Tag: Civilization

The Homogeneity Trap!

 

There is a saying which a lot of us have heard or read which goes like this ” birds of the same feather, flock together “.

 

 

Other interpretations of the same include ‘ Collective Bias ” or ” Wisdom of the Crowds “.

 

 

Some of these existing narratives are traps. Great minds think alike. They need not or should not. If all of us are thinking the same, then none of us are thinking.

 

 

Have you ever looked at the World Map upside down?  I strongly recommend you do. And urge you to look at this Knew Thinking. New Possibilities video 

 

 

Your nutritionist will recommend you have vegetables that have as many diverse colours as possible. A one vegetable salad would be boring. But a salad with lettuce and spinach, capsicum and tomato, carrot and raddish, olives and avocado, coriander and kale when mixed right with a dash of garlic and virgin olive oil will be a real treat. Each of the ingredients enhances the other significantly.

 

 

We humans are not very different. We feed best off each other. Conformity is a rabbit hole. The fault lines in our culture( and the education industrial complex still hanging onto the retrogressive  coat tails of the Industrial Age) might drive us towards being the same and to play it safe and to come across as complying and toeing the line. With that, you are headed into the already turbulent waters of the sea of sameness with no chance of you to stand out. It’s a Red Ocean with no lifeboats in sight.

 

 

Our difference, our heterogeneity is not an impediment or a problem to be fixed. It is a delight to learn from. Hiring managers or leaders would like to hire people like them. In relationships too, you are looking at whether she or he is an introvert or an extrovert like you. Sameness is toxic.

 

 

As a  tribe, heterogeneity can help us survive and prosper. Homogeneity keeps us vulnerable.

 

 

“Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity.”
— Herbert Spencer

 

 

ENDS

 

 

 

The Late Mover Advantage

 

Oftentimes in marketing we use terms like Last Mover Advantage or Late Mover Advantage ‘. Brands coming to life at a later stage in a category that is established or maturing can reap the learnings and unlearnings of brands who have come before them. There is a vast reservoir of knowledge and actionable intelligence readily available without one having to go through the grind, time and expense of trial and error.

 

Over time that civilization set foot on this planet, 107 billion people have lived throughout history. The current world population is just over 8 billion( 8,059,147,655 as of Friday, September 8, 2023) according to the most recent United Nations estimates elaborated by Worldometer.

These billions of people who came before us have tried things, failed, learned, tried things differently. And in doing so, they discovered new solutions. Which people like us now get to inherit, learn from and use, without the steep learning curve of trial and error.
Accumulated experience can be a competitive advantage for a company. As a company or a brand operates and accumulates experience in a given market or sector, it can develop a deeper understanding of customer needs and preferences, as well as of the challenges and opportunities in the market. This accumulated experience can enable the company to make more informed and effective decisions and to identify opportunities that may not be obvious to other companies.
Similarly, the cumulative lessons of those 107 billion people have been passed down to us. It is the greatest gift we will ever receive. We are smart not because of our individual genius, but because of our collective knowledge. Some of us are better than one of us.
The dead ( or the living before us to put it more respectfully), have left lessons, lineage and legacy for us. After all, there is what we call ‘ the wisdom of the crowds‘. Ratio and Proportion 101 tells us that it is almost a 14:1 ratio i.e. the dead: now living. We can ignore the vast accumulated experience of such a huge majority of mankind at our peril.
Being a late mover is a distinct and valuable competitive advantage. Shouldn’t we choose to leverage it?
ENDS