One of
life's most well-known paradoxes is the following, “The only
constant is ______.” What goes in the blank? Everybody knows the
answer is the word “change.” The only constant is change. This is
an idea which is so well-known that it has practically become a
cliché.
Even
though we all know, in theory, that change is the only constant,
humans fundamentally resist change. We are all wired with a way of
thinking that the psychologists call the “Status Quo Bias.”
The
Status Quo Bias is the name for people's tendency to hold on to the
past. Joshua Knobe, a professor at Yale University, says, “The basic idea here is just that people have a
bias toward choosing options that allow everything to stay the same
as it was.”
The
great Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, said life fundamentally
exists in tension. And, here we have one of life's main tensions.
People prefer for things to stay the same. But everything must
change. This can create quite a lot of problems. The tension, between change and continuity, is ever-present.
Enter
the world of business. Business is the first human institution that
was designed to lead change. This is an idea I am borrowing from
Drucker. Other human institutions are meant to preserve continuity.
Have you ever thought about that?
For
example, the church is organized around continuity. Let's take the
Christian tradition. As we all know, the Christian tradition is based
upon the Bible. And, like any other church, Christian churches are meant
to go backwards.
That is
to say, what we learn in church is to be more like Jesus Christ. A
man who died about 2,000 years ago. Most people are aware that Jesus taught us various
principles to live by. And, one role of the church is to preserve those
principles. The church is not looking to change things.
Business,
however, is all about change. Capitalism is, at its core, creative destruction. It is about change. The old is constantly
killed off, and the new is born. Companies like Airbnb and Uber have
been born and are making all kinds of noise. Meanwhile, Compaq, MCI,
and PaineWebber have gone the way of the dodo bird.
Far from
trying to hold on to the past, Richard Farson and Ralph Keyes say,
“Economists consider a high rate of business failure a sign of
economic vitality.” The Soviet Union's communist regime was doomed
because they refused to let businesses fail. A healthy economy needs
to make it easy for businesses to be started and closed.
In many
ways business is the agent of change. Of course, this cuts both ways.
Sometimes people get talked into buying bad stuff. This is
inevitable. But, for the most part, business serves a valuable
purpose. And, this is why it is so important to be a salesperson.
As we
all know, businesses are started by entrepreneur. And, as I have stated repeatedly, the two entrepreneurial functions are innovation and marketing. I generally do not slice hairs when it comes to sales
versus marketing. I use the two terms interchangeably.
In a
well functioning society, the business, the entrepreneur, the
salesperson, they are the change agents. They help people get over
their status quo bias, and the resulting procrastination. A good
salesperson helps people to make quality decisions that are in the client's best interest.
Done
properly, businesses solve problems. The first problem is helping
people overcome their resistance to change. Only then can a person
enjoy the benefits of various products and services. When the
refrigerator was invented a lot of people resisted purchasing one.
They were content sticking with their old ice box. It is kind of hard
to believe, but it is true.
What
tipped the scales, and got people to buy refrigerators, were direct
sales people. I think is this a great example because, in this
analysis, we have the benefit of time. Looking back there is no doubt
that a refrigerator is better than an ice box. The proof is obvious
in that nobody has an ice box anymore. But, it took a while for some
people to give up their old ways. The SQB is strong.
I guess
the point of this post is a moral one. The job of an entrepreneur is
to improve peoples' lives with quality goods and services. To do that
we must help people overcome their natural tendencies and biases. In
a word, the job of the entrepreneur is to SELL! It is quite a noble
endeavor.
