What is the essence of Insight Dojo?

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It is the art of insight development for change. What drives people to change is a big topic, and needs to be addressed separately. In this blog, I will write about the practice of insight development as an art, and why it matters.

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Picasso's Bull has been in the news in the last two months after The New York Times carried an article on how Apple uses it to teach design. Interestingly, the birth of Insight Dojo was inspired by the same work of art early last year. The actual idea of the company had been building up slowly over a decade. Yet, revisiting Picasso’s abstraction gave me the epiphany that insight development is an art - my art, and that realisation compelled me to create Insight Dojo.

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The stark simplicity and beauty of the final drawing is striking. Even a child can draw it. But, it is Picasso’s process that triggered the moment of clarity. He arrived at it by drawing a bull in intricate detail, and working progressively through eleven lithographs. Developing inspiring insights requires a similar process - deep immersion in the fine details of a situation, experiencing the world that you are attempting to understand, and then working through many iterations, combining business judgment, analysis, intuition, creativity, and knowledge in a disciplined manner. Only then can one predictably arrive at the essence of something that is elusive, simple and yet powerful in its ability to motivate action. One might argue that the scientific method is not different – and that is perhaps true. The distinction between creative processes in art and science is highly exaggerated especially when one considers how Albert Einstein while emphasising the importance of intuition in discovery described it as - “a sympathetic understanding of experience” (Source: 1918 speech). Yet, a certain degree of subjectivity, the complete investment of oneself in the practice of a technique, and the somewhat intangible nature of powerful insights make it feel more like an art.     

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It is not easy to follow such an approach. One can get lost in the details finding every little facet of the problem interesting without being able to abstract up. Then there are the “big-picture”, top-down problem solvers who get deceived by the simplicity of the finished form, and believe they can arrive at meaningful insights without the necessary mastery.

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I recall an innovation study in an OTC (over-the-counter) medicine category conducted last year covering two countries. The team was reaching a consensus that the primary determinant of the medicines prescribed by doctors was patient preference for particular treatments rather than their actual symptoms. This seemed plausible especially since there was very little variation in the effectiveness of the products. But, as we revisited all the qualitative research footage repeatedly, honing our attention to details such as specific words used, body language and tone, another picture began to emerge. In one country, physicians felt a genuine empathy with the pain of the patients, and their primary goal was to reduce risk for the patients. In the other country, due to structural differences, doctors had a slightly adversarial relationship with patients, and were fearful of action that the patients might take against them. Their strategy was to reduce risk for themselves. Such a fundamental insight explains many behavioural differences, e.g., under-prescribing vs. over-prescribing medication, and changes the manner in which you might engage with the two groups of stakeholders. Yet, an approach that lacks mastery would not reveal it. 

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Let’s take the example of segmentation, a common customer insights application. A great segmentation is robust, tells a clear story about different groups, enables differentiated actions, and is easy to implement. I remember our team presenting a segmentation solution in only a few pages to the leadership of a technology company, and that work went on to form the basis of their brand strategy and innovation roadmap. As in Picasso’s Bull, the elegant simplicity of the end result hides all the intense iterative and experimental work that happens behind the scenes.  This, unfortunately, often makes people without experience believe that developing segmentation is easy. They follow simplistic approaches to create solutions that can be made to look pretty, but lack substance to motivate effective action.

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Interestingly though, you do not have to be an expert to tell the difference. Insights developed in a masterful manner carry a certain force that inspires the audience, especially if they are the end-users of the insight. 

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Picasso had said, “There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterwards, you can remove all traces of reality. There’s no danger then, anyway, because the idea of the object would have left an indelible mark.” (Source: Picasso on Art, Dore Ashton)

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The art of insight development requires focus, practice, patience and love. Also, you need to have true conviction in the power of differentiated insights in giving you a real performance advantage.

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The reward of practising this art is a deeply fulfilling experience in terms of enjoyment of the process, deepening mastery, and creating positive impact.