A Lesson from Art History – Be Fearless!

Back when I was in school I naturally gravitated toward logic and analytical thinking. But I now realize that I should have paid more attention to Art History. Greg Bowen of Dell kicked off IRCE as the opening keynote speaker, and he touched on his artistic background as a foundation for his success in business. He once operated an art gallery where he learned how to focus on what his patrons wanted. That experience in turn forged his views today on the relationship with the customer. It really is all about them! We marketers, ecommerce leaders, supply chain executives, etc. all too often look at our internal processes and what we want to do, instead of focusing on what the customer wants. It’s no wonder so many projects fail. However, Mr. Bowen had three simple but important guidelines that can help

• Start right
• Learn fast
• Be fearless

We all know we need to target the right things to get the results we want, but the last two points are much more difficult. Speed, velocity, quick, nimble – use whatever term you want, but in today’s landscape, if we want to play a meaningful role in the customer’s journey, we need to get going and not be afraid to fail fast. In my mind, being fearless is most important.

Organizations must embrace different ways of thinking and learning fast. I believe most executives know there are better approaches but it can be against their organizations’ norms. It’s only human nature to gravitate toward the norm. These rules are paramount for any organization in today’s digital world, especially when it comes to A/B testing and web optimization.

Maybe I should have paid more attention in my Art elective!

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