What Got You Here...Won't Get You There

Learning to unlearn is becoming a crucial skill - if you want to change something, you have to rephrase the problem. You must learn to break your old thought patterns. Here is a starting point.

Success is a tricky thing. When we do well at something, our brains urge us to derive a pattern, to trace back out steps and figure out the "recipe" that got us where we are. Once we have something resembling a recipe, we are eager to apply it over and over again, thinking we've cracked the formula for success, and now all that's left to do is to clone it. You have to forgive our brains, they're just trying to make things easier for them. But the truth is, what got you to a certain level of success, will probably keep you at the same level. You'll need to break new ground in order to keep moving "up." Just like an athlete who got scouted into a professional team has to level up their training and performance to keep up, we have to keep finding new ways of thinking to continue solving increasingly difficult puzzles.

New ways of thinking, new business models, new impact models - if you are trying to scale, grow or even start a new venture, thinking like the other guys won't get you anywhere. To stand out, you must first learn to unlearn.

Mental Models vs. Business Models

Starbucks is a people company that serves coffee. Tesla is a technology company that makes cars. Southwest is a service business that flies planes. Do you see the pattern - all these companies have separated the outcome (coffee, cars, planes) from the strategy (being people-centred, innovation-driven) and flipped them on their heads. This goes against the way business outcomes are usually measured - in terms of sales, revenue, profit, growth. There is something more at the core of these statements - a mental model that drives their operations. The next question - how do mental model emerge?

“It ain’t what you know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain

The Core of Unlearning

Changing or creating a new mental model usually requires some sort of unlearning - a process where new knowledge is able to alter the beliefs you already hold. More importantly, the habitual patterns of thinking and behaviour are broken, and new ones are formed.

The challenge is that when new knowledge contradicts what we already know, or deeply believe to be true, there is conflict. Our brains are wired to try to reject new knowledge, especially when the old information is "tried and true."

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” - Alvin Toffler

Learning, unlearning and re-learning interrupts your usual thought process, questions your assumptions and are prerequisites for innovation. And innovation is the modern prerequisite for business. If you are looking for a new mental model to underpin a business model, you need to let go of some old "truths" that no longer apply - and actually hold you back. These include the linear ways of thinking about businesses and people's relationships with brands. Nothing is linear - technology has made us integrated, spinning in the orbits of brands, preferences, relationships and habits. Like a complex solar system, we follow intersecting paths, go in and out of orbit, feel the gravitational pulls of one mental model or another.

One of the biggest thoughts that needs to go - in marketing, business, relationships - is the notion of transactions. The old approach of pushing information, ideas or control onto an anonomous mass doesn't exist. We must unlearn transactions and embrace the notion of shared purpose. Your clients/customers have a purpose - yours must align with theirs in order to grow your business, your marketing or even improve your relationships. Stop thinking of buyers and start cultivating users. Think "community" not "audience." Think "party" not "speech." Remove the condescending, ego-driven notion that people don't know what they want, and they're waiting for you to tell them. Listen to their purpose. Understand their journey. Then align.

More is Not More

Unlearning is less about trying to cram every new approach or methodology, only to discard it the next day in favour of something more innovative, more new, edgier. Rather, unlearning requires some critical thinking - what habits and mindsets will move you closer to your goal? What will simply advance the outcome? Which approach addresses the root causes - and which only the symptoms. Understand the outcomes you are trying to achieve - these are bigger than the bottom line. Replace low-value practices with high-value habits. Recognize when a piece of knowledge no longer serves you - are you trying and failing because all you're really trying to do is emulate previous success?

There is no recipe. There is an ability to adjust, to replace old assumptions with new ways of thinking. There is an ability to turn a mental model on its head and lead with people first. There is an ability to allow (and forgive) that an outdated approach has been holding you back. There is a sobering habit of looking back, re-assessing, prototyping and iterating new approaches. Don't like how much time you're spending in meetings? Challenge your belief that meetings are the best way to get things done. Frustrated at the team culture? Challenge the assumption that culture is a seed that will grow by itself, as long as some exec somewhere half-heartedly plants it.

Happy unlearning! If you learned something, give this article a like.