How Leaders Can Make Their Blind Spots Work in Their Favor
I love telling the story of Sara Blakely and her journey to launch Spanx® in 2000, not far from my home in Atlanta. Sara was a twenty something, full of optimism and innovation. Her product, Spanx®, was a pioneer in a new industry, shapewear, which is a slimming undergarment worn mostly by women.
When Sara developed her prototype and found a manufacturer, she was faced with the challenge every entrepreneur faces: where can I get distribution? Sara identified a female representative at Neiman Marcus and asked to get a few minutes with her to show off her product. Sara’s words were less convincing than her “show and tell.” Sara tried on her Spanx in the ladies’ room and the rest is history. Neiman Marcus beta-tested sales in seven department stores and then word spread. Bloomingdales, Saks, and Bergdorf Goodman soon followed.
What I love most about Blakely’s story is the role of her blind spots.
She gave a speech on her story, and during a Q&A time, an attendee asked, “How did your product get noticed at those huge trade shows, where tons of exhibitors are competing for the attention of department store reps?” Sara looked puzzled and essentially responded with:
“Trade shows? I didn’t know I was supposed to use trade shows. Thank God I didn’t know that!” |
The Role of Blind Spots
Every leader needs a vision to inspire progress. Vision gives teams their direction. Yet blind spots are often the very motivator that enables them to approach an idea in an unconventional way—and believe they can pull it off. Most new ventures require a leader to possess a clear target they wish to hit. At the same time, their inability to see all the obstacles or challenges ahead of time helps them to maintain their energy as they pursue that target. In short, leaders usually must see something and fail to see something to realize their vision.
As I reflect on the organization I launched 20 years ago, Growing Leaders, I see the same reality that Sara did. I am grateful I didn’t have experience in some areas and wasn’t bound by the norms that confined so many companies in my industry. Zipping past normal protocols, our small team (also young and with little experience) promoted our products and services, and I later found myself on CNN’s Headline News, Fox and Friends, Newsmax, Fox Business, and in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, USA Today, and Psychology Today. This is not a humble brag. We just kept walking through open doors. I still marvel at what we accomplished with so little “expertise.” It was all about finding the most efficient way to add value to people.
As I look back, I often find myself saying, “Thank God we didn’t know what we were doing.” |
Blind Spots and Rookie Smarts
“Rookie smarts” is a term consultants use to describe the ignorant but successful methods of newbies that end up working and upsetting an industry. I believe it’s possible to maintain rookie smarts well into our careers and enjoy the benefits of blind spots. Our problem is—as we become authorities, we lose these valuable rookie smarts in a world that’s constantly changing. In, The Art of Creative Thinking, Rod Judkins states, “It’s important to avoid becoming an expert, specialist, or authority.” An expert constantly refers to past experience. Whatever has worked in the past, the expert repeats. An expert turns knowledge into a repetitive ritual. His or her experience becomes a straitjacket.
Furthermore, the expert claims to have many years of experience. What they actually have is one year of experience repeated many times. They see new methods as a threat to their expertise and seek to stamp it out.
THE KEY IS:
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Five Ideas to Maintain Rookie Smarts
1️⃣ Identify industries that were stuck but had a revolution.
This is my favorite way to stay fresh. For years, the taxicab industry was unchanged and unattractive to busy travelers. When Travis Kalanick and Garett Camp grew tired of waiting in the rain for an unknown cab, they created Uber. The gig economy erupted when they combined smart technology, with cars and people who live in an on-demand society.
2️⃣ Listen well to people who are or who could be clients.
When I launched Growing Leaders, I listened to educators, employers and teens and created Habitudes®, which are images that form leadership habits and attitudes. It’s an engaging way to teach leadership enabling educators and supervisors to relay a big idea quickly. It’s unique content and pedagogy for a population of “screenagers” with short attention spans.
3️⃣ Interact with those outside your industry for ideas.
Many of the best ideas come from someone outside of an industry or context since they’re not blinded by current norms and can see new realities. Did you know Johann Gutenberg worked in a wine press and mused one day: what if we could press words like we do wine? His printing press not only gave him a new source of income, it gave all of us a new industry.
4️⃣ Combine various industry ideas to create a new one.
The Wright brothers had studied the flight of birds for months. By trade they worked in a bicycle shop. They combined bikes and birds and created a new way to travel: airplanes. The entertaining show, “Cirque du Soleil” was started by a gymnast, an acrobat and a circus performer that put Barnum and Bailey out of business. Three jobs became one new job.
5️⃣ Lead the way by risking a prototype before it’s perfect.
Jim Collins tells us to “shoot bullets before cannonballs.” Why? They’re cheaper. Steve Jobs knew that to be first in the market, he must launch new Apple products before they were perfect. Certainly, we want to perfect our offerings, but if we wait to be perfect, we’ll be left in the dust of others racing past us. Act, evaluate, tweak and perfect. Good rookies do this.
This idea of needing both vision and blind spots is one of The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership. Keep in mind—our blind spots are often found conspicuously close to our strengthsand our emotional needs. This is why we need wise counsel near us to prevent our blind spots from ruining us.