Unlearning 101

Unlearning is About Dropping Things

Compare and contrast the two pictures. The picture to the right is a real version of an Apple iPod box and below it is a spoof of the same box if Microsoft were to package the iPod.

Apple has mastered the idea of dropping things. If you and your organization haven't, I invite to watch the short video below and then seek to unlearn the idea that more features; more information; and more bells and whistles are always better. 

Screw the Majority! Unlearn!

Take a look at the image to the right. It is a visual display of Everett Roger's famous model of diffusion. I, however, want you to look at it differently. Consider it, instead, "an unlearning curve." Conventional wisdom tells us that it is safe in the middle. Advertising and marketers frequently target their message toward the "early majority" and the "late majority" in the middle. What they are really doing is focusing on the "average" person.  I say screw that! Unlearn!

The true innovators go after the fringes. If you have a cool new product target it toward the "innovators" or the "early adopters." Those are the people who really care about your product. If they love it, they will tell their friends and anybody who will listen.

Alternatively, if you want to innovate try looking at the laggards. That's exactly what Nintendo did when they began considering video games for the elderly. The result was the Wii remote and guess what? Not only did seniors love the easy-to-use hand-held stick so did middle-age parents and even younger kids.

If you want to unlearn, screw the majority. Focus on the fringes!

Unlearning isn't a Black and White Issue

The future won’t be either black or white—it will be black and white. In the field of architecture and design, people are often use to choosing between form or function. In the future, as a result of advances in nanotechnology, this age-old debate will become less relevant. As proof, I submit this article discussing a new technological advance that will allow the roof of the future to be both black or white—depending upon the temperature outside. (On cold days it will be black to absorb sunlight and on hot days it will turn white to reflect sunlight and keep the building cooler.) Depending upon your perspective that might either be a cool idea or a hot new area of interest.

Unlearning the Bridge

Is there a better way to build a suspension bridge? According to researchers at Sheffield University the  answer is "maybe." As this article explains, engineers may soon be able to build a more structurally sound bridge using less material. The only unresolved issue is whether the more complex design will offset the material cost savings -- thus negating any financial benefits.

Nevertheless, I like this quote from one of the lead researchers: "It ended up that the only option was that the current wisdom was wrong." It is a wonderful reminder that when encountered with information that flies in the face of conventional wisdom we must actively strive to maintain an open mind.

Unlearning the Hospital

For the past two days I have been in California working with a well-known construction company and architectural firm designing the hospital of the future. Due to the proprietary nature of project, I can't go into specifics with this post but I always begin such projects from the premise: What must we unlearn?  

For example, perhaps, we should unlearn the idea of who the customer is. Every hospital claims it wants to "serve the community." If they are serious about this idea than they must also focus on non-customers. in other words, a true community hospital needs to continuously look for ways to "push" preventative information medicine out into the broader community so that its citizens never need to visit the hospital in the first place.

Hospitals must also unlearn the idea of the doctor-patient relationship. Today, patients and their social networking often know just as much -- if not a lot more -- about their disease than the doctor. The hospital of the future must acknowledge this reality and be designed in such a way that information can flow freely between all parties.

Another thing hospitals must unlearn is the waiting room. One strategy to think differently about the hospital of the future is to focus on the "exit" room. What information does the patient need so that he or she doesn't need to return to the hospital?

I have a lot more ideas but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Related Posts

Unlearning & the Health Care Debate

Unlearn the Doctor/Patient Realtionship

Unlearning Surgery

Unlearning Disease

Unlearning the Hospital Gown

Unlearning Strategy: Put One Foot in Back of the Other

"Every mile you go in the wrong direction is really a two mile error. Unlearning is twice as hard as learning." -- Unknown

Question: Imagine the Roman Numeral equation below is made out of ten toothpick sticks such that “I” equals one stick and the “X” “+” and “=” all represent two sticks:

XI + I = X

Your mission – should you choose to accept it -- is to fashion the correct answer by moving around as few sticks as possible.

If you answered one – by placing “I” on the other side of “X” – to create this new equation: IX + I = X, you solved the problem but you did not get the correct answer. The correct answer is zero. The equation merely requires you to flip the equation upside down:

X = I + IX

What is interesting about the problem is that when students had their brains scanned while solving the problem the brain waves associated with memory and conventional mental activity experienced abrupt decreases just prior to the solution becoming apparent. This result has lead researchers to theorize that thinking spatially may be one way to expand problem-solving potential.

Recently, I encouraged you to “become uncomfortable in your own skin” by unlearning the regular way you fold your hands or cross your arms. I’d now invite you to take this step further and identify a few other daily rituals that you can do in a spatially different manner.

For example, if you are right-handed trying using your left hand to brush your teeth or move the mouse on your computer. You may also consider putting your pants on with the leg opposite the one you normally use. Other ideas include eating corn-on-the-cob differently (e.g. if you normally eat corn horizontally along the rows try eating it in vertical fashion up the columns) or eating your pie from the outer edge.

Such activities sound frivolous but in each case the brain is required to reactivate seldom used neural connections and the new connections can lead to innovation insights that may facilitate unlearning older and more conventional ways of problem-solving.

For instance, eating pie from the edge was instrumental in causing pizza companies to experiment with making the crust more enjoyable by infusing it with cheese. And the analogy to the Roman numeral quiz is apropos of the engineer who was charged with making elevators run more quickly in order to appease growing customer discomfort with the long waits. When faced with legitimate safety concerns that limited the speed, the engineer flipped the question on its head and asked the seemingly ridiculous question: “What would we do if we wanted to make the passenger wait longer for the elevator?” The result led him to install mirrors by each elevator. The tactic didn’t change the speed of the elevator but it did take passengers mind for the delay and caused the underlying problem to go away.

Homework Assignment: In 1996, Guinness was plagued by plummeting sales due to consumers growing impatience with the time it took to properly pour a Guinness. (The process takes about two minutes). To overcome the problem, company officials made no changes to their beer and instead turned the “problem” of slowness into a virtue by creating a new ad campaign slogan (“Good things come to those who wait”). This, in turn, converted the supposed liability into an asset. Your assignment is to identify one trouble area in your business and turn the issue on its head. List at least one outcome from this process.

To Unlearn: Meet Me in St. Louis

St. Louis's Gateway Arch is one of the world's largest optical illusions. It appears to be much taller than it is wide. The reality is that it is as high as it is wide. The problem is that the illusion can't be overcome just by taking another look -- only an objective measurement will do.

The relationship to unlearning is this: You can't simply rely on what you see to be the sole determinent of truth. In many cases only objective measurement will do.

For example, as I explained in this video, people often "see" patterns when none exist. Alternatively, we tend to view people based more on their surroundings and environment than on who they truly are.

If you want to unlearn, my recommendation is to recall the old phrase: "Trust but verify."

Unlearning Home Construction

One of the things I really enjoy about studying emerging technologies is that the field constantly challenges my thinking and forces me to think differently about the future. To this end, I invite you to read this article on a new “print-a-house” construction technology.

In the near future, it is possible that homes will be built in a few hours using automated fabrication techniques. Among other things, this means that the construction industry will need to “unlearn” its existing construction methods. It also suggests that “affordable” housing could become more than just a political platitude—it could become a political reality.

A Watched Kettle Never Boils -- or Does It?

EcoGeek has an interesting article explaining how advances in nanotechnology can lead to the creation of a kettle that boils faster. The advance is significant not just because it could help consumers and businesses save money and time by bringing water to a boil faster, but because it suggests that a variety of other products—such as solar cells and catalysts—might also become radically more effective.

Of course, before many of these advances can be adopted people will need to unlearn the idea that a “watched pot never boils.”

Unlearning May Be in Blowing in the Wind

Energy Daily has an insightful article about an intriguing new generation wind turbine developed by BroadStar Wind Systems. The new design, which can be viewed at the right, is unlike most wind turbines. It apparently, however, has some substantial advantages including the fact that it can be manufactured, transported, installed and maintained at a lower cost than conventional wind turbines.

As added benefits, it can reportedly produce power for less than $1/watt and, because it is substantially smaller than conventional turbines, it can "infill" existing wind farms for greater overall power generation. In other words, it makes more productive use of each acre of land.

Now, I'm not an engineer so I don't claim to know with certainty that this turbine doesn't have some drawbacks or limits, but there are other innovative designs for wind turbines as well, and I merely want to suggest that people in the wind power industry be open to the idea that they may need to unlearn what they "think" a wind turbine should look like.