Persona 2: The Outsider
The next persona in our series is The Outsider. Outsiders ask the questions no one else is asking and listen more intently because they know they have a lot to learn. Being an outsider provides you with the ability to see things from a different perspective, and when you do, you can uncover powerful insights that challenge convention and unlock opportunity.
The Clarity of Newness
Do you remember the feeling you get when you’ve just started a new job, and the business problems and opportunities seem so clearly obvious to you? So much so that you question your own judgement because why hasn’t someone else said or done something already? For a brief window of time, you are gifted with the clarity of newness. What’s difficult is maintaining this perspective as time goes by, because it’s a gift that expires with time.
System one thinking teaches us that most of our thinking processes and actions are automatic. Neural pathways burned into our brains to save us from cognitive overload. The trouble is, because we’ve automated so much of our day to day thinking and behaviors, we must use System two thinking to unlearn them. By unlearning we open ourselves up to new perspectives and to seeing things differently. System two requires slow thinking and thoughtful observation to see beyond the obvious, positioning us to think more like an Outsider.
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” —Wayne Dyer
The Fish Doesn’t See the Water
In the 1968 Olympic games, Dick Fosbury broke the world high jump record. He was able to do this because instead of jumping forwards, which was the convention at the time, he went over on his back. By borrowing a technique from gymnastics, he was able to see the problem from a different perspective and while staying within the rules of the game, was able to quite literally raise the bar.
Fosbury challenged convention at the time and in doing so changed the game forever. Just like a fish lives its whole life in water, we often don’t notice the environment, culture or assumptions we are immersed in. Changing your perspective can be a game changer for your industry and your own career.
Cultivating an Outsider perspective is a discipline, one that insights professionals can intentionally practice over time to reveal fresh insights and unlock opportunity through disruptive thinking. It is a way of seeing that is curious, emotionally intelligent and deeply attuned to difference. To think like an outsider, consider the following as you interrogate reality:
- What rituals and traditions do you observe? You’ll learn the cultural conventions and what makes people feel safe, secure and connected.
- What assumptions are so embedded that no one questions them? You’ll shine a light on cultural blind spots.
- What do people avoid or not talk about? You’ll discover what they are afraid of and where vulnerabilities lie.
- What are the unspoken rules and conventions? You’ll reveal the hidden power structures and behavioral norms.
- Where do actions and beliefs contradict? You’ll learn what is aspirational and where cultural tensions lie.
An Immigrant in Insights
As an immigrant in consumer insights, my perspective is often different from those around me, affording me a view that is largely invisible to others. A perspective that enables me to see the layered complexity and contradictions that exist in culture because the norm is not normal to me.
According to behavioral science, we do not see the world as it is but as we are. Our beliefs, experiences and biases shape what we notice and how we interpret it. To think like an Outsider, you need to disrupt your usual ways of thinking.
Step outside your routine and immerse yourself in the unfamiliar, whether it’s learning a new sport, exploring a different town or country or engaging with learning materials outside of your field. New perspectives emerge when we widen our frame on the world, providing us with more and different vantage points from which to see things differently.
An Insights Superpower
The Outsider mindset can be a superpower for insights practitioners and a powerful tool in your high impact work arsenal. By questioning what is assumed, noticing what is ignored and expanding your perspective to see things differently, you can surface insights that challenge convention, bring clarity and unlock new opportunity.
Click here for more columns from Colleen Funkey’s “6 Personas to Propel Your Insights Career” series.
Video courtesy of Adam Grant/TED
