Children are wonderfully illogical. When confronted with any green foodstuff, like broccoli, their immediate response is “I don’t like it. It tastes bad.” And, despite having never tasted it, the only way to get them to eat broccoli is to tie them down and force feed them. Sadly, this is illegal in Norway.
What has this got to do with business life, or any life, for that matter? A few months ago I wrote an article about Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader. I didn’t yet have one. I had simply downloaded the software to my PC. And then to my iPhone. I voiced some thoughts about how this might change the book industry.
There were only two sets of responses. On the one hand, the far left, were the folk who were already using some kind of e-book reader. Every single one of them thought it was the future. They raved about it.
On the other hand, the far right was a bunch of people who condemned the concept entirely. “Never going to happen.” “Please don’t send me this kind of e-mail.” “Nothing will replace the feel and smell of a book.” Yet, and this was interesting, not one of them had ever used an e-book reader. Not one of them had tasted the paperback equivalent of broccoli. Yet, they KNEW it was a bad idea.
Isn’t it interesting how the biggest thing limiting us in life is what’s happening inside our heads?
About 150 years ago Ignaz Semmelweiss found out that Austrian doctors were killing too many mothers. As they moved from the dissection table to the maternity ward, and from one birthing table to the next, they did not wash their hands. They carried infection from one mother to the next. Mothers died in droves.
Semmelweis ran some tests and established that if doctors washed their hands many more women would survive. He was virtually excommunicated from the medical profession. His simple insight was the equivalent of medical broccoli. It was only as his generation of doctors died out and a new generation came in that the ideas began to take hold. And these were amongst the most educated people of their time.
Anyway, back to books. I was so inspired that I bought an iPad. It has revolutionised my life. One tablet containing all the books I want to read, wherever I want to read them. Including in bed, without needing a light, and without giving my wife a headache. And in queues, not that there are many of those in Norway. And if I move from one machine (the iPad) to another (my PC or iPhone) the book opens up on the exact page I was reading earlier. It is a level of convenience that is unthinkable unless you’ve tried it.
Speaking of queues, walk into any Norwegian environment where a queue might form — bank, chemist, post office, tax office, anywhere — and there is a little machine at the front door that gives you a number. With that number, your place in the queue is assured. Now you can browse, shop, buy, or even go away for a while if the queue is long. (This is something the banks specialise in.) You never have to worry about the other queue being faster. Or about somebody sneaking in ahead of you. It is the least frustrating system I have ever seen.
Life is about sharing ideas. This Internet technology means that those ideas are freely available. Life can be a level playing field, but only if you want to play. Thankfully, there are enough people who don’t want any new ideas to mean that some of us who played in the third hockey team in high school can look like astrophysicists.