One reason why B2B got off on the wrong foot is that the nature of business itself has been misunderstood. It is thought that different rules must apply to B2B than apply to B2C. A business is seen as a discrete entity that makes rational, economic decisions based purely on logic and a rigorous assessment of the evidence and the business case.
In other words, a business is more like Star Trek’s Spock than Captain James T. Kirk.
But this, I and many others would argue, is baloney. As Mark Earls puts it: “Organizations are not machines (as the Newtonian worldview would have it and as the business schools teach us). Organizations are built on the interaction of individuals…”
This mechanistic view of business as a well-oiled machine, with its people mere cogs and levers, took root in the industrial revolution in the 19th century and flourished as automation, ergonomics and computing sought to make business more 'efficient'. In 1923, the modernist architect Le Corbusier famously described a house as 'a machine for living in'. We had machines on the brain.
Now robots can build cars. Robots can even build other robots. We fear that the dystopian world of the Matrix films may not be too far away.
But our belief is that businesses are more like Captain Kirk – intuitive, emotional, instinctive, making decisions from the heart as much as the head. Why? Because businesses are run and staffed by people.
So to understand businesses and how they behave we need to understand people and how they behave.
Do you agree, disagree? Tell me your story and I am happy to have a chat to you about this.
This blog is my 4th blog as part of a 12 blog series. You can read my last post 'Reviving the art of storytelling' here.
