'Caught In The Act' - A Personal Reflection On Assumptions and Bias

I caught myself in the act. 

I talk a big game in many different forums about the importance of understanding our own bias and assumptions, but I stuffed this one up recently.

People will often pose me with a new concept for a strategy or a new product idea, and I will be the first to draw out the assumptions that predicated that decision. In doing so, we aim to ensure that our strategies are based on either ‘known assumptions’ that we will later prove or disprove with targeted data, or facts that we can hang our hats on. But this time I let my guard down and missed the mark. 

I want to use this everyday ‘run of the mill’ case study as an opportunity to personally and professionally develop others who might inadvertently make assumptions that are devoid of truth, or make decisions without considering their own bias as an influencing factor. 

CASE STUDY 

So, there I was staring at one of the most amazing pieces of aviation technology in the world. A cirrus SR22T, an engineering marvel. The equivalent of the ‘Rolls Royce’ of small propeller planes (my description of course). In recent time I have made friends with the team at Cirrus Aircraft (in Caloundra – Sunshine Coast) and have been hanging out in their hangar like a bad smell.

I had been talking with them about a number of different things in an attempt to learn more about what they do. And, If I am being honest it was more of a novelty for me at first to say I sat in the cockpit of a Cirrus and nailed a token photo looking like I knew how to fly a plane. During conversation they asked whether I would ever consider flying a plane. My answer, ‘I could never fly a Cirrus plane!’. Wrong. 

ASSUMPTION 1 – I could never fly a Cirrus plane 

They then went on to explain that their markets had changed significantly in recent years and they had adapted with it. In recent time, they had created enduring partnerships with flight schools around Australia to enable people to better navigate the process of learning how to fly a plane. These partnerships had extended in some areas to enable certain flight schools to specialise with Cirrus craft due to the attraction of the platform. This team had thought about my assumption and disproved it within 30 seconds. I should have known better.  

Our conversation continued and it evolved into talking about what kind of demographic buys a Cirrus plane. In my mind, my bias and assumptions had created an image of a certain type of multimillionaire who just enjoyed being able to say I own a Cirrus jet. I imagined this person had already bought the magnificent house, car, boat and was now taking to the skies. Wrong. 

ASSUMPTION 2 – There is one type of person that would own a Cirrus plan 

The team then preceded to explain that there were of course a number of highly focused and successful individuals who had bought a Cirrus plane for the purposes of recreation, often after earning their wealth through many years of hard work. These people were keen to be a part of the ‘Cirrus Life’, and frankly I cannot blame them. But this did not dominate their clientele at this time.

They also went on to explain that they had provided a new method of purchasing a plane which leveraged off of ‘shared ownership’. Simply put, a number of people could invest into the same purchase and own part of a Cirrus plane. This means that technically they own a Cirrus plane, but they can evenly distribute the risk and maintenance costs across the group. The Cirrus plane was now significantly more affordable for other people within the market. They mentioned, this also included businesses using it to transport key people around Australia. I thought this was ridiculous. Who would buy a Cirrus plane as a sound business choice? Are they mad? No.  

ASSUMPTION 3 – Owning a Cirrus would be a poor business strategy 

It made no sense to me that people would buy a small plane as a business strategy, particularly when they could just leverage off of existing mainstream aviation systems and infrastructure. Before I could finish the thought, I started to consider our countries current predicament with whole flight industries on freeze and hundreds of planes grounded – literally stopping business across the country. A big issue, further exacerbated, when we consider the vastness of Australia and the huge areas to cover as part of our everyday business.  

They went on the explain that there was a new market of people who were purchasing these planes as a result of smart business acumen. The planes are exceptionally efficient and owning one allows a business or individual (medical specialists serving regional or remote areas as one example) the ability to shape their own schedule and serve new geographical markets. Simply put, for many people owning a Cirrus was a very smart business choice that made economical and practical sense. Again, my assumptions were disproved. 

LESSONS LEARNED 

1. Assumptions can be our best and worst friends. Assumptions can be amazing things when we use them properly as part of a structured planning process (and we acknowledge their existence and utility), but when they become the key influence in our decision making, they can become damaging or misguiding things. 
2. You don’t know what you don’t know. Our own biases and experience unsurprisingly shape our decision making. But we need to be attuned to the idea that they are not always there to support us. In fact, they often result in: Closed thinking, missed opportunities, and poor understanding. 
3. The importance of listening in order to learn. I had broken my cardinal rule and had entered a conversation with a full suite of preconceived ideas and concepts with little, to no, knowledge about the industry, the business, and the people influenced. Rookie mistake on my end. 

Case studies like this occur in our everyday lives and form the basis for many of our day to day interactions and engagements.  

I trust that if you think back to recent conversations you might find where you missed an opportunity to learn, or shaped a decision based on limited information.  

“There are no failures in life: only learning opportunities”. 

Safe travels! 

Thank you to the amazing team at Cirrus AU/NZ/SE Asia for your patience, professionalism and support.