Customers Issue a TRIPLE DOG DARE!

Wow! (for folks who don't know that particular idiom, a triple-dog-dare is the dare that no human child is allowed to ignore without losing serious face in front of their peers... sadly, a lot of stupid things have been done under a triple dog dare challenge that no parent wants to know about.)

While the triple dog dares of our youth might have been stupid things to do, for any manufacturer or product supplier in the Truck Camper (TC) industry that does not take on this particular challenge as adults... well...(saying this more politely than is my first impulse) it would be "unwise."

Here is the dare to an industry by Truck Camper Magazine:

"...We are triple-dog daring the management teams at every truck camper manufacturer to go on at least one two-day, two-night truck camping adventure in one of their own truck campers."

Frankly, it amazes me that things have had to rise to the level of a Triple Dog Dare.

Update 8.06.19 Manufacturers are Responding to the dare! 3 so far:Lance Camper, Northern Lite, and Nu-Camp RV. We'll list details as we find out about them in the comments below.

Why is this "dare" even needed?

When any organization's sector of the economy is doing well, when cash-flow is great and coffers are full, we get lazy in our thinking. We get arrogant and lose our humble curiosity. So we slow down our learning. Our creative thinking reaction capacity atrophies. I wonder if this is going on in the RV world, where Unit Sales Volumes have grown nicely in recent years and are predicted by RVIA to continue growth due to at least two reasons: aging baby boomers hitting the retirement years, and wise millennials saying that recreation is a more important aspect of life than delaying gratification while working 60 hours a week for money.

When you interact with a very wide range of users in any industry, and use the product of that industry as your prime business enabler, as Angela and Gordon White do at Truck Camper Magazine, you will see problems and opportunities faster than the industry itself will.

Innovation Excellence and The Full-timer's Lifestyle

The White's write, edit and publish while travelling almost full time in their TC. Perfect for someone who makes their living in that sector of the economy. The innovative thinking evident at Truck Camper Magazine moved them (in my mind) from "fun reading" to "Innovation Excellence" for both their writing style, open-minded approach, and multilayered efforts to make a difference in the world. My e-mail interactions with them have strengthened that view.

As the COO and CEO of New & Improved, Sheila Delarm and I also travel in our TC, looking for great examples of innovation, developing materials, shooting simple videos, visiting our clients and attending conferences. Attendees at the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) often see our Truck Camper in the parking lot when they look out from the conference rooms and lodging at the conference.

Traveling and working from New & Improved Mobile One is "part of the deal" for Sheila and I with our business partners. We're able to travel this way and balance the responsibilities at our three businesses and volunteer work for about 5 months per year so far.

We can work from anywhere. When I need to go somewhere else to keynote a conference, facilitate a meeting, consult on innovation culture, or train a client group in innovation skills, Sheila will drop me off at an airport, and run her part of the business from where she is, picking me up when I return.

Many of our connections have seen us do quick "on the road and unrehearsed" videos about innovation examples that inspire us as we travel. No script, one-take-wonders filmed on our iPhones. While they are low on production effort, this is perfectly fine for our open-minded followers looking for concrete examples that feed their innovative brains. This win-win expectation allows the two of us to spend less time in perfect production, and more time learning and rapidly sharing. (click here or on the YouTube snip below to see some examples) Often the opening shot for a "stand-up" is in front of the New & Improved logo on the back of our 2015 Lance 825 TC. We look for the good stuff, not choosing to dwell on the negative. Maybe someday soon, we'll be doing a stand-up in front of the Manufacturers that create some impressive innovations as a result of what they learn from accepting TC Magazine Triple Dog Dare challenge! Maybe in our (only an idea so far) upcoming TV series in the genre shared by Treehouse Masters, Dog Whisperer and other "Road Shows" ...a natural extension of our business mission statement:

"We instigate world-class cultures of innovation - benefiting people, planet and profit."

As innovation professionals, Sheila, our partners and I cannot help noticing problems, opportunities and examples of innovation excellence everywhere we travel and in everything we do. Sometimes it's not a product, but a service, marketing strategy, business model or social policy solution. The TC industry and surrounding supply chain is no exception. We, and our partners at New & Improved, already have new products, customer service complaint solutions and potential IP bouncing in our brains related to the TC/RV world. We can't help it. It's what the human brain does when it cares about something.

The Human Brain Solves Problems

It is the human brain's nature to solve problems. Like a business or any other successful human organization must continuously do, the brain listens carefully to what its owner cares about, then sends an alert up through its "management chain" when a problem or opportunity arises. The more diversified the memories, experiences and competencies of that brain-trust, the more likely a workable solution will arise. The better the brain is at listening, the more likely it is to make the novel connection in the prefrontal cortex that we call a "creative thought." If that creative thought lands on a brain management team prepared to nurture, it has a chance of living as a creative thought long enough to be grown into a full-blown innovative solution. Ask anyone who has submitted their "TC Modification Idea" to Truck Camper Magazine, or shared a workable solution to a problem they had in a TC social media forum.

If those "TC Modifiers" were to pick apart their personal creative problem solving thought process, the pattern is there. Every brain owner (you) reading this is curious, and listening or you'd be doing something else at this moment. Many of you are making novel connections with thoughts, memories and experiences that are already stored in that body and mind of yours. It is a universal human capacity coded in our DNA. Just like walking, running and climbing. No one taught you to do those things, you figured it out yourself when you were ready to, and others were willing to let you. Now, you might walk, hike, run and climb far better because you've trained, had a coach, or learned from watching others who are great at it.

Sadly, some brain owners (and business owners) have habits of thought that are counterproductive and kill off creative ideas as quickly as they enter the brain. Those habits of thought are also natural, and they occur when we allow more primitive areas of our brain to be the boss, instead of using our full capabilities. At New & Improved, we call the unproductive pattern "Gator-brain thinking."

Managing our Gator-brain

This might be part of the reason Truck Camper Magazine had to go so far in their quest to enhance the creative thinking patterns of the TC/RV manufacturers.

Because creative thinking requires constant new learning, and humble curiosity speeds learning while arrogance slows it down, we must develop ourselves as humble learners and quiet the arrogance that our previous success breeds. Know-it-alls end up being left on the dust-heap of history. There are no perfect people, or perfect business leaders. Failure is not optional. Learning from it is.

I cannot think of a better source for Voice of the Customer (VOC) feedback system to an industry than what Angela, Gordon and their curation of our collective passions as a user-group have created. I love the learning they bring to me by sharing and honoring the creative thinking of their reader base. I know I'm listening and learning, but I wonder how many of the TC sector manufacturers whose family's well-being depends on success of their company are listening as well as they might.

An Invitation

Notice I said "Feedback System" not "Feedback Loop." If there were already a loop, there would be little need for a TRIPLE DOG DARE to an entire industry to prove they've used their own products and are humbly listening to their customers and industry observers. At different times, Gordon White and I have worked with the same manufacturing industries, and the smart innovation cultures we've seen all have amazingly sophisticated and effective feedback loops. This article is an invitation to us all to energize our innovative brains through that same level of constant feedback and learning that is represented by Gordon and Angela via their work at Truck Camper Magazine.

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Bob Eckert is a veteran of 37 years in "Team Building" and 25 years in the Creative Thinking and Innovation fields. A thoughtful, frank and engaging speaker known for thinking in the box, out of the box, under the box and around the box, he is the co-author of Demystifying Innovation Culture Efforts: 12 Strategies for Organizational Change Practitioners & Executive Leadership and More Lightning Less Thunder: How to Energize Innovation Teams.

Entrepreneurs by temperament, he and Sheila Delarm own two additional businesses that feed their passions and polymathic tendencies. Adirondack Vacation Base, which offers "glamping" experiences in their tree-house and lean-to, as well as their Tree Farm which supports a sustainable wood products and traditional maple syrup manufacturing business.