Maybe the biggest challenge we face as a society is our ability to unlearn – to let go of – outdated concepts and beliefs in order to adopt new approaches. Our everyday lives are dominated by outdated concepts: change the oil every 3,000 miles, don’t wear white before Memorial Day, only senior management has the best ideas, don’t eat dessert until you’ve cleaned your plate, trade wars are easy to win, leeches work wonders on headaches, etc.
Well, I’m going to throw down the gauntlet and challenge everyone to open their minds to the possibility of new ideas and new learning. That does not mean you should blindly believe, but instead, should invest the time to study, unlearn and learn new approaches and concepts.
“You can’t climb a ladder if you’re not willing to let go of the rung below you.”
As the new Chief Innovation Officer at Hitachi Vantara (yes, I have a new, more relevant, very exciting role), leveraging ideation and innovation to derive and drive new sources of customer, product and operational value is more important than ever. So, Hitachi Vantara employees and customers, be prepared to change your frames; to challenge conventional thinking with respect to how we blend new concepts – AI / ML, Big Data, IOT – with tried and true ideas – Economics, Design Thinking – to create new sources of value. And let’s start that unlearning/learning process with this list for 2020:
But first, a bit more about the “Art of Unlearning.”
Unlearning is the ability to discard something learned (bad habit or outdated information) from one's memory and everyday use. Unlearning is especially hard if you have spent a lifetime perfecting something.
It takes years – sometimes a lifetime – to perfect certain skills. But once we get comfortable with those skills, we become reluctant to change. We are reluctant to unlearn what we’ve taken so long to master. It is hard to un-wire those synoptic nerve endings and deep memories than it was to wire them in the first place. It’s not just a case of thinking faster, smaller or cheaper; it necessitates thinking differently (see Figure 1).
How do you go about unlearning so that you can learn anew?
In the book “The Runaway Species", Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman propose a creativity framework comprised of three basic techniques: bending, breaking and blending. Unlearning opens the opportunity to “bend, break or blend” what you already know to create something new and more powerful.
One human weakness is that we are very quick to jump to solutions; we ask some superficial questions in order to be better positioned to respond, versus asking detailed questions to really learn and empathize. Design Thinking is one way to help offset that weakness.
Design thinking is a human-centric approach that creates a deep understanding of users in order to generate ideas, build prototypes, share what you’ve made, embrace the art of failure and put your innovative solution out into the world. Design Thinking may be both the most powerful, yet abused concept I know. And that’s entirely based upon the intent of the listener. The starting point for the Design Thinking process is to build a sense of empathy for the customer (see Figure 2).
This Empathize process captures what your users are trying to accomplish (i.e., tasks, roles, responsibilities, expectations, gains and pains). Walk in their users’ shoes by shadowing them, and where possible, actually become a user yourself. That involves understanding: What are their usage patterns and engagement characteristics? What are they trying to accomplish and why? What matters to this person? What are their gains or sources of value in their endeavor? What are their impediments (pains) to success? What frustrates them most?
Classic management is a “Tell and Do” employee relationship; a command-and-control structure that excels in fixed types of situations and engagements.
