What an Intern Can Teach your C-Suite

I recently sat in on a design review where a table full of talented professionals from interns to senior leadership debated the positioning of an email newsletter for a consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand. Within a few minutes, the voices got louder, and the quality of the discussion devolved to a relatively unproductive back-and-forth.

Have you ever sat in a meeting like this? I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been there, and it’s painful.

I decided to help mitigate the tensions by asking the team to explain the problem to me. As it turns out, the CPG wanted to drive more traffic to its retail partners to expand that revenue stream. Quickly it became apparent what the newsletter needed: an efficient way to direct more people to the store locator on its website. The team eagerly began to chime in ways to do this.

“Add a link to the store locator in the content,” said a copywriter.

“Replace the image of the product with a photoshopped image of the product in-store and call out the store locator,” added a designer.

“Add a prominent button that says, ‘find a store near you,’ that links directly to the store locator,” an intern piped up from the corner of the room.

All were strong solutions; however, the winner was clear even before we had a chance to discuss the options. 

From the corner of the room, the excited intern said, “It’s done; can someone please refresh the preview link?”

Just like that, the intern made the change, and the newsletter suddenly covered all the bases. Here’s what everyone up to the C-Suite can learn from that bold move.

It’s about progress, not perfection

One of the biggest logjams in business today is bureaucracy. Waiting around for sign-offs on sign-offs in our post-digital age is a waste of time when the beauty of modern software (and hardware) is that we can often test things before doing a full rollout. If the solution isn’t right, it’s simple enough to iterate or pivot. 

Incremental improvements are the building blocks of real innovation. The key is to take the first step, which is what the intern did. If you want to slap a label on that type of thinking, there are a whole host of modern buzzwords ranging from Lean Startup methodology to Design Thinking.

Then again, by the time you qualify the process, the intern will have already lapped you with another iteration that can be tested on a real audience.

Make like an intern, and try being an absolute beginner

It’s easy for interns to approach challenges with a sense of wonder, excitement, and openness because they are brand new at this. They don’t have preconceived notions, but what they do have is freedom to screw up. The whole point of interning is to learn and grow. 

This is the essence of a Beginner’s Mindset, which is a Zen Buddhist concept called “Shoshin.” Famously practiced by Steve Jobs to create Apple’s revolutionary products, Zen master Shunryo Suzuki explains the philosophy this way:

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind, there are few.”

Legacy CEOs and other senior leadership, on the other hand, tend to come at problems with a more fixed mindset. You’ve been there, done that, and there are a million reasons why something new may not work. So sticking to the status quo is safer, as is keeping new ideas under wraps for months or years until you’ve tested every angle to be sure everything will go perfectly.

That viewpoint is understandable because you have more to lose than an intern.

That viewpoint also doesn’t hold water, precisely because you have more to lose than an intern. 

So take a page out of a newbie’s book and allow curiosity and creativity to take a front-row seat at the table. It’s the fastest way to graduate from making copies (of old ideas) and promote business growth.