A Line Worth 9999 USD

The story happened in a plant. One day the gigantic generator of the plant suddenly stopped working. The engineers of the plant spent a lot of time and tried different ways to fix the problem, but all failed. So the plant manager had to hire an external expert to help resolve.

 As the story goes, the expert arrived at the plant. He rejected all assistance and asked only for a notebook, pencil and cot. Then he scribbled computations on the notepad for two straight days and nights. On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up the generator and drew a line with the chalk on the coil. He told the engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace windings from the field coil. The engineers followed his instructions and the generator restarted again.

 One engineer was so surprised about such an easy solution to fix the problem. He asked the expert how much the company would pay for the service, and the expert told him 10,000 US dollars.

 "That's a great amount", said the engineer, "if the company gives me 100, I will get the job done". Then the expert smiled at him and said "Yes, making a chalk mark on the generator is just 1 USD, but knowing what is the problem and where to make a mark costs 9999 USD".

Just "A Line"?

Some problems in our life are solved thru a seemingly easy way, but unfortunately, it differentiates between an expert and these engineers. What makes great value is not the solution - drawing a simple line and replacing the windings, but the ability to identify the real issue behind - know why and where to draw a line.

 The solution that looks simple is NOT simple at all.  

 People tend to appreciate a solution requesting complicated technology or unique skills or intensive efforts, or from the other side, people are more likely to look down on a simple solution even though it still can solve the problem, like the engineer in the story, in his eyes, it's a 100 USD job rather than the worth of 10,000 bucks.

 But what makes the engineer think that way? It is his cognitive limitation.

People comprehend a problem from the experience and knowledge that he possesses, so the limitation of knowledge and experience will barrier the views he/she can see.

For example. If you are the manager of a gas station. Your colleagues proposed the following two options for the price description that you would like to use in the leaflet. Which one would you choose and why?

Option 1: "5rmb per litre if you pay in cash, and 6rmb by card (due to card processing fee)"

Option 2: "Accept credit cards! 6rmb per litre. Discount for cash payment only 5rmb per litre!"

From the content, these two deliver the same information, and the only difference is the sequence of the card and cash payment description. While if you know about consumer psychology, obviously the second is better as it meets the loss aversion in consumer psychology. 

Our cognitive limitation sets the boundary of our thinking capability, which influences our perception about the problem and our solution to the problem. That's why "what I see may not is what you see".

The difference between an expert and an engineer is not just a line.

Make Yourself To Be Able To "Draw The Line"

Everyone has their cognitive limitation as what we know and experience are also limited. To be a better self, a more capable self, you need to continuously expand your cognitive area, to make yourself one day to be the person who's capable to draw the line. 

I experienced both the "expert" and "engineers" roles in my Business Resilience journey. I used to believe a good product/service would speak itself, so I paid less attention to the communication at the beginning in the hope that the good story would spread itself. It did, but not efficient enough as what modern media can do in increasing awareness. Fortunate I am that I have received valuable advice and supports from our communication/marketing team which expands my cognition in that field.

When someone comes up with a good solution that you never think of, or advise you some change that works better, congratulations - that's the opportunity that you could expand your cognitive area.

 1. Put down the big ego, and try to figure out the thinking journey that the person went thru. Ask how he/she comes up with the ideas, and dig out the logic behind them.

2. Examine self if it involves anything out of the cognitive field.

3. Study with purpose on the gap areas. Thanks to the modern world, there're various means of studying or learning others' experience in the field, e.g. online course, reading the relevant articles or books.

4. Intentional practice. Apply what you learn in daily work and life. One of the training I did on crisis communication, is to analyze others' crisis communication letters and find out what works well and what could be improved.

Keeping doing this, you would be one day distinguished as an expert in the field like the engineer in the story being able to draw the line.