I was lucky enough to receive ‘The art of fairness’ as a gift, which forced me to read a book which, to be honest, I don’t think would otherwise have been on my bookshelf.
Though the book itself was engaging and revelatory, full of interesting insights and surprising anecdotes, I must confess I don’t think I was convinced it ‘worked’. I was left with too many questions:
- Is this a self-help book? Or a set of mini-biographies? Or a guide for managers?
- How much of your life has to been spent behaving ‘decently’ for you to count as an example of a fair person?
- And what about other spheres of life, such as parenting, where it can be a challenge to maintain the right balance between being tough and being nice?
The ‘story’ I liked best was the one describing how Danny Boyle organised the 2012 London Olympics without all the usual strict enforcements around secrecy and other forms of control. Instead, emphasis was given to a very simple but highly effective reframing of the challenge. All the volunteers, as well as paid technicians and other supporting staff, were asked not to keep a secret, which ‘could feel malign, dangerous; abusers, for example, terrify their victims into believing they must keep a secret’; instead, it was all about ‘#SaveTheSurprise’. ‘A surprise is something you can feel ownership of; something that you get the pleasure of revealing later.’ And even the journalists bought into the idea, as they had come to believe it was their role to save the surprise along with everyone else. Really neat and highly effective.
I was trying to think of other examples of simple but impactful reframing. How about the below? But I am not convinced it’s quite as the same level as the Boyle one!
What about those ‘communities’ of highly committed and engaged customers you get around certain products? Monzo did very well on this front – who could resist the idea of being part of a community ‘where Monzo users come to help build the bank of the future’?
And perhaps Giff Gaff is an example of how to take this further – a network that is run without call centres and high street shops; and is instead powered by members, not customers, who get rewarded for doing their bit for other members, with lots of talk of ‘gifts’ and ‘goodybags’. Makes a change from special offers and unique deals.
