Sometimes Incompetence Can Save The Day
How To Be A Clever Sidekick — Lessons From Spot & Brain
Remember Hong Kong Phooey? It was a short-lived animated series from the seventies, so you would certainly be forgiven if you don’t. Do you remember Inspector Gadget? Gadget was popular for a slightly longer period in the eighties and was recently brought back in France and Canada. There was also that Matthew Broderick movie from 1999.
In case you missed out on both, each series featured a crime fighting hero who ultimately saved the day in-spite of himself. Despite wisdom from The Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu and any number of Go-go-gadget-gizmos, these two guys were about as incompetent as they came. Fortunately, they had a little help.
Behind the scenes and often in the shadows, the real heroes of those cartoons were a cat named Spot and a dog named Brain (and a girl named Penny, in the case of Inspector Gadget). These clever sidekicks were the ones who actually saved the day. They were the ones who actually solved the mysteries and foiled the bad guys. Part Ninja and part Judo master, they intervened in the bumbling incompetence of their partners, just enough to win the day.
So What Does This Have To Do With Business & Analytics?
Now I am not comparing your business to an animated detective series, but I have witnessed the wisdom of the The Hong Kong Book of Marketing and the mayhem that begins with Go-go-product-development. Marketing and product teams make bad decisions — it happens. But when they do, remember that analytic teams make great sidekicks. Especially, if they stay clever, focus on winning the day, and have no qualms with remaining in the shadows.
The story will begin with a bug, a poorly defined exclusion, a corrupted file, or any number of other whoops moments that too many people try to pretend never happen. This will create frustration, fire drills, and a fair amount of anger and despair. Here are some quick lessons from our cartoon sidekicks to help you win the day.
Step #1— Listen
One of the things that distinguishes our sidekicks from their incompetent partners is there ability to listen. Frantic action is comical and dangerous. It may entertain you, but it is not going to help you make the most of things.
Step #2 — Recognize the Opportunity
Almost every broken experience, feature, or mailing is an opportunity to measure something that you otherwise could not. No marketing team or product team I’ve ever worked with was willing to test screwing things up. There is too much collateral damage to the customer and the brand to sanely consider something like that. It is however and important thing to measure.
So once you understand the issue, consider how to make the most of it. A little Analytic Judo can go a long way. Both Spot and Brain are masters of the subtle redirect, though they are not beyond using a mattress of trampoline either. Whatever it takes to snatch victory from the jaws defeat.
Step #3 — This Is No Time For Glory
Spot and Brain are not the heroes of their stories. Excepting an occasional eye roll, they are okay with that. Spotlight grabbing and glory hogging in the face of incompetence and other accidental events is not productive. It will be viewed as salt in the wound.
Great sidekicks and analysts shouldn’t need to be in the limelight. If you are a glory hound, you need to look elsewhere. If you are mostly concerned with benefiting the company, then don’t worry about it. Some will likely recognize your effort regardless and the increased stock price will be its own reward.
