Collective Intelligence... are you diverse enough?

I have been reading a book recently called “Rebel Ideas”. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. The opening chapter deep dives into collective blindness and how the CIA were blindsided by Al Queda over 9/11 because they had no real representation or understanding about islamic faith. Albeit very different, while reading the notion of collective blindness, it made me reflect on its prominence in the fitness industry. We can be an industry of very like minded individuals, which could potentially mean we also have little diverse intelligence in some areas.?

Hear me out.

We as humans usually attach to those who are similar to us. Am I right?

We like to work with those similar to us, be friends with those similar to us, workout with those similar to us. We are always attracted to similarities, because why? They make us feel part of something and safe. These people normally have similar ideas to us and will agree on what we say. Sound familiar?

Have a think about those you surround yourself with in the industry? Do you normally conclude on the same ideas? Do you get challenges from any other sources? Now I can be a very annoying individual, and I don’t like to say yes to something on the first go. I’ll normally challenge you from the perspective of an outsider. Why? Because I’ve spent years working with clients NOT from the industry, who would always help me challenge my own ideas.?

Something I challenge coaches on is, have you popped your ideas past others? For example, your potential clients? Clients are normally not in the industry AND they might have a completely different perspective on things. I think personal trainers and face fronting businesses are in such a lucrative position to be better, you have all the diverse intelligence that you need right in the palm of your hand.?

I even challenge my other half on this all the time. He wants to make a decision, I say, “is that what you want, or is that what you feel the person you are delivering for would want?” I get him to pause and think about, okay if this is the target audience and these are the needs, think about how they would perceive it.

It’s exactly the same when you are thinking about campaigns and strategies. It’s not what you and those in the same industry as you want, it’s what the people that you are trying to reach want.?

I’d love to open a discussion on this because it’s a super interesting topic!

Q: What do you implement in your business to improve your diverse intelligence?

Let’s challenge ourselves as an industry!