One of my favorite pieces of psych research is a 1999 study by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris.
Before I explain, you can experience the study by watching this video (it’s only 1 minute, 21 seconds). It’s important you watch before reading on, spoilers below.
Believe it or not, if you were intensely watching the balls being passed, there’s a 50% chance you missed the gorilla walking through the scene. It’s a phenomenon that’s been replicated in other settings too. When looking closely at lung scans for signs of cancer, most radiologists didn’t see a superimposed picture of a gorilla until it was pointed out to them.
In these studies, Simons and Chabris were exploring Selective Attention Theory, the idea that our attention is a limited resource, so we tend to selectively tune out details that don’t seem important.
Understanding the limitations of attention might be the first step in using it effectively - that’s something I think a lot about both personally (can I actually multi-task?) and within the context of White Rhino’s marketing services.
It’s also worth examining as a trend line at an industry or societal level. Collectively, what are we paying attention to? And - more importantly - what are the gorillas we’re missing?
The truth is, there are a lot of balls flying through the air right now and we’re all trying like crazy to count the passes.
It feels like technology, the internet, and the world is expanding rapidly - quite the change for our caveman brains that only started traveling more than a few miles per hour in the early 1800s.
If Simons and Chabris are right, at least half of us are going to miss a lot. And that’s okay. In fact, most of us are destined to use the tools and information around us, rather than create new ones.
But there is a type of person who’s uniquely positioned to see the things most of us don’t and create the tools and information that the rest of us will use. At White Rhino, we’ve started calling these innovators Humble Mavericks. Here’s what makes a maverick:
- They’re risk-takers who know rules are written in pencil, not pen.
- The first thing that allows them to see what others don’t is an appetite for complexity. They don’t mind when things are messy and ambiguous, and love making sense of it all.
- The second thing is a high-level of self-awareness. They don’t think they’ll ever see everything and surround themselves with people who fill in their gaps.
- Collaboration is core to their way of working.
- They’ve developed autonomy, respect, and resources in their field.
- They’ve learned translatable, proven innovation skills. They aren’t one-hit wonders.
Humble Mavericks don’t have a blind disregard for how things have been done and don’t think they’re above the rules. They’re just genuinely interested in why things have been done in a certain way and crave improvement to processes, industries, and products - while weighing people and profit equally.
Most importantly, being a Humble Maverick isn’t a binary category, it’s a spectrum, and can be a learned skill. More than anything else, Humble Mavericks at any career stage love learning from other Humble Mavericks.
At White Rhino, we’ve been able to partner with lots of these innovators over the years and find ourselves wanting to work with even more of them. We’re constantly evolving to learn about the Humble Maverick way of thinking and doing, and find our best work is often done with them.
As Humble Mavericks go, we see White Rhino and our specialist partners as force multipliers. Together, we’re exploring new ways to fill gaps and bring more innovative thinking to the world. Stay tuned!
