Just Like Madonna, You're Less Unique Than You Think

I was an undergraduate when Madonna became a pop culture phenomenon. Her music videos were all over MTV, and her style — crucifixes, rosaries, fishnet stockings, the whole nine yards — was instantly iconic. I remember a CNN story where they asked a young girl at a Madonna concert why she loved the singer. Surrounded by tens of thousands of girls dressed exactly like her, this girl, nearly hyperventilating, shouted, "Because she encourages us to be individuals!"

That's what I think of when I see businesses today — law firms, retail stores, nonprofits — they all look, sound, and act pretty much like their competitors. We all want to be distinctive, but the truth is, very few of us ever break the mold. Why? Because we're trapped in a web of industry norms.

These unwritten rules dictate how we operate, what we value, and even how we think. Even though we're competing with each other, we attend the same conferences, read the same books, hire the same consultants. As the kids say, we're all smoking the same dope. Industry norms like this are powerful things. They provide stability and predictability, which is great for society as a whole, but can be a death knell for innovation or distinctiveness. These norms whisper in our ears, "We don't do things that way," keeping us from coloring too far outside the lines.

Take law firms, for example. Most clients hate hourly billing. Lawyers themselves recognize the inherent flaw — it doesn't account for experience or expertise. An hour of a seasoned lawyer's time is far more valuable than an hour of a junior associate's, but the billing structure doesn't reflect that. But despite this, virtually every law firm in the US bills by the hour. Why? Because that's how it's always been done. The pressure to conform is just too strong.

I once worked with one of the big five office furniture companies. Each of the five companies had product development teams, yet every company's products looked remarkably similar. Sure, there were minor variations, but the desks and chairs and bookshelves all looked largely the same. They might have told me it was because that's what customers wanted, but I don't buy it. Customers are counting on you to be original, to push the boundaries, not just give them a slightly different version of the same old thing.

Henry Ford (and I hate quoting an avowed anti-Semite, but here we are) famously said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." This gets at a crucial point: customers don't know what they truly want. They're stuck in the same frame of thinking as everyone else. It's up to you to break free from that frame and create something truly new.

The first step is to identify the industry norms that are holding you back. What are the unspoken assumptions, the "we've always done it this way" practices that are stifling innovation in your industry? This is harder than it sounds. These norms are often so deeply ingrained that we don't even recognize them. But try asking your team questions like “What are the things that everyone in your industry does?” and “What are the beliefs that everyone seems to share, even if they're not explicitly stated?” Once you start to identify the industry norms, you can start to challenge them and do something original.