Gains from discomfort Date:   Wednesday , January 02, 2008 Social mores dictate consumerism. An organization not relating to social trends becomes laid back and its business may shrink as a consequence. Employees need to undergo a certain amount of discomfort in trying to connect to the latent perspective so as to create business differentiation in the market. Organizational discomfort means pushing the whole organization towards change that leads to strategic innovation which differentiates, sells better, and raises profit. Western societies have implicitly mastered discomfort in their hunger to discover the new and for better living. Stretching thought into lateral areas, they have gone beyond the obvious. Let’s look at the way we individually shock-absorb discomfort. Of the innumerable activities outside your workplace, with family, friends or in social gatherings, something suddenly can disturb you. Your personal life has many surprises you absorb as part of the trend. You may not even notice it, as it becomes implicit; you expect it. In time, such social discomfort, so different from India’s non-liberalized days, can even convince you that you enjoy it. Look at your 18-year-old daughter’s low-cut trousers. They’re precariously hugging her hips, the T-shirt is barely covering her belly. To establish a trend, she’s creating discomfort in the parent in you, and in the social environment. Fifteen years ago, a middle class Indian girl would think it immodest dressing. Will you admonish your child’s new dressing style? Wouldn’t you rather understand her new ways and become a liberal parent? If you’re over 40, you’ll remember your young life with stringent home return timings, no grace period for girls. It was an adventure escaping parents and neighborhood spies for that secret love affair, or even to converse with the opposite sex! A 25-year-old today easily introduces romantic relationships to parents who may feel discomfited at the variance from their childhood, but accept the change as the contemporary way to be. In contrast, when it comes to the workplace, predictable routine reigns supreme, keeping the employee in total comfort zone. The conventional workplace has imposing dogma employees easily distance themselves from. They don’t expect or want flexibility from ‘The Company.’ They resist change, become risk averse, and refuse to go along with any discomfort in the working system. Your consumers may be similar to your belly-baring daughter. Why then must you oppose discomfort at work? Only if an organization, whether it’s small, medium or big, continuously perpetuates discomfort within the workplace can it meet success. Discomfort brings innovation The whole organization needs to feel a certain amount of discomfort to set innovation in motion. Keeping the antenna up for the not-so-obvious is the only way to win the business game. Discomfort goads you to know that your achievement to date is not a throne to sit pretty upon, or to command the market from. Being self-righteous in business can jeopardize your long-term business existence. When know-how is easily accessible in every domain nowadays, an unexpected challenger can shake up the traditional market at any time. Apple’s iPod did just this, disrupting Sony’s undisputed leadership in the audio-video player market. Sony may never have imagined that Apple could cross its threshold to get into the music territory. Having vibrated the mass consumption electronic market with trendy musical products these last 50 years, Sony may have overlooked creating discomfort for itself. iPod is no rocket science, just extreme consumer sensitivity in managing music. iPod’s outstanding concept of being a trendy pocket music dictionary has made it an addiction. Following World War II, Japan’s strategic business step was very clear: The war has broken us, let’s not waste initial reconstruction time with fundamental innovation the West has already done. Japanese products in the 1960s were perceived to be of very low quality. When they improved in the ‘70s, Europeans would caricature them as ‘copy masters.’ The West failed to be aware of the fact that the Japanese imitated to better the original as renovation. The Japanese innovated by establishing a marketing approach to product design. They minutely studied Western innovation, sociology, and psychology, concentrating on how consumers approached and used products. Then zeroed in on the concept of miniaturization as the consumer-friendly solution for gaining consumer proximity. Europeans paid no heed to this ‘marketing of design’, but consumers were clearly endeared to innovative smallness in product design. French automobile companies did attempt marketing a small car to change the American culture of bigness, but it was the Japanese who succeeded in indulging Americans with small cars, compact motorbikes, and electronic gadgets. Miniaturization has tremendous universal appeal anywhere in the world. The Japanese own the concept and enjoy its proximity with the masses. Miniaturization evolved from the Japanese tradition of minimalism, the religious Buddhist way of life, and the symbolic form of bonsai art. A bonsai plant is genetically pure; in miniature format, its authenticity remains intact. If I were to mime Japanese miniaturization this is how it would be (see Figure 1): The European symbol for perfection is akin to the palms of both hands joining, finger on outstretched finger. This symbol of a perfect unbreakable joint is applicable for any sophisticated manufacturing process. What the Japanese have done is slightly twisted the two joined palms so that the outstretched fingers from one hand touch the edges of those of the other. This now enables the fingers to fold on the back of the palms, allowing a snug hug of the two hands. This coziness is miniaturization. This principle applies in every product of Western origin that the Japanese have miniaturized. With spectacular renovation of Western innovation, the Japanese have now achieved global leadership in many connoisseur European businesses such as cameras, motorbikes, automobiles, and electronic entertainment systems among others. As the Europeans busied themselves in the laboratory conducting analysis after analysis, the Japanese concentrated on surprising the global consumer by breaking local traditions. It was as though Philips invented, and Sony marketed. Caught unawares by the iPod in this century, Sony may surely be working in intense discomfort now for another breakthrough marketing innovation to regain their market. The auther has authored a book titled ‘Jalebi Management’.