How we interpret unusual data
It is human nature to attempt to come to an understanding about new experiences by using what we have previously learned as a guide. Applying logic to the situation is generally how we attempt to arrive at an understanding. However, this doesn’t always work out. Take for example the following story that was related to me by my mother, a lifelong, winter-surviving Vermonter living in Florida.
In Bradenton, Fl., the Manatee Memorial Hospital runs a thrift store where folks donate clothing and many other things. The thrift store is staffed for the most part by volunteers and most of them are retired. One of the jobs performed is to sort out the donated items. Two of them were overheard discussing a pair of shoes that had just arrived. They seemed to the ladies to be quite strange. They were of large size and a bit “blocky.” Perhaps they were from someone who had difficulty walking, one of them posited. Or they might have been for an amputee. The speculation went on for a bit until someone who had overheard the conversation advised them that they were not shoes at all.
It isn’t surprising that two elderly, southern ladies didn’t recognize a pair of ski boots.
What kinds of data are you receiving that perhaps you aren’t interpreting correctly. Are there any “ski boots” in your strategic landscape?
