Innovation and the Seven Deadly Sins, Take 2: Lust
Posted: August 25th, 2009 in Innovation
Gentle reader:
You may recall that last posting I proposed the notion of the Seven Deadly Sins as a useful construct for exploring the chief ways in which corporations inadvertently, but routinely, kill innovation today. I made the case for this framework starting with Envy. And maybe you bought into my line of thinking on this first Deadly Sin. But I can just hear you thinking: “Sure, Envy’s the easy one, let’s see him take on Lust.”
Well, here goes.
Let me start by suggesting that Lust is Love’s evil twin—closely related and yet diametrically opposed. As all good Corinthians know, “Love is patient, love is kind…It is not self-seeking…It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
Lust—the intense, inherently self-centered desire for another is essentially a one-way relationship. He who lusts has no concern for the needs and well-being of his object of desire. Said object’s only role is to fulfill the base wants of the luster. The luster knows only the most superficial things about the lustee: body shape and dimensions, hair color, mannerisms, etc.
In the world of innovation, those guilty of this Deadly Sin hunger for whole segments of consumers: e.g., empty nesters, Hispanics, small business owners, teen girls (inadvertent Lolita reference—sorry), desiring what they can provide (dollars) without knowing, or even wanting to know, what they need. The Lusting Innovator can cite chapter and verse all of the external demographic data for the sexy segments in their cross hairs: market size, growth trends, income, purchasing habits, geographic distribution, age, education level, etc., and yet, beyond these superficialities, knows nothing of substance about them.
As in the carnal world, the innovation relationship based on Lust has no long-term future. Most likely, it never gets off the ground as the target market spurns the unwelcome overtures of the Lusting Innovator as misplaced, selfish, and objectifying: “You don’t know and value me as a person!” Very rarely, the Lusting Innovator gets lucky and through an unrepeatable combination of shiny objects, empty promises, the right lighting, and blind good fortune finds his advances accepted. Marketplace success! Alas, that relationship soon fails as the intended quickly comes to realize that they’ve been sold a bill of goods. At that point they move on to someone else who can actually meet their needs.
Hollywood is of course, the great Luster. The success of “The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Passion of the Christ,” and the “High School Musical” franchise shine a sexy spotlight on their underlying markets: Women over 30, Christians, and Tween Girls, respectively. As Lust kicks in, clueless studio execs greenlight questionable projects for no other reason than they are aimed at these very same targets. Predictably, “Georgia Rule,” “The Nativity Story,” and “Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience” result.
Hollywood will never learn, but maybe, just maybe, the rest of us can. Do not lust after your customers, dear innovators—fall in love with them. In so doing you’ll end up watching out for their best interests, which (as love would have it) coincide exactly with your own.
Next in the series: Pride