In mythology, Cassandra was a Pythian-like fortune-teller from the Delphi’s Oracle, Greece. The god Apollo fell in love with her and offered her the gift of seeing into the future, provided she would give herself to him. She accepted the god’s offer, but once she received the grace to foretell what was to happen, she did not keep her promise. As Apollo could no longer take back what he had given her, he cursed her so that no one would believe her prophecies.
Legend has it that she predicted the fall of Troy, but no one took her seriously.
Its myth symbolizes the archetype of the individual whose prophecies, statements, revelations are not taken into account until they are fulfilled.
‘Casandra Syndrome’ is a concept used to refer to people who think they can predict the future but do not have the ability to do anything to avoid it.
The business environment also has its Casandras. History cites cases of people who predicted something in the future but no one listened to them.
Several Nokia engineers created a prototype Ipad and an Appstore a few years before Apple launched the first iPhone. Like the mythological Cassandra, they predicted a future that others may not have been prepared to take into account, to imagine.
Or maybe, like the researchers, Nokia’s engineers didn’t know how to communicate well enough, they didn’t sell their ideas and prototypes so that they could be taken into account. People who research, invent, in organizations, need a partner who has the ability to pack a novelty, to make it intelligible for those who make decisions in top management, to create benchmarks, and show them how that novelty would bring value, differentiation, return on investment.
Researchers at Kodak and Fuji have predicted for sure that the future of photography will be digital. However, no one listened to them. We can argue that they did not insist enough, that they did not influence well, that they did not present well. But their job is to predict trends, to inform those who have the reins of the company in their hands. What they do with the information is another story.
Perhaps an example of this is the partnership between Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The innovative mind of the latter would not have been valued without the marketing thinking of the former.
I remember a client of mine from coaching: a very good IT specialist, but with less developed communication skills, relationships, influence. He wanted to be allowed to build, and someone else to take care of the way in which what he was doing was transmitted.
He didn’t have that pride or maybe just that need that we, the others, have to come forward and present, to talk about what we created, to be in the spotlight. It is fascinating how these people take satisfaction from the process of research, of discovery, they are like those who bring pearls to the surface. Others value them, sell them, buy them, make them shine.
The people who are closest to changes in the environment, in expectations, in customer demands, are not those in top management. They are the ones in the first line, the ones who interact directly with the customers, the ones who immediately perceive the customers’ reaction, I
see their buying or consuming behavior.
I would like to mention a few things in business so that we can listen to and take into account the people who can influence decisions for the future:
Let’s intend, intentionally, to listen to them, to read between the lines, to test what they say, to have patience.
Let’s try to do some presentation courses with them; it can work with some. But let’s not expect that there will be major changes and, anyway, not from all.
Let’s have an intermediary: someone who has the ability to understand what an engineer working on projects for the future says, a researcher, and who knows how to present the benefits of those new products, how they can bring value to the consumer, business, society, environment, shareholders ;
Let’s not say ‘No’ when we don’t understand. Let’s take time to think, to test, to let the new ideas ferment, just as our grandmothers left the dough for the cake: sometimes the dough grew and a very good cake came out, other times it didn’t grow much, she had to work on it.
Let’s test some new ideas on children, teenagers. They come with other habits, other experiences, they see the present and the immediate future differently, they have the candor of age when it comes to giving feedback. In addition, children and adolescents do not have a great distance from authority, they say what they think regardless of what is written on the business card of others. And this aspect itself is a great gain. Perhaps the engineering, research, and development departments could have a testing center where the very young could experiment (products of categories that could be harmful are excluded, of course: alcohol, tobacco, medicines).
These are just a few ideas that can help turn businesses’ Casandras into famous researchers. And we would all benefit from so many good ideas that might otherwise get lost in the “trash” of innovation.
Via: Forbes