Don't be fooled...

What we say we want and what we actually want are enormously different.

Too often we rely on logic and reasoning to articulate what we want, and then wonder why we are left feeling disappointed by the end result.

Jon Steel, a fantastic Strategic Planner who I saw speak a few weeks ago, reminded me of a clever example that clearly demonstrates this phenomenon.

Russian Artists Komar and Melamid were determined to create the 'most wanted' painting. In order to define 'most wanted', they polled the American public to determine what they want to see in art. Questions included 'what is your prefered colour', 'do you prefer modern or traditional art', 'do you prefer sharp angles or soft curves' - you get the idea. Once the data was collated, Komar and Melamid started painting by numbers. They used data to create the piece of art that the American public said they wanted. But what was the American publics' response? They hated it. The logic and reasoning (captured in the data) lead to disappointment.

Komar and Melamid essentially challenged the polling frenzy that was governing society. Their study suggested that the 'ask people what they want and we will give it to them' formula was not necessarily a successful one.

Kevin Rudd's recent demotion as Australia's Prime Minister is yet another example of this. When faced with the need to address climate change, Rudd listened to the publics' rumblings (these were something along the line of 'we want to help the environment, but don't want to endure significant personal sacrifice') and took his foot off the accelerator. The public's response? Anger and disillusionment. Whilst Australians might have grumbled about the individual sacrifices required to save their planet (and in the process appear like they didn't want to be part of climate change action), what they actually wanted was a government that stood firm on national and global environmental needs, and lead the change. Rudd took the publics' word at face value, rather than making a strategic leap that would lead to the right decision.

Do people actually know what they want? Shouldn't we make intelligent leaps to produce interesting, innovative and different solutions? If Henry Ford limited his offering to what people said their dream form of transportation was, his solution would have been a faster and larger horse. Instead, Ford made an intelligent leap to produce a form of transport that people never new they wanted: a motor car.

Is it time to stop taking what people say they want at face value?

Is it time to start taking more intelligent leaps?

Is it time to stop painting by numbers?

Is it time to start giving people more of the unexpected?