Why you should look at illogic over logic.
I do love to have a box set on the go, that is mine and mine alone, to sit and enjoy when the male people of the house are out playing football and such like.
I’ve just finished Amsterdam – which I started watching because I thought it’d be set in Amsterdam, and I was about to take a trip there. But it turned out to be a medical drama set in New York, and the hospital was called New Amsterdam.
The series is inspired by the experience of a previous medical Director of Bellevue Hospital in NY (Eric Manheimer). The premise of the story, other than saving lives, is the employment of a new Medical Director – Max Goodwin, whose job it is to make New Amsterdam work efficiently and effectively.
Max disrupts the status quo and proves he will stop at nothing to breathe new life into this understaffed, underfunded and underappreciated hospital.
Their mantra is to TREAT EVERYONE, no matter who they are and what funding they have.
So instead of using LOGICAL medical treatments to treat the symptoms, Dr Goodwin thinks differently (and illogically some say).
An example of this…. Max works out that a homeless man has cost the hospital more in treatments than it would to pay for a home for him for his entire life. With his illnesses being caused by homelessness, that’s exactly what he does – rents him a home, to save the hospital millions of dollars in future treatments.
Sometimes, logic (facts, figures, evidence) is not the answer, and we need to look at the illogical, and perhaps more qualitative, angle…. in other words:
DON’T AVOID THE STORM. CHANGE THE WEATHER.
So what does this mean for those of us running a business?
Looking for illogic can be the difference that makes the difference. Here’s some ideas.
- There are way more possibilities than the obvious, if we dare to stop and think.
Who would have thought that autonomous driving would be a ‘thing’, or Fitbits that support preventative healthcare, 5G data networks – and the list goes on. If we want to make things better, faster, stronger, innovative – then first think about the end game. What are you trying to achieve? Dare to dream, and then work out how to get there, rather than thinking about what you can achieve with what you have, with logical information. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
2. Testing is paramount – it’s not always the logical that wins.
Whilst it might be logical for a business to use certain marketing messages and images within their Marketing, the only way to know what works for certain is to test and figure it out. That’s how some businesses have worked out that if you put a cat or dog in your marketing, then you’ll get more engagement! Test, test, test.
3.People’s motivations, drivers and intentions are not always what they seem
What appeals to you about your product or service may not be what appeals to the customer. Take the iPhone as an example. These never really flew off the shelves until Apple marketed the possibility of the apps within the phone – and not the phone itself (although that seemed logical). The driver was the amazingness of what the apps could offer. It’s important to consider what possible angles will support you. What drives and motivates you, may not do the same for others.
4. Those that are the closest to the customer have the knowledge
The power of a sales person and customer services individuals is not just in the job they do, but in the knowledge they gain from their interactions with the customer. This will give another level to the insights you have on how to connect with customers on things that really matter. It’s not just the stats and facts, but regular catch-ups on the information gleaned from those on the frontline that are interacting with the customer every day.
5.Trust your gut.
We are 95% unconscious, with only 5% of yourself actually operating consciously at any one time. It has to be that way. Imagine if everything you knew was present all at once? We’d all be very confused. Most of what we know and who we are is stored away in little filing cabinets within us, that we need to rifle through when we need to access information. For that reason, sometimes, we can’t put a hard and fast reason or fact on something, but we just get a gut feel. This is your unconscious mind that has accessed a file that’s telling you the answer. Sometimes, you should just go with your gut, albeit illogical to some.
The fact is this: Logic takes second place to emotion when it comes to making a buying decision. It’s the way the brain works. EVERYONE buys on emotion, so looking at the illogical is a smart move.
What illogical information and thinking will you use to make a difference?
Victoria ????
p.s. This is a good book to explore this further.
