It has not been a productive week since I have been dealing with some health issues, unfortunately I still have so much work to take care of. While meeting with the doctor, I never stop consulting even if I am sick, I was giving him a few business and management tips, he has a lot of business interest outside of his medical practice. In return, hope to get a few tips about my health situation. I shared with him the 3Ps of business: The Peanut Effect, The Penis Theory and The Perfectionist Syndrome.
First is the Peanut Effect – One main reason why so many people play the lottery is that they place disproportionate weight on small probabilities, as specified by many generalized expected utility theories (you can ignore these economic explanation). People don’t realize the true cost of a lottery ticket as a “peanut” not realizing how costs add up over time. The same can be applied to buying snacks and other small expenditures.
What you can learn from is if you are marketing your product or services, you should find a way to emphasize some big benefits although possibilities for that to happen is small. The credit cards are doing a decent job of selling benefits (lost item protection etc.) that have very small chance of happening.
Second is the Penis Theory - Penis envy in Freudian psychoanalysis refers to the theorized reaction of a girl during her psychosexual development to the realization that she does not have a penis. Freud considered this realization a defining moment in the development of gender and sexual identity for women. In contemporary culture, the term is sometimes used metaphorically to refer to women who wish they had a penis. And you don't need one to succeed in business.
What you can learn from here is that too many marketers are spending too much time trying to be someone else. How often companies claimed they wanted to be Apple, Amazon, Google or Toyota (not anymore)? By spending too much time and resources trying to be someone else, it is more productive to understand who you really are. What’s your raison d'être?
Third is the Perfectionist Syndrome – I came across many high performers who are perfectionist, but not a true sense because when you look at their work, they are too afraid to make calculated mistakes. And as a result, they often reach a performance ceiling. Perfectionism muffles our ability to hear, listen and learn.
What you can lean from this is that perfectionism is impossible. We're all imperfect in some ways. The question is how to be strategically imperfect. Give yourself the permission to stop pursuing perfection. The best works I’ve seen are far from perfect; they are great platform for change, inspirations to create meaningful differentiation and roadmaps to help organizations to get to the future. These do not need to be perfect.
