The Devil’s In The Details
Working in software development, at a level of an organisation that is completely concerned with details, I’ve sometimes had the nagging feeling that those in power weren’t really in touch with what happens ‘on the ground’, or in the real world of so-called ‘low-level’ detail. This entertaining TED talk from Rory Sutherland tackles this sentiment eloquently, while touching on themes of behavioural economics, marketing and business strategy.
The presentation’s prescient message is deceptively simple: big strategies don’t always have a big impact, organisations don’t always need to spend big to implement big changes and yes, big changes can be implemented simply by getting the so-called ‘small things’ right. Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Ariely have made some of these themes causes célèbres, but Sutherland’s presentation is witty and entertaining in an idiosyncratically British kind of way, and his examples are great.
Also, watch out for his challenge at the end of the presentation to put a name on his idea..
References:
Rory Sutherland’s blog
Behavioural Economics
Dan Ariely’s ‘Predictably Irrational’
Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘The Tipping Point’
Paddy Corry's Blog 