By Glen Drummond Estimated Reading Time: 3:00 minutes
Does the competitiveness of your product, or even the success of your business depend on someone else changing their mind or practices? If so, then here’s an instructive tale.
Louis Pasteur
This name, you probably know. Historical reports indicate that by age 55 Louis Pasteur was considered a national hero of France. He won an impressive series of honours and awards for his pioneering work – perhaps most important the germ theory of disease – a theory he developed in the period between 1860 and 1864.
Ignaz Semmelweis
This name most people don’t know. In 1846, Semmelweis was appointed to lead the obstetrical clinic of Vienna General Hospital. In 1847, he got to the bottom of a horrendous (35%) mortality rate from “childbed fever” – drawing a link between doctors performing autopsies and then attending to birthing mothers without first disinfecting their hands.
In his 1861 book, Semmelweis presented evidence to demonstrate that the advent of pathological anatomy in Wien (Vienna) in 1823 (vertical line) was accompanied by the increased incidence of fatal childbed fever. The second vertical line marks introduction of chlorine hand washing in 1847. Rates for the Dublin Rotunda maternity hospital, which had no pathological anatomy, are shown for comparison (view rates).
In the span of one year presiding over the maternity ward, Semmelweis established both cause and cure – instituting a regimen of physicians handwashing with a chlorine solution. Semmelweis conceived and implemented hospital infection-control procedures resulting in dramatic clinical improvements – a full 15 years before Pasteur. And he actively promoted his findings for all to see.
Fifteen years later, Pasteur basked in glory for his achievements in the understanding of the cause and control of infection. Semmelweis was ignored by his contemporaries, who refused to adopt his infection-control procedures. Semmelweis became despondent and his life deteriorated into tragedy. What’s the difference?
The course of a person’s life does not reduce well to a theory – but the course of an idea’s progression in society is a worthy subject of study. Some good ideas have a hard time breaking through. And conversely some bad ideas catch on and linger. What’s interesting is that in this case we have almost the same idea – but in one case it catches on, and in the other it does not.
So what is the difference? One clear difference in this case is “Framing.”
Semmelweis saw that the behavior of the doctors (performing autopsies and then attending to mothers giving birth) was causing the mothers to be infected with “childbed fever”.
He theorized, and then clinically demonstrated, that a change in doctor’s behavior (handwashing after performing autopsies, before attending to living patients) could sharply reduce maternal mortality. Do you see the framing problem? In order to get doctors to stop killing mothers, they would have to admit to themselves that their past actions had been killing mothers. The frame generated a headwind of cognitive dissonance.
Pasteur was not necessarily a more gifted clinician. But he was certainly a more gifted framer. He recast the narrative of infection, shifting attention from the practices of the doctor to the “infectious agent” – the pathogen or “germ.” Semmelwies invented infection control. Pasteur invented a signifier to represent a signified that was already, but only, implicit in Semmelweis’s clinical innovation.
From the standpoint of clinical procedures, there’s nothing in the germ theory of disease that would cause Semmelweis to act any differently in his own clinic; nothing that would improve upon the results he obtained. But from the standpoint of convincing other doctors to change their practices, the germ theory of disease was far more effective than Semmelweis’s call for doctors to change their practices.
We can draw a lesson from comparing the accomplishments of these two men. We may draw a contrast in our mind between the “real” work of innovation and the “fluff” of representation, but to do so is to mis-recognize the way people respond to change.
Inventors who wish to gain attention for tangible innovation should not ignore the need for a new frame to go with it.
It’s the time of the year to look back over the last 12 months and create a “best of” list. This year I’ve pulled the most popular posts from five different sites; Adage, Business2Community, Forbes, Fortune and LinkedIn. In addition, I’ve thrown in a few other noteworthy nuggets from the year at the end of the post.
Adage – Why Apple Pay Could be Huge, And It’s Not What You Think explored the potential upside of Apple Pay as an advertising platform. It sparked the most conversation, and debate, on Twitter. Time will tell if they this strategy will come to fruition.
Business2Community – 5 Key Tips and Data Points to Defend You 2015 Marketing Budget. The last post of the year required the most man hours, and it was the most reposted story of the year. It offers marketers help with their 2015 planning activities in the form of free research and benchmark data.
Forbes -the most popular and shared post of the year, Could Falling Test Scores Be a Good Thing for the US? explores the link between test scores and success in business. It also highlights the risk associated with over emphasizing left brain analytic skill development, outlined by Sir Ken Robinson in his Ted Talk video Do Schools Kill Creativity? The endorsement of Marc Andreessen certainly played a big role in the popularity of the post.
Fortune – Are Marketers Measuring the Right Things was the first post I wrote for our new partnership with Fortune. It profiles the efforts of Ciena, a networking company, to elevate marketings role, and importance, within the organization. The post highlights an unique survey tool used to gather feedback from the sales organization on the performance of marketing (see the dashboard below).
LInkedIn – 2014 marked my first year publishing on LinkedIn. Based on my experience so far, I’m not convince it will viable platform for content unless it becomes better policed. Too much promotional material seems is making its way on to it. At this point, I’m not sure I’ll continue to post.
That said, the most popular post on LinkedIn was also one of the most popular on Adage. The Keys to Differentiating Your Company From Others provides tips on how marketers can humanize their corporate brand to better resonate with audiences. It also identifies one of the common flaws of B2B communication – thinking that what you sell…is who you are. Hopefully, it also helped generated a new client for a follower.
Bonus Stuff
A couple of other noteworthy happenings from the year.
Our air condition picked preciously the right moment to die — during a streak of the hottest weather of the summer. We knew the day was coming for 10 years, ever since the home inspector told us to replace the HVAC system. We’d light a candle and say a prayer every time the service van pulled up in the driveway. Our system was the definition of “they don’t make them like the used to” until a 90 plus degree-day, finally made it obsolete.
Calling the heating and air conditioning repair shop that we had developed a relationship with over the years, we dug out the five-year-old quote to finally place the order. But first, we would have to endure ten days of oppressive heat until the unit would be installed.
Fortunately, I had a favorable travel schedule that would take me out of town for five of the ten days. So, on the day of the installation, I took the bullet, or more accurately, the heat seeking missile, and stayed at the house waiting for the service techs…which also happened to be the hottest of the 10-day stretch.
The techs arrived at 9 am, and I camped out on our deck to get some work done. With a 20-inch oscillating fan blowing my way, the day started off well. Walking through the house one of the techs commented that our house was the hottest house he had ever serviced…echoing the same comment the sales person made on his initial visit.
Passing the thermostat, I noticed that the house had reached 93 by 11 am. Thanks to a new roof and windows, our house held temperature in like an oven, which it was quickly becoming.
By mid-day the house was 95 degrees and showed no sign of stopping. The service guys and I were consuming ice water like it was beer at Oktoberfest. By this time it was too hot to be outside or inside, with both my phone and computer giving me heat warnings.
Then in a fit of true insanity, most likely heat induced, I decided to cook. Leaving for vacation the following day, I was determined to eat the vegetables that had finally ripened in our garden. Any man in his right mind, which I obviously wasn’t, would have grilled, but we had ripe zucchini and I was hell bent (pun intended) on making one of our favorite meals.
This would involve doing the top two things you should never do in a hot kitchen — boiling water and frying oil. At one point in the cooking process, I realized that the house could have been in flames around me and I would have had no idea. It was the definition of a “hot mess”.
After dinner, and perhaps a result my cooking, the UEI IND151 heat sensor would register a high of 97.5 degrees in the house, shortly before the new AC would kick on.
Through this experience I learned a few things:
“Fire” and “heat” are perfect metaphors for Hell.
“Crazy from the heat” isn’t just an expression, it’s a reality…I know I lived it.
Johnny Cash got it right when he sang “we got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout”.
But more importantly, I was reassured that people can be kind and generous. Neighbors offered sympathy, fans, shelter and refuge. A neighbor we had only known for a short period of time offered us their home while they were on vacation. Others insisted that we come by and use their pools to give us, and our dog, a break from the heat.
The heating and air conditioning company we used wasn’t our first choice but turned out to be the best choice. The first company told us it would be three weeks before they could schedule us. My wife tried to reach them unsuccessfully for days, trying to move up the date, concerned about the health and well being our family.
Not getting a return call, she turned to a local family owned business by the name of Snell & Sons, who had sympathetic ear and a reserve of AC units for just this type of emergency. They were able to install it sooner, for less, and were completely in tune with our situation.
Our lives are busy, often leaving little time to socialize with our neighbors or friends. We default to email or social media because it’s quick and easy. But this experience reminded us of how effective, and important, person-to- person communication can be, and like air condition, how often we take it for granted.
People can, and still do, look out for one another. They can be sympathetic and generous, reminding us that we’re not alone in this world, even though it may seem that way sometimes, and that, a small business can often offer something large nationwide providers can’t, or don’t — empathy. The best of them know that the lifeblood of their business is referrals and customer loyalty.
They don’t need to offer elaborate rewards or points to gain, or keep, a customer. Most likely, the customer is won or lost based on how they respond to the person on the other end of the line in their time of need. And they know, when the time comes, that experience will be shared with others.
It’s often said that we live in a “small world”, and in a situation like this, we’re reminded of why that is a good thing.
CASE STUDY
It’s not unusual to find companies referring to their relationship with clients as “partnerships.” It’s common to find client logos on vendor websites. But how often do you see an agency or consulting firm’s logo on client websites? If you visit www.evepark.ca – that’s exactly what you’ll see.
Carbon Design, represented side by side with, a global architecture powerhouse, a world-class designer, and the project principal: the innovative green-tech engineering firm, S2E Technologies Inc. Under S2E’s leadership, these firms are inventing a new consumer category – one that integrates bold new ideas about housing and transportation – and radically resets the carbon footprint of both at the same time.
CASE STUDY
Did you know, that until recently restaurant owners only cared about the cleanliness of the food prep area? Most customers, and owners, assumed that if someone got sick after dining out it was because of food poisoning. That was until Carbon Design and Challenger Inc. helped “challenge” the norm by showing owners that half of the outbreaks in a restaurant were caused by people to people transmissions.
Now owners know where the “hotspots” are, and as a result, restaurant are cleaner than ever. Grab your face mask and enjoy a safe night out, but you may want to avoid the raw oysters 😉.
CASE STUDY
How do you do it? By giving clients and users what they want. Using the remaining budget that was to be used to update the site with the new branding we designed and built an entirely new site on a new platform. But audience needs are constantly evolving so the work never stops. Our team continues to audit performance and make improvements.
As a result, the two-year journey has paid off with the site being named #1 in the industry. Even more importantly, their key priority areas (site search, attorney profiles, etc.) were ranked in the outstanding category. Proving that excellence is a journey not just a destination.
ta Points to Defend You 2015 Marketing Budget
