Unlearning 101

Unlearning Cable TV

Fellow author and change agent, Seth Godin, has an excellent post today entitled "The problem with cable news thinking" in which he outlines 12 ways cable television amplifies the worst elements of emotional reaction. After reviewing the list, it appears to me that all are things the cable industry would do well to unlearn; but 5, in particular, are also things that manyof us should seek to unlearn in other aspects of our lives:

1. Unwillingness to reverse course and change one's mind

2. Defense of the status quo encouraged by an audience self-selected to be uniform

3. Confusing opinion with the truth

4. Revising facts to fit a point of view

5. Unwillingness to review past mistakes in light of history and use those to do better next time

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The World is Changing: Unlearn!

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The World is Changing: Unlearn!

Take a look at the pictures to the right. What's wrong with them? The answer would seem pretty obvious: they are upside down.

But that is wrong. They are only "wrong" from your perspective. From outer space there is no up or down, so the globe can just as correctly be viewed from one perspective as the other. And, regarding the map, had the first explorers been from Chile -- as opposed to Europe -- the first map of the world might have placed South America on the top and North America on the bottom. If so, we might view today's more common map as the one that is "wrong."

Yesterday, I posted a link to this video, which does an excellent job of explaining how fast the world of social media is changing. To understand the speed and pace let me highlight a couple of findings. It took 38 years before 50 million people had a radio. Television reached that milestone in 13 years, and the Internet only 4 years. I don't know the exact figure for Twitter but it is certainly less than four years.

I also liked the twist on the famous quote about Las Vegas. What happens in Vegas no longer "stays there," it also stays on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Digg -- forever.

The world is changing faster than many of would like -- and more than most of us care to admit. To survive, I remain convinced one of the more critical life skills you can possess is an ability to unlearn because the way you might view the world is likely not the only way to see the world.

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Absolut Unlearning

While TiVo-ing through the Daily Show with Jon Stewart this evening, I stopped to watch an ad for Abolsut Vodka. (It is posted below for your viewing enjoyment.) It is a clever bit of advertising, but before you rush out and purchase a bottle, I suggest you review this now four year-old article entitled "A Humble Old Label ices its Rivals." In a blind taste test (which is one of my favorite unlearning tactics), a humble $13 bottle of Smirnoff smoked the competition, including the likes of Grey Goose and Ketel One.

As further evidence of the silliness of spending $20-$50 more per bottle for a fancy Polish, Russian or Finnish vodka in a sleek and well-designed bottle, it is worth recalling that by definition vodka is defined as a "neutral spirit, so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or some other material as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color." In other words, all vodkas, by definition, should taste the same!

If this still isn't enough for you, consider this: almost every vodka producer buys its neutral spirits (which have already been distilled from grain) from companies such as Archer Daniels Midland.

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Unlearning TV Advertising

Technology Review has an insightful posting on "Google's Plans to Take Over Television." It is hard to refute that television is becoming more fractured and that even the most popular shows are claiming an ever smaller share of the overall market. It, therefore, makes little sense for advertisers to continue to operate in the same fashion they always have. It is time they unlearn their current advertising model.

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.)

Unlearn Short Attention Spans

It is easy to fall prey to the belief that Americans -- especially younger kids -- have short attention spans. Yet if this is true why did millions of kids flock to the Harry Potter books? (For the record, the last three books were 870,652 and 759 pages, respectfully.)

In other areas, the same is also true. The biggest grossing movie of all-time was Titanic -- which ran over 3 hours. And, in the TV genre, the hit show requires viewers to follow the series for the entire season.

If you want to unlearn, a good place to start is by questioning conventional wisdom. Often, you'll find it is dead wrong.

Unlearn the Need for Paper

Yesterday, I watched this five-minute video of futurist Patrick Dixon discuss why the future of paper is bright for the foreseeable future. He could very well be correct, but if you watch the video below it is possible to envision a scenario in which the future of paper is not so rosy. As flexible electronic technology continues to get better, it'll be interesting to see if schools, newspapers, traditional media and scores of other businesses (including the paper industry) can unlearn their old ways of doing business and embrace the new opportunities that this technology portends.