Learning from bananas
It turns out that it’s a lot easier to peel a banana if you start from the ‘wrong’ end.
You don’t even have to use your teeth.
Here’s the thing: I know this. I’ve tried it. It’s true.
I still peel a banana the hard way. It feels like the right thing to do.
Convincing my friends of this change has been much harder than I thought.
Because it doesn’t feel like the right thing to do, it’ll be a tough thing to teach.
In the healthcare comms business, there are LOTS of bananas … things that people do because of convention, tradition, or simply “that’s just the way things are done.” For example, why is it that we have spent most of our time in Rx focusing on understanding the prescriber and not the uncompliant patient? Why do ideas always have to be based on an a4 ad format.
The lesson for me is to consider everything we do. Are we making decisions because that’s just the way you’ve always done it? Or that’s the way all of our competitors are doing it? If so, you’re peeling the banana from the “right” end. Pick one of these things and, turn it around to see what happens.