October 25, 2022

Drinking Out Of The Bowl

When was the last time you drank wine out of a bowl?

Never?

Me neither.

Why not?

Or...

Maybe it IS against the rules?

After all...

Drinking chardonnay out of a salad bowl is not normally done.

We don’t normally see people doing it.

It’s not the norm.

Social and cultural norms are everywhere.

They are useful and important.

They are also limiting and create blind spots because they are often unspoken and invisible.

Why does this matter for your business?

Here’s why...

If you can’t see the rules, you can’t break them.

If you can’t break the rules, you can’t innovate.

If you can’t innovate, you can’t create more value.

If you can’t create more value, you can’t increase your prices.

So here’s a homework assignment for you:

Identify a norm about your industry (or your ideal client’s industry) that everyone seems to follow but that you’ve always thought was nuts.

If you can think of one, imagine what opportunities it might unlock if that norm was replaced by a better one.

And if you can’t think of one, keep thinking.

Yours,

—J

P.S. Hat tip to Nika Kabiri for inspiring this message with her excellent talk on making better business decisions at MYOB2022!