Evolving and Asking

Roger Martin, the former Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and author of several best-selling business books, recently spoke to our Daily Coach Network about the value of analytics when making decisions.

Martin told the group that Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, was the first to understand the power of data analysis when planning a strategy.

Aristotle believed information worth studying could only come from “part of the world where things cannot be other than they are.”

For example, if you dropped something from your hand and it fell to the floor in the 16th century, it would still fall to the floor in the 21st.

Gravity cannot be anything other than it is regardless of time and place.

For the part of the world where things can be other than they are, past data aren’t especially helpful. In fact, Aristotle and Martin both believe data can be counterproductive to our reaching the best solution.

Martin and Aristotle are not alone in their beliefs. Rory Sutherland, the vice chair of Ogilvy Advertising, and author of many books on human behavior believes, “All big data comes from the same place: the past. Yet, a single change in context can change human behavior significantly.”

Sutherland concludes relying on past information of the consumer is the quickest way for any company to fall behind.

As the world changes, the needs of the consumer change predicated on the moment, which is why businesses like Blackberry and Blockbuster went from dominant to extinct.

What can we do as leaders to not base the future off relying on the past?

Once again, for Martin and Aristotle, the answer lies in the imagination of the leader to visualize the future, asking what can we do better? What can we give our customers that they don’t think they need today but will want tomorrow?

Always ask, what is coming next?

Martin believe that TIDE — yes, TIDE the cleaning detergent, which has held the highest market share of laundry detergent the past 70 plus years — does.

Why?

Because Procter and Gamble, the makers of TIDE, rely on their research and development department to come up with two or three ideas that could help the company moving forward.

Every six months, they hold meetings, to have their staff present new ideas.

One year, it was the invention of the pods, having all three cleaning elements in one capsule, which then allowed a growing number of 15-year-old boys to take an interest in doing their laundry.

If you don’t have any ideas, you’re told to find some and come back. If you fail again, then you won’t be on the team.

If everyone is using “analytics” to help their decision making, then as Bill Walsh once said, if we are all thinking alike, then no one is thinking. Become the imaginer, become someone who asks what’s next, not what have we learned.

And don’t stop asking.

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