I was looking at Jimi wallets online. Someone peeked at my laptop and asked what it is? I explained it is a rugged waterproof wallet. The other person’s immediate reaction was – Why would anyone need this? This person has never faced the fury of rain while cycling outside.
Whenever I explain startups spending marketing dollars to acquire users even when they are not generating any profit, I get a stunned look from people coming from a traditional business background. It is difficult for them to grasp the concept of betting on explosive future growth at the expense of today.
Phil Knight, in his book Shoe Dog, writes a lot about how his bank was asking him to preserve capital when all he wanted to do was grow Nike at all costs during its fledgling years.
A lot of prolific US citizens opinionated that Trump had a naught chance at US presidency. The same goes for Brexit.
What is common in all these situations is a difficulty in viewing the world from a lens not tarred by our own experiences. Even if you want to do this, it is tough to implement because you do not know where to draw the line. Tomorrow, if a person tells you that she has invented the perpetual motion machine, what do you do? Do you dismiss it outright or be skeptical of this person’s claim?
In all these scenarios you have to suspend your rational mind and view things from a radically incongruent perspective. It is easy to write this but extremely difficult to implement.
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