The
false consensus effect, also known as
consensus bias, is a pervasive cognitive bias that causes people to assume that their personal qualities, characteristics, beliefs, and actions are relatively widespread through the general population. Among other things it means that if I believe that one notion is "good", and another one is "bad", I am convinced they my children, my neighbors, my colleagues, and you see them the same way. It biases the team members' perception on their products. On the first hand, they look at them from the same points of view for years. On the other hand, it's hard for them to admit that their customers see their goods and services differently. That's why some strategic workshops are so fruitless.
The only way to overcome this bias is to go round the "counter" and walk in a customer's shoes. Of course, there are many ways to do it, from formal market research to so-called customer development. But whatever way you choose, it is crucial for business leaders to keep their ability to look at their products and their companies from "another side of the counter".
Svyatoslav Biryulin
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