Unlearning 101

The Time to Unlearn is Now!

This is the latest iteration of famous "Shift Happens" video with a focus on social media. If nothing else, it should serve as a reminder of to all of us why we must constantly unlearn. Enjoy!

Unlearning the Benefits of Thinking

Can we think too much for own good sometimes? The answer, according to this new study, is yes. Worse, if you are not careful, manipulative salespeople can use this tendancy against you.

According to the study, the more complex the decision, the less useful deliberation becomes. Therefore, a smart salesperson sensing your gut is telling you "no," might instead encourage you to deliberate on the pros and cons. Of course, this might seem like common sense but if you arrive at a decision opposite of your initial reaction, you will probably come to regret it.

Google and P&G Unlearn From Each Other

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a front page articleon how Google and Proctor & Gamble are swapping employees in an effort to spur innovation. It's a great idea, but much of what the two companies are doing is unlearning from the other. In P&G's case, its marketing people are unlearning that marketing dollars should primarily be used to fund television advertising -- whose customers are typicallypassive. And, instead, the company needs to spend more than 2% of its budget on Internet advertising targeting more "active" consumers and engaging bloggers (such as Moms) who use their products.

Unlearning Bubbles

The Internet, the real estate market, fuel cell technology, nanotechnology and, now, "clean tech" have all experienced an investing "bubble." In retrospect, it is easy to point to signs that the market was inflating to dangerous levels. It is even easier to suggest that such bubbles are a bad thing -- precisely because so many investors got burned and lost a great a deal of money.

Bob Metcalfe, an early and successful Internet entrepreneur, see bubbles differently. He sees bubbles as a good thing. Here's his quote: "From Internet history, we know that bubbles are normal. Bubbles are an accelerator of technology progress. Bubbles go against the status quo. We should encourage bubbles."

I suspect that such statements are much easier to make when you're already a billionaire; as opposed, say, to someone to just lost a large amount of money in the stock market. Nevertheless, there is a certain logic to his argument and we may want not to dismiss all bubbles as cases of irrational investors getting sucked up by the winds of "irrational exuberance." Instead we want to view them as "technology accelerators." (This might not ease the financial pain of those who lost money in the bubble, but it might at least make them feel a little bit better about themselves.)

Unlearning the Cold Call

Harvey Mackay, the author of Outswimming the Sharks, has an insightful column on "cold calls." It is his contention that in today's era of hyper-information that there is no reason for a salesperson to ever make a "cold" call. There are plenty of resources, included Google, LinkedIn, and ZoomInfo.com, with which to find pertinent information on a prospective client. It's good advice and just another habit that many of us should unlearn.