In this highly provocative book, best-selling author, acclaimed global futurist and the iconoclastic “chief unlearning officer,” Jack Uldrich turns the world as you know it—or think you know it—on its head and makes the compelling case that unlearning will be the most critical skill for charting, navigating and, ultimately, conquering the brave, new world of the 21st century. Buy the Book
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“We must unlearn the constellation to see the stars.” –Jack Gilbert from the poem “Tear it Down”
Question #23: In 2003, what money-losing product far exceeded its sales projections for the year in spite of the fact that manufacturer made no material upgrades to the product and spent less money on advertising?
The answer is the Oldsmobile and its success was all the more surprising because its parent company, General Motors, had decided to discontinue the line after 2004 due to consistently weak sales. In retrospect, this paradoxical outcome was driven by the realization the Oldsmobile was only going to be available for a limited time.
The idea that something is special just because it is limited in number—or even rare—is worth unlearning on a limited basis. (It goes without saying that sometimes limited items and objects are special and deserving of our attention. Often, however, they are not.)
Consider, for example, sales of other products that are advertised as being available for a “limited time.” This time honored marketing tactic has been employed for one simple reason: it works. People fear the potential loss of the product more than the actual benefit it will deliver. If you have ever ended up with buyer’s remorse or wondered why you are donating a pair of shoes you never wore to charity, it is possible you fell prey to this trap.
The “scarcity principle”—the idea that since something might be going away it makes sense to buy it—is a play on the same theme. The problem becomes more pernicious when even more people are clamoring for the scarce item. If you’ve ever witnessed the insanity of a pre-holiday rush as a store’s patrons sprint to secure the last few remaining versions of a Cabbage Patch Doll, Tickle-Me-Elmo, Beanie Baby or the latest “must-have” toy you get the general idea. Many people are motivated by nothing more than the fear of being left empty-handed.
This habit of confusing scarcity with value leads to the unusual title of this unlearning lesson. During my sophomore year of high school, I recall being dragged outside during the middle of the school day to view a rare full eclipse. The only problem is that I wasn’t actually allowed to look at the eclipse as it occurred lest I do irreparable damage to my eyes. To avoid this cataclysmic fate, my fellow classmates and I were instructed on how to construct a “pinhole projector.” As I recall, we punched a hole in the flimsy piece of poster board and held the board up so that it blocked our view of the event and, in its place, cast a shadow of the eclipse onto the ground. It was, to say the least, a decidely unsatisfying experience.
I mention this because during high school I was never once advised or encouraged to get up early to enjoy the radiant beauty of a sunrise or to slow down at the end of a day to admire the magnificence of a setting sun—even though both are far more beautiful than a solar eclipse.
The relationship between quantity—or availability—and value is often tenuous at best and sometimes can be as weak as the shadow of an eclipse cast upon the ground through a make-shift pinhole projector.
Homework Assignment #23: While enjoying either an early morning sunrise or a late afternoon sunset, make a list of common items that have great value to you and compare it with a second list of those scarce items you possess but which hold little value.
“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” –John Cage
Question #7: Write the letter “E” on your forehead. (Go ahead, I’ll wait. You may also just trace the letter on your forehead if that’s more comfortable for you). Did you write the letter in a self-oriented fashion such that it would appear backwards to those viewing it or did you write it backwards so that it would appear legible to others?
In a fascinating study conducted by Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Galinsky and his colleagues found that the more power an individual possessed, the more likely the person was to draw the letter from their perspective—making it appear backwards to others. In fact, individuals assigned to a high power group were three times more likely to draw a self-oriented “E.”
The study concluded that power causes individuals to assign too much weight to their own viewpoint and makes them less capable of adjusting to, or even considering, another person’s perspective.
This finding is worth keeping this study when listening to any expert discuss a new idea. For instance, in 1899, Lord Kelvin, then recognized as one of the brightest individuals in the world dismissed the work of the aviation enthusiasts by saying “Heavier than air machines are impossible.” A mere four years later, Kelvin was forced to eat his words when two bicycle repairmen from Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright, struck out from the sandy dunes of Kitty Hawk and achieved flight.
In the mid-1980’s, a conference full of ulcer experts ridiculed the work of Barry Marshall when he proposed that ulcers were not caused by acid or spicy food—as ulcer experts assumed at the time—but rather were caused by bacteria. It took 10 years but eventually the American Medical Association (AMA) agreed and, in 2005, a full two decades after he first proposed his theory, Marshall and his colleague, Robin Warren, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
That experts should be threatened by new ideas is to be expected. After all, it is difficult to accept the notion that years of well-intentioned study, research and effort were misplaced. It is equally problematic to accept that the foundation of one’s power—one’s status and standing in the eyes of society—was based on a flawed premise.
What is even more troublesome is that rather than keeping an open mind and entertaining new ideas which may challenge one’s expertise, many experts do just the opposite and perform the equivalent of writing a backwards “E” on their forehead and refuse to consider new alternatives. Often, they’ll even go a step further and use their status as experts to ridicule and belittle the new idea in question.
The problem is further compounded because experts are often extremely intelligent and are able to lay out in articulate and plausible sounding—-but, ultimately, wrong—-arguments as to why the new ideas should be dismissed.
New ideas, by their very nature, challenge old ideas. It is dangerous, therefore, to cede sole control of the assessment of new ideas to the very group which would be most threatened by the adoption of these ideas.
It is, of course, entirely reasonable that experts be allowed a role in assessing new ideas but before anyone accept their word as “gospel” they should insist that the experts take a moment and write the first letter of “expert” backwards as a reminder that expertise doesn’t necessarily equal correctness and that they must stay open to new perspectives.
Homework Assignment #7: In 1933, what brilliant scientist uttered this famous quote: “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable”? Hint: His name began with “E” and he later publicly reversed his position in a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Extra credit: After the near meltdown of the global financial market in 2008-2009, what other group of experts might have benefited from entertaining a new perspective?
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” –Marcel Proust
Question #22: There is a small town that has only one street. The street runs in an east-west direction and is exactly one mile in length. The town council recently granted liquor licenses to two taverns with the proviso the establishments be situated such that they are maximized for the convenience of both the town’s inhabitants and the tavern owners. Where along the one mile street should the establishments be located?
Did you say that the taverns should be positioned on opposite sides of the street at the half-mile point? This ensures both taverns will draw an equal number of patrons but the locations are not maximized for the customers benefit. To do this, the establishments must be located at the 1/3 and 2/3-mile marks. Under this scenario both taverns draw an equal number of people but no one in the town walks more than a one-third of a mile. The difference is that in the first scenario the tavern owners optimized the situation for their own benefit but that didn’t yield the best solution for the town’s residents.
The situation has comparable real-world implications and it is a behavior worth unlearning because it can lead to missed opportunities. In his book, Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond writes that one of history’s greater curiosities is the fact that the large island of Madagascar, which sits only 225 miles off the coast of Africa, wasn’t discovered by Africans. It was discovered by peoples from Indonesia—a country thousands of miles to the east. Much the same dynamic is at play when large and established businesses miss big opportunities close to home.
W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne argue persuasively in their book, Blue Ocean Strategy, that one of the best methods for achieving success is not to go head-to-head with the competition—as in the aforementioned exampled of placing one tavern directly across the street from another—it is to delve in unknown market space or what they refer to as Blue Ocean opportunities.
This is precisely what Cirque do Soleil chose to do when it reimagined the circus. It didn’t try to compete with Ringling and Barnum and Bailey with longer trapeze sets or larger and better trained elephants. Instead it created an entirely new and unique experience that didn’t rely on any animals and rather emphasized theme and artistic music, along with a rich and diverse pool of dance and performance art.
In the beginning Cirque du Soleil was considered cutting edge and avante garde (and it still is). But by venturing forth into unchartered waters, it has redefined the meaning of circus and brought its art to millions of people around the world.
As was mentioned in Unlearning Lesson #7 unlearning requires a willingness to “see what isn’t there” and it is impossible to see far beyond the shore when you are tethered to the shore. Or, as Andre Gide more eloquently wrote, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
Homework assignment #22: In 2008, Nintendo was able to recapture a large share of the video gaming market by developing a new gaming console (the Wii) which could be used by its non-customers (seniors). Today, the 55 to 65 year-old demographic is the fastest growing segment of the video gaming market. Consider and design a product for a group of people who are today not your customers.
Blockbusters, Borders, Brittanica, and Best Buy. They all begin with the letter “B” and they are all disappearing. Surprisingly, the underlying cause of each is the same: Digitization.
In the case of Blockbuster, Netflix has been digitizing movies and films for some time now thus rendering video rental stores obsolete.
Amazon and its Kindle e-book reader are doing the same to books as ever more readers digitally digest books. The consequence: Borders has been forced into bankruptcy.
Last month, after 244 years, Encyclopedia Brittanica, announced it was discontinuing publication of its paper-based encyclopedias. The company realized it no longer made sense to print massive 20-volumes tomes in the era where consumers could quickly look up–and post–digital content online at sites such as Wikipedia.com.
And few weeks ago, Best Buy announced it was closing 50 stores. The reason: More consumers are shopping and ordering products online.
The trend will continue working its way up the alphabet:
Cisco is being threatened by Nicera … Daimler is being targeted by the likes of Zipcar and RelayRide … Education is being disrupted by Khan Academy and Udacity …
The very first post I ever wrote on my other blog (www.schoolofunlearning.com) explained the story of how I first came to appreciate the importance of unlearning. The piece (No Strings Attached) recounted the story of how I had tied my shoes “bunny ear style” for 37 years before I finally unlearned that habit and relearned how to tie my shoes in the more common and effective method of looping one lace around the other and then pulling it into a tight knot.
Well, it has now been almost four years since I wrote that piece and a full 10 years since I unlearned my “bunny ear habit” but I’ve just had my world rocked again by this wonderful TED video of Terry Moore explaining how I was still engaged in a sub-optimal method of shoe-tying!
If you want to “future-proof” your thinking, I encourage you to also embrace the concept of unlearning. (My new book, Higher Unlearning, has 39 simple lessons to help you get started). Here are just two:
“We must unlearn the constellation to see the stars.” –Jack Gilbert from the poem “Tear it Down”
