Innovation and the "Zero Mile Per Hour Crash"

I'm always looking for inspiration in my personal life to help me unpack and understand things in the business world (and... vice-versa to be honest). This weekend I literally crashed into a lesson on innovation and how you've got to be willing to take some risks to expand your possibilities.

But first, let's start with that the story of how I embarrassed myself this weekend on a road bike...

On the weekends, I enjoy jumping on a road bike and touring around my fair city. Sometimes I go riding with my kids, sometimes I take off for a few hours to clear my head and think through things away from the computer and all the distractions of modern life. It's my mini-therapy session that helps me process some of my bigger thoughts. I would insert a joke about "hey it's cheaper than real therapy" but no, this is a hobby that is waaaay more expensive than I'd like to admit. But I digress.

Something you need to understand about road biking is that it's all about efficiency. Everything about a road bike, from its composite carbon fiber frame to its aerodynamic design is set up to squeeze every bit of efficiency out of you it can muster. For an out-of-shape forty-something, all this cutting edge tech designed to shave literally grams off your setup feels a bit wasted, but who's to say?

A critical bit of kit on every serious road bike are what we call "clipless pedals". When you think of a normal bike with those flat pedals you can just push down on with a pair of flip-flops... no, this is not the same thing. Clipless pedals (shown in the main image on this post, and to the right) are a device designed by the devil himself. You wear special shoes with a funny looking chunk of plastic on the bottom that interlocks with the mechanism on the pedal. You "clip in" by pushing down really hard when you get started rolling; the point of these pedals is that they make you very efficient. Your feet don't slip at all; they are literally mated to the bike cranks--- you become one with the bike. Every single ounce of up-and-down motion is transferred directly to the drivetrain. Your feet are locked in, solidly, and only by executing this really difficult "shift your heels out and wiggle them" routine can you disengage the locking mechanism.

All this sounds really groovy right? Get to wear fancy shoes that transfer 100% of your leg energy to the bike? Sure. I mean... it is... until you realize the hardest part about road biking is avoiding a "Zero-mile-per-hour-crash", which statistically speaking probably makes up 90% of all crashes on road bikes.

What's a zero-mile-per-hour-crash?

A zero-mile-per-hour crash is where you pull up to an intersection, a busy stretch of sidewalk, a big bump in the road, and you need to---- um---- stop. Remember, you are clipped into these mechanical contrivances that have mercilessly locked you into the frame unless you do this magic "Dorothy in wizard of Oz" heel clicking thing to free your feet. Try to picture it; you are sitting atop your expensive, fragile bike, wearing a ridiculous looking skin-tight unitard and you have ceased forward motion; you are now balancing on two-inch-wide-tires and trying to free your feet within just a few seconds. There is nothing to hold on to. It feels like you have just come to a stop on top of a pogo stick. If you don't execute this maneuver perfectly, you will tip over while still firmly locked to your bike and then slow-motion crash to the ground screaming and violently cursing as you regret ever trying this sport.

A zero-mile-per-hour-crash is somewhat of a right of passage for every biker. Everyone has them. I had one on Sunday; the first in probably five years, and it gave me a LOT to think about, oddly enough about Innovation in market research.

I rode from my house in West Nashville to downtown to check out the indy car racing being held last weekend. I was meandering through a particularly difficult area and about to leave the sidewalk, but I was unsure which path to take to avoid hitting pedestrians. I lost my train of thought and didn't realize I'd come to a complete stop. Gravity, the ever-present instigator of my demise, kicked in and I felt the familiar feeling of falling over with no way to un-clip. Two seconds later, I'm cursing my stupidity as I laid in front of a dozen tourists looking like a fool. To the left, I've included an image from Google of someone else experiencing a Zero-mile-per-hour-crash, but thankfully this weekend no cameras were present. He looks a lot happier than I was.

Strava (cool riding app) actually managed to capture the moment of my demise.

So what does this have to do with Innovation? Let me tell you what I did for the next 10 miles, and I think that will help explain why innovation in Market Research is sometimes so hard.

For the next ten miles, I was rattled. My nerves were shot. My elbow was bleeding, my hip was badly bruised--- not to mention my ego. As I rode around downtown watching over 100,000 tourists flock to the start of the Indy car race, I just kept going and didn't stop. I should have stopped and taken photos of what I was there to see. I should have stopped and watched all of the incredibly fast cars zoom around downtown. I should have stopped and taken a moment to walk through the pits and see the million-dollar cars on display. It was an absolutely AMAZING sight to behold, with a blimp flying overhead and F/A-18 Hornets about to do a flyover for the start of a race.

I was afraid of falling again.

But I was afraid. I was afraid I would fall again. I was so afraid of falling again, I just kept pedaling. I headed back home.

Ten miles passed before I realized what I'd done. I'd worked so hard to get downtown to experience something I'd never seen before, and Indy car race right in the streets of my home town. But here I was, headed back for safety.

As I limped home, bruised and bleeding, it hit me like a ton of bricks. This is the same lesson we hear from our research clients over and over. It just happened to me in a zero-mile-per-hour-crash.

In the day-to-day of Research, we are often "clipped in" and afraid of falling

In the insights industry, we are zooming from project to project, focusing on the next discussion guide or the next insight report. We get good at delivering in the most efficient way; we are locked into our "clipless pedals". We are fast, we are effective, but we aren't always ready to stop and pivot.

Then something happens; we need to take a detour. We need to try a new method. We need to navigate unfamiliar streets. We're a bit off our game, and we lose focus on how to change and innovate... and we feel the fall coming. We hit the pavement--- the project doesn't go well. Crash. We are on the ground.

We become so afraid of falling again, we get right back on the bike without thinking. We clip back in, and avoid trying a new innovative approach. We go back to what worked, and we skip all the sights and sounds. We turn our back on what we might have learned, and ride home without stopping again.

To experience new things, or to try new methods, sometimes we have to take that risk.

We have to risk failing. Yes, failing hurts. Yes, it's unpleasant.

But we must take risks to experience something new, whether that might be a new way to gather consumer insight, or a new experience in our personal life.

The next time you try something new, don't be like me. If you happen to take a tumble, don't hang your head in shame and limp back home to "what's always worked".

Be brave enough to unclip from those pedals again and experience something entirely new. Innovation can only happen when we take risks, and even when we experience a failure, have the guts to get back on the bike and ride like nothing ever happened.