“Ignore the Blonde” — Using Counter Intuitive Thinking to Generate New Ideas

In the movie “A Beautiful Mind” we witness the birth of a new economic theory (fictionalized to increase the entertainment value). Dr. John Nash has his moment of clarity, while working in a pub trying to find his “one big idea”. The following video clip provide a much better explanation if you haven’t seen the movie or need a reminder.

The interesting part, and what each of us needs to keep in mind, is that Adam Smith was (and for many still is) THE voice for economic theory. Dr. Nash smashed Smith’s theory in a pure moment of brilliance. He shared the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with game theorists Reinhard Selten and John Harsanyi. In 2015, he was awarded the Abel Prize for his work on nonlinear partial differential equations..

What is brilliant, isn’t the specific theory, but how it is a perfect example of counter-intuitive thinking. If you watched the clip you know what I mean by that — his classmates, took a very “tried-and-true” approach to the problem, basing their solution on what they had done in the past, regardless of it’s success or failure.

Dr. Nash on the other hand, presented an idea that was counter to the tried-and-true — believing it was the best approach for both each individual AND the group. In this case, if the group was to “win”, each member of the group had to win individually — otherwise, there was the potential for everyone in the group to “lose”.

Going against conventional wisdom can be a great way to stimulate ideas — or a great approach to coming up with a new message (or value prop) for your product or service. One of following five (5) counter-intuitive ideas might just be “the ticket” for you, create a new way to view a problem area, or potentially even radically change your viewpoint.

1. Disagree

Most of us in marketing or sales believe the best approach is to agree with the choices our customers make. What if you know they made a big mistake, they are leaning towards, or possibly even purchased a competitive product or service. If you told them “that’s a mistake” — flat out, honest, without trying to provide an explanation — they may decide it’s just “sour milk” on your part, OR they make ask you why. If you know and can provide some valid evidence to backup that fact (real customer experiences) — you may be able to turn it around.

It might be as simple as a statement like “our best clients signed a contract with XYZ, most of them within six months of signing their contracts and being behind schedule, they came back to see if we could help. I can give you names…”

If you normally agree, think of ways to disagree.

2. Say NO

Being a YES person can get on people’s nerves. And we rarely give our full trust in people that don’t say NO at least a few times. If your standard message is saying YES, look at how you could say NO.

From a product perspective, what if you told that one customer, you know, the one that is providing 40% of your revenue, but always asking for “one more feature” … NO … those features are for their benefit, not necessarily the larger market.

Even better, what if your primary investor (or CEO) wanted a specific feature, one that could delay release, create cost overruns, and generally screw things up — could/will you say NO?

Spending time and resources, catering to a single, or potentially very low percentage of your customers, may divert you from increasing the marketability of the “thing” you are creating. So try on saying NO. What happens if you don’t do it? Weigh the risks — you might find out it’s the best thing you can do

3. Limit features (or functions)

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states 80% of the effect comes from 20% of the causes. Based upon an observation by Vilifredo Pareto in 1896, it has been used to explain everything from why we don’t get things, to sales, to distribution of wealth. If we apply it to almost any product or service, what we will notice (from a general sense) that 20% of the features within a product are used 80% of the time, yet, 80% of the resources used to support and maintain that same product go to many of the less used features (20%).

Think about it, if you started focusing more on the 20% that drive the 80% — how would your product or service change. In communications, if what we say is only 20% valid, say less (not more). In sales, if 20% of your customers will create 80% of your revenue, focus more on the 20% — or even better — focus on the 21st through 30th best customers — and get them excited.

How could you use the 80/20 rule? Go ahead and flip it, change it to the 90/10 rule, or the 99/1 rule. Just decide to think of it differently — from features to sales to the very words you use.

4. Stop Focusing

I’ve thought of this one a few times and have read books on the “power of focus” … the analogy is a laser beam of light versus light from the sun. What if we didn’t have that laser focus, and just decided to not focus? We have a disgruntled customer, they are going to pull their account, they represent several million dollars to our company — we MUST focus on them … or do we?

Just like in Nash’s original thought — there may be more harm to your overall company in focusing on one thing — and you may not get the desired result (long term). In the case of a disgruntled customer, depending on what’s happened, they may have already decided to leave . They are attempting to mitigate the risk of leaving, by putting you on notice. The best thing you might be able to do is keep the faith, continue with what you’re doing and don’t focus on that one customer — spread your attention. Be the sun, not the laser.

5. “you can’t handle the truth”

(I know a different movie altogether) … This one I really like, it pushes the limits, and would immediately be dismissed by most company leaders. What if you told your things you can’t do with your product? I mean, decide to “tell the truth” — logically, depending on how you do it, it sets up a challenge for the customer.

I don’t know what you might want to expose with a headline — I’m just saying, you can challenge people with what you say — and sometimes by creating a challenge — you will create a broader market appeal.

Tell people they can’t handle the truth, and they might just be begging you tell them anyway. [hook set]

These are my 5 counter-intuitive ideas. What are yours? What have you done in the past that could be used by someone else — another sales person, another product manager, another content creator? Share them in the comments — I personally enjoy the interaction!