THE MYTHICAL CASSANDRA
…Was a beautiful princess of besieged Troy who enchanted Apollo. To win her charms, Apollo gave her the gift to foresee the future. But, when she reneged on romance, he compromised the gift so that no one would believe her predictions. She begged fellow Trojans to not take the Wooden Horse (left behind by the Greeks) into the city’s walls, but to no avail.
MODERN-DAY CASSANDRAS OFTEN IGNORED
Winston Churchill warned about Adolf Hitler’s military buildup and ambition starting in 1933. And, Allan McDonald – an engineer at Morton Thiokol – warned about O-Ring failure before the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster in 1986.
WHY DON’T WE LISTEN TO FOREWARNINGS?
Many reasons.
- We must filter out the crackpots (“the end is near”) and con artists. Marketeers routinely sell fear, uncertainty, and doubt, (FUD), to then sell you their “solution”.
- We are too busy following our own hardened beliefs, forecasts, and agendas to hear new advice.
- Confirmation bias. We seek “expert” advisors who preach the fine-tuning of what we are doing (and what has worked in the past).
- Short-term urgencies and incentive plans crowd out investing in longer-term opportunities. Make those quarterly numbers; whack all moles efficiently!
- The advice is too novel, complex, and/or ideologically unacceptable for us to understand. Or, some get it, but the rest of the team does not, and resists.
- We resist understanding, because the execution challenge seems too risky for the change-management skills and courage we lack.
ARE ANY CLOUD-COMMERCE-2021 CASSANDRAS WORTH LISTENING TO?
A convergence of factors will force all distribution channels to re-compete in the Cloud Commerce world of 2021: true or false? If true, to what degree and how? How should producers and their respective channel partners rethink end-customer digital product journeys and omnichannel options?
Curious about these questions? Then, what selection criteria for expertise will increase the odds for better advice? Refine this starter list:
- Broad, deep, historical expertise on many channels.
- Out of the box thinking to rigorously collect and connect new data-based dots.
- The humility to put forth multiple evolving scenarios with changing odds.
- Easy and affordable access to a wisdom sampling.
For #4, at least, email me (bruce@merrifield.com) to request my slide desk for my one-day workshop on Cloud Commerce 2021. Then, be in touch with further interest if so merited.