Question The Status Quo, The Holy Cows –
In Short “EVERYTHING”!
Most would
consider a good student to be one who can answer all the questions posed. I
have a different take. A student, who can answer questions to the satisfaction
of the teacher at best, is an average student. He is trained to be a convergent
thinker. That is answering the given questions in a particular fashion and
style.
But things in
the modern world are very different. Divergent Thinkers are the need of the
hour. Divergent Thinkers are those who can start at a point and progress in any
direction. They end up questioning the question itself. The purpose of
divergent thinking is not to come out with clever and apt answers. Rather it is
to develop the ability that most of us have lost - the ability to question things.
What can be questioned, the status quo, the holy cows, and the standard procedures;
everything has to be under the question scanner.
A disruptive
innovation is
an innovation that
creates a new market and eventually disrupts an existing market. For example
the car was not a disruptive innovation, because early
automobiles were expensive and they did not disrupt the market for the traditional horse drawn carriages.
The
market for transportation essentially remained intact till the entry of the low
priced Ford Model T car. The
mass produced model T automobile from
Ford was a disruptive innovation and it changed the dynamics of the transportation
market as it made cars affordable for everyone.
How
did it happen? Henry Ford questioned the status Quo. He asked himself “Why should
cars be so costly? Why can’t I make cars more economic (from this came the revolutionary
assembly line production concept) and the most brilliant question “Why can’t I
make the cars so cheap that even my own factory workers can afford them?” That
is brilliant questioning ability.
Developing the questioning ability:
We can take the help of the five Ws and one H concept. The Five W's and one H were memorialized by Rudyard Kipling
in his "Just So Stories" in which a poem accompanying the tale of
"The Elephant's Child" opens with:
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Who is the person or the persons involved. All of us are
social beings and human interest and people are very important. Any questioning
process which takes place without considering the human element is as tasty as
an Indian curry without the spicy Indian masala!
What happened has to be examined clearly and without bias.
In many cases we might have committed mistakes. Accept the mistakes and move
on. We should not carry mental baggage. Yes question whether what transpired happened
because of us or inspite of us. If we have done the chain of events
deliberately we need to introspect. If the things have happened without our
knowledge move on. We can’t win all the time. Let us live today for a better
tomorrow.
Where did it happen? The location is very important. Did it take
place in a local area, in the state, or in the same country? Rules of the game
are not the same for all the places. Having white teeth is universally admired.
A tooth paste maker tried out its “makes your teeth the whitest of the white”
campaign in Thailand and came out a cropper. The campaign was a total flop.
The
company questioned itself. The answer was very simple. In Thailand at that time
the role models were the business leaders. And Business leaders in Thailand had
yellow teeth (yellowed due to excessive betel nut and tobacco chewing). So in
Thailand having yellow teeth meant being rich and successful and having
sparkling white teeth was not an aspirational trait.
When did it take place? When is the issue of immediacy. We
need to examine the issue as early as possible. I worked in a solar
photovoltaic company. We had a production process where solar cells have to be
cut. The cutting of the solar cells was a critical issue as the solar cells were
very fragile and tend to chip off. This was leading to loss of efficiency. The
process of cutting involved placing the solar cell on a stationery table and
running a high tensile platinum wire over it repeatedly. Our design team was pouring
over this tricky problem. Whatever we tried out, the chipping off continued.
One
of our scientists came out with a brilliant solution “Why should be keep the
solar cell stationary and move the wire. Why can’t we keep the platinum wire stationary
and move the solar cell” The simplicity of the process was brilliant. And to
top it all the timing of the solution saved the efficiency of the solar cell
and the production process became smother and more profitable.
Why did it happen? Why is the motive. Why explains the process and makes it logical.
In one of the Sherlock Holmes story, Sherlock is placidly sitting and smoking
his cigar at the scene of the crime which is a palatial building where a murder
has been committed. There is plenty of hustle and bustle around him. Detectives
are everywhere. They are looking for foot prints, finger prints or any other
clues. In short they are busy as bees.
This
irritates Dr. Watson, Sherlock's trusted deputy. He says “Sherlock why don’t
you do something?” Sherlock replies “Why should I do anything, the murder has
been solved” “Solved?” gapes Watson “how”. “Why didn’t the dog bark?” says
Sherlock.
This
opens a new process of thinking. Sherlock rightly argues that the pet dog never
barked when the murder was being committed. His deduction which is later proved
right is that the pet dog will only bark at strangers. As it didn’t bark it
meant that somebody known to the dog or somebody from the house had committed
the murder.
How did it happen? How is the modus operandi? The modus
operandi is critical as it tells how the entire chain of events were planned
and executed. How becomes very important as the modus operandi is like a
signature tune and many people tend to repeat their modus operandi.
Questions that we need to ask
ourselves:
1.
Question the
holy cows:
The apple falling on Newton’s head triggered the thought process. Why did the
apple fall down? Why didn’t it go up? This thought process led to the invention
of Newton’s Principles of motion. Similarly in any field questioning the holy cows
is very important. Erstwhile it was difficult to be noticed in the film industry.
Youtube is a boon for wanna be directors and actors. They can shoot a great movie
and upload it. The world could come knocking at their door step if the movie is
appealing enough. And Youtube is absolutely free!
2. Questioning with
critical thinking:
As the story Sherlock Holmes has demonstrated critical thinking is very much
needed. Just because someone else has not thought about something does not mean
that there is no solution. Our ancestors were pushing and pulling things along laboriously
till someone invented the most revolutionary invention of them all - the wheel.
Similarly Indians singlehandedly created the concept of mathematics by inventing
the concept of zero.
3. The obvious
might not be correct:
If any offer is too good, most probably it is false. Most of us receive E-Mails
and messages saying that we have won crores of rupees. And a humble message
“please deposit Rs 1,00,000 as processing fee so that we can transfer the money
into your account”. Question yourself “If they have so much money, why would they
give it to us. They would enjoy it themselves”.
4. Go off the
beaten track:
Too many crooks spoil the broth. As Al Ries and Jack Trout very lucidly say in
their book “Positioning the battle for your mind” we only remember the first
person who climbed Mount Everest. No one remembers the second, third and the fourth.
So don’t try to be a copycat. Facebook as a concept has already been created by
Mark Zuckerberg. Think of something new that no one has even dreamt of.
Question yourself “this is so frighteningly different that I am sure that it
will be rejected initially”. Out of that moldering cauldron of self-doubt and
uncertainty might emerge the next new breath taking innovation.
5.
When the
questions come up think of innovative answers: When you question the status quo
it is important to think of an innovative answer for the problem. The ability to
pound square pegs in round holes is what is expected. Companies were worried
about their falling profits and operational efficiency. They questioned
themselves as how efficiency can be maintained and profitability be improved.
Out of this questioning emerged outsourcing. Outsourcing is a concept of giving
out non critical jobs and functions to outside agencies. Outsourcing reduced
the cost of non-critical activities but not the efficiency of the entire
operation itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment