5. The Necessity of Strangers

On November 16^th, Alan Gregerman presented us with a Team Leaning Adventure (TLA) exercise. It said to get in small groups and to hit all six of the stops around Washington D.C. that were given to us. These stops were chosen because Gregerman felt they would be some of the best places to spark creativity. It was sort of like a Easter egg hunt, in that we were given specific things to look for everywhere we went. But, at the same time it wasn’t because we were making things up as we went along and looking for our own eggs of wisdom in places other than the six defined stops. Essentially, the major goal of this exercise was to keep our eyes peeled for remarkable people, places, things, ideas, insights and possibilities through our expedition. After completing this Team Learning Adventure (TLA) exercise and studying IDEO’s design thinking process extensively in class, I can say with confidence that the two processes are both very similar and very different.

Both processes believe that people can attain insight from others better and quicker than if they were to try and find out the information themselves. For example, while on our TLA we needed to find “the throne” in the National Portrait Gallery. Instead of wandering around aimlessly, we asked an employee and she thoughtfully pointed us in the right direction. An IDEO example is from the shopping cart video, in which the design team is trying to find out as many things wrong with the current shopping cart design as possible. As part of the design thinking process, IDEO workers talk to shoppers in stores about their biggest irritations with the design. Asking these strangers is a better plan than to try to come up with this information on your own, because these shoppers are cart experts after using them so often. From talking to a busy mother, the design team learned that getting children in and out of the kid seat is difficult and doesn’t give the children much space to lean on. Both processes also believe that the journey is just as important as the destination. The TLA was designed by Gregerman to encourage us to go off the path and encounter new and unexpected things on the way. The design thinking process isn’t mainly focused on the end result either. It is mainly just a way of thinking about the world around us that strengthens our creativity. Lastly, both processes prioritize collaboration with teammates to achieve moments of wisdom. Two heads are better than one in both cases, because ideas can be bounced off one another until an innovative idea is spawned.

Overall, the IDEO design thinking process is more structured because it has a goal of improving inventions, while the TLA technique is up in the air as long as you talk to strangers and obtain insights from new connections. In IDEO’s design process, extensive research about a product is done beforehand. In contrast, during the TLA, someone could know absolutely nothing about a product until asking a stranger. The goal is to gain new knowledge from new interactions. Another difference is that IDEO follows a rigid step-by-step formula for design thinking. The 5 steps are: questioning, observing, networking, associating and experimenting. The only step required for the TLA is to talk to strangers. Also, IDEO wants multidisciplinary teams of T-shaped people, whereas the TLA team members only need to have open minds and be willing to work together.

Those who benefitted from the Team Learning Adventure were the ones who actually wanted to gain new insight from others. They pushed themselves to get out of their comfort zone and think differently about the nature of what is possible. I consider myself to be one of these people. The TLA was a very beneficial challenge in my eyes because Gregerman had conditioned me, unlike ever before, to embrace strangers with open-mindedness rather than with avoidance. In doing this, I managed to talk to a number of different strangers around the city, and every single one of them had insightful advice to give. One example of doing this was in the Whole Foods produce section. I approached a worker named Sarah and asked her why she thinks Whole Foods is so special. She then gave me a firsthand account of the culture of the company, explaining how they hire representatives to introduce products to the markets, how they employ farming teams to make certain that the produce is the best, and their value on their “whole trade guarantee.” Before talking to Sarah, I always had a wishy-washy view on Whole Foods, mainly because of its snobby connotation and high prices. However, my view changed after I used Gregerman’s model to connect with the right people. Once I learned about all the dedication Whole Foods employees put into their goods, I realized that it’s definitely worth the extra money to purchase such healthy and ethically reliable foods. Another example was when I branched out and talked to our Uber driver. I learned that his name was Harry and he was from Vietnam. More importantly, he told us about his favorite places in DC and later in the day we actually went to a pretty good coffee shop that he suggested. I think that introverted people did not benefit from the TLA because they were less likely to approach an unfamiliar person, so they were left behind in generating moments of insight. If the introverted decided that they weren’t going to challenge themselves, they wouldn’t have found out some of the neat information that I did from Harry.

The Team Learning Adventure design can be a useful tool for companies to use when they are testing a prototype. Firms will not acquire constructive feedback from people within the office, they need to venture into the world to build customer relationships and get responses from everyday people. McDonald’s is an example of a company who could use the TLA approach right now. In colloquium class, we learned about McDonald’s new slogan, “lovin beats hatin.” Immediately, the entire room let out a groan of exasperation at this new corny motto. Clearly McDonald’s thinks this is a good idea, but when 60 college students unanimously agree that they hate it, that clearly shows that McDonald’s should reach out to strangers more in order to approve or deny any future business ventures. It should follow the paradigm Gregerman explains in his book: business and personal success = what I already know + my knowledge or understanding gap + a stranger who knows how to fill it in.

Gregerman’s insights towards strangers would make my mom nervous at first. Since I was a little girl she has always taught me not to talk to strangers because they can be bad people. According to Gregerman, we must get over this “stranger danger” paradigm in order to think differently and spark innovation. We must keep an open mind to strangers BECAUSE they are different from us. Most of the time, and I can attest to this, we seek advice from those who are closest and most similar to us. I usually go to my friends when I need advice or another opinion. However, since these people are similar, we aren’t really getting any vastly different thought from what we could have come up with on our own. This claim is backed by a number of different theories, one of them being the attachment theory. It says that infants form powerful attachments to their mothers, providing a secure base from which to explore and grow. Gregerman argues that the groupthink that forms in companies and organizations creates an opposition to people and ideas that are different from the already accepted way of doing things.

One important innovation lesson I learned from visiting Tesla motors and talking to employees was that it’s best to first sell a new product at a high price and low volume, and then gradually work towards a low price and high volume. This was a concept that one of the Tesla representatives explained to me at the store in D.C. and he seemed to really know his stuff. Rather than marketing something expensive to lower-income demographics and hoping that enough sells, this process is the most efficient way for a product to gain popularity. Tesla follows this philosophy because when first making electric cars, it is bound to be expensive. It isn’t until enough people buy the expensive luxury cars that Tesla will be able to achieve bulk deals on inputs, causing the cars to become more affordable. This is why Tesla first released high-end vehicles that would appeal to the very wealthy. Eventually, it is Elon Musk’s goal to create more affordable modest vehicles that would appeal to families and new car buyers. Another important innovation lesson I learned from Tesla is to try to revolutionize the way your product is sold from start to finish. Tesla has turned one of the greatest American consumer experiences – the shopping mall – into its car dealership. If successful, this will completely change how cars are sold in this company. Instead of making car buyers go to the dealer, the dealer comes to the car buyers in one of the places they spend more of their time. People will then be more likely to buy the car if they see it and are tempted by it every time they stop by the mall. It also saves them having to make a trip to a completely different area to view the car in a traditional dealership. This example of Tesla can serve as inspiration for hundreds of other companies looking to change up the place where things are sold. Companies should ask themselves: How can I get in closer proximity to my customers like Tesla has done?

From visiting the various different companies on our trip to D.C., I concluded that the two things that really matter to our generation in a business are

1. Specialized brand niches – Nike is an extremely innovative firm that stands out because it is able to market to specialized customers all over the world. For example, the Nike store in Georgetown had a Georgetown University theme to it, which appealed to the local college and made students feel special, undoubtedly caused a surge in sales. There was Georgetown athletic gear on the models and the floor was even made out of parts of the Georgetown basketball court. This is a way that even a huge worldwide company can make individual customers feel special.

2. Convenience – at this point in time, almost everybody has a smart phone and is accustomed to a fast-paced society. People want to get things done on the go and not have to wait around and waste time – this is why Uber is such a revolutionary innovation. I used Uber for the first time this weekend and I was blown away by how easy it was. Uber was able to disrupt the taxi industry by transforming the service into an app where you can request drivers based on where you need to go. When a driver agreed to come pick us up, a map showed up displaying his car and his estimated time of arrival. An icon also popped up showing our driver’s name and the type of car he drove so we could keep a lookout. Additionally, the app is set up with a credit card number so you don’t have to exchange any cash with the driver at the end of the trip. This saves time for both parties at the end of an Uber ride, and it also creates more safety for the drivers by eliminating the risk of being robbed. Quick and efficient companies are taking over the slower more traditional ones thanks to developing technology and online transactions.