When every problem looks like a nail

In 1981, Thomas Gilovich, a professor in Psychology, conducted a study at Stanford University with students of International Conflict.

These students were told of a hypothetical foreign-policy crisis and asked to recommend a course of action.

The clever part is that the students were split into two groups, and the descriptions of the crisis were changed for each group.

Group A were told about the crisis with World War II undertones (the president was "from New York, the same state as Franklin Roosevelt", etc). Group B were given Vietnam undertones (the president was "from Texas, the same state as Lyndon Johnson,").

Care to take a guess what Group A's recommended course of action was? Or Group B's?

Group A recommended a policy that bore a striking resemblance to the lessons of World War II, whereas Group B recommended a hands-off policy similar to Vietnam.

As the Harvard Business Review puts it: "Not only were the students swayed by superficial likenesses, they were not even aware that they had been swayed.".

There is a common expression that goes something like this: When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. The formal name for this is the Law of the Instrument.

The Law of the Instrument is about cognitive bias. It's about relying on your existing memory-bank of approaches, tools or analogies to solve every problem.

But the Thomas Gilovich experiment goes further still; it suggests that you can have a rich and varied box of tools, but if the problem bears even the tiniest resemblance to a nail, then out comes the hammer. And the person wielding the hammer won't even realise it.

Delivering a specific set of services to particularly niche industry like Asset Management means we see a lot of nails. But we also see nuts, bolts and dovetailed joints.

It can be so easy to think "Well, we've seen this one before. Let's go with the joiner's square and a sharp axe".

But that would be a mistake.

Sometimes, a problem really is as easy as it looks. Sometimes a hammer is absolutely the correct approach. But without sitting down to uncover your brand attributes, its audience's needs and business goals, how can we be sure?

Well, we conduct a brand Discovery workshop.

Discovery is so crucial. But Discovery can't be done without direct client input. We know the industry and we know how to tell your story — we have a very rich and varied box of tools. But you know your problem and you know your audience — and they're probably not a "nail".

So next time someone comes to you with a project, don't be a solution seeking a problem. Don't automatically reach for that favourite tool that's always worked in the past. Take a moment, and then take a leaf out of Michael Bungay Stanier's playbook, and ask "...And What Else?"

You'll be amazed at what you discover.