill | July 13, 2007 at 11:49 AM
Hi Kyri,
The solution is simple, albeit not easy: say "yes." Say yes to digging into new concepts, trying new things, accepting invitations, etc., especially if you don't "feel" like it or if it makes you uncomfortable.
Great additions to the list, Bill. Thanks.
And Graham, indeed Senge provides many useful insights. He's a profound thinker and a great human being. I shared a stage with him last year in Boston. And indeed, overcoming organizational inertia is much more complex and challenging than the personal inertia that I made reference to. I almost killed myself doing it with a large scale ERP system implementation at GE in the early 80's. :)
Posted by: Tom Asacker | July 13, 2007 at 12:20 PM
Tom
Have you seen ze frank on branding?
Check this link: http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/08/082906.html
Great minds... etc.
Posted by: Terry Pollock | July 13, 2007 at 03:04 PM
Nice post and comments.
I think one inertial force is very big both from a personal view and from the corporate one.
It is the recognition of failures done in the past. It is very difficult to take a look at the past and say: If I am in a bad position now is because I've taken wrong decisions. I am going to turn this around from now on. It is really difficult.
In the corporate realm, it is also difficult to acknowledge you have done things wrong because there is always a power relationship between people and it is difficult to admit one has led the company through the wrong path.
Even though inertia can exist in good times, happy times, I think in these cases you can be in a better position to change things up, although you will probably think you are doing things right, so why should you change!
Posted by: Felix Gerena | July 13, 2007 at 04:21 PM
My favorite - and most difficult to respond to, as it invariably comes with a smug "been there, done that" attitude from someone who has clearly done little outside their comfort zone - goes something like this: "There's really nothing new new here. This is essentially what we have been doing. Is this all you've got?" This is when I smile and move on.
Posted by: Chris Trout | July 13, 2007 at 05:54 PM
More than anything, people fear the unknown. New ideas will likely bring about new (unknown) results. Unfortunately, people are more comfortable living with the status quo (even when they're not happy with it) than trying something new.
Posted by: Yosi Knecht | July 18, 2007 at 10:09 AM
Interesting to note that you can counter these negative thoughts to make them may be change their minds about things as follows:
* Negative Thought: If that were true, and important right now, I'd have heard of it already.
Counter: You have not heard this before, because its a revolutionary new concept that's going to change the way we do such & such... You're hearing it now because you're on the ground floor. This is where it starts and from here we have so much room to grow and profit from...If you don't start to grab this, you're going to lose out when this concept becomes very important in our world:)
* Negative Thought: I don't really get it. It must not be that well thought out.
Counter: You know if you don't get this don't worry, it doesn't mean you're stupid. Just that this is new concept requires a lot of foundation knowledge before you truly understand the concept:) If you don't start learning now, you're going to obviously fall behind:)
* Negative Thought: Perhaps I'm simply too old school for this new fangled concept.
Counter: You say you're old school. Yes if you want to grow old and lose out be old school. If you want to get somewhere, you'd better take a good grasp of this new concept:)
* Negative Thought: I'm too busy to think about that right now. I'm way behind on my emails, follow up calls, appointments, to-do's, etc. and it will only cause me additional work.
Counter: You're too busy now. You see what happens when this new concept becomes popular and it over runs your business. Your business loses out and you start seeing your profits decrease. And you see that those (competiors) who have grabbed the new concept opportunity have thrived and even taken business away from you. Then it'll be too late
* Negative Thought: He's saying that everything we've done in the past is wrong. We're successful, so he obviously doesn't know what he's talking about.
Counter: You're successful for now. How about in the future? You can't predict the future can you? If you don't grab this new concept opportunity, if this new concept does well, you're going to be siiting ducks.
* Negative Thought: If I endorse his idea, what does that say about me and my firm? We're suppose to be the "go to" people; the ones with the answers.
Counter: Who says that with the new concept, you can't be the go to people for this new concept. You're at the ground floor, take this opportunity to learn and master this new concept today. If you don't master this new concept, someone else will and they will be forging ahead to be the go to people for this new concept.
* Negative Thought: If I change course, so and so will be disappointed and upset with me. I'll wait and let someone else make the decision and become the scapegoat.
Counter: You can look at it that way. But what if this new concept takes off, and you never grabbed it earlier on. Your boss will think you did not make a good judgement in taking up new opportunities? If you had taken it, you'd be praised upon. Wouldn't you like that?
You can setup a test team to test this out. It wouldn't take much. But the rewards can be 10 times as much:)
Keep countering folks:)
Any of you got anymore ideas for negative thoughts and countering them, do post in my blog at billiondollarwebsites.com
Posted by: Alex from billiondollarwebsites.com | July 20, 2007 at 03:19 AM