Petri dish of willful ignorance

In 2015, Google employees were concerned about numerous issues related to Google Glass. They believed the product was too expensive, had flawed functionality, and were very worried about privacy issues. Sergey Brin, co-founder and CEO of Google at the time, ignored the concerns and information and continued to move forward with the launch plan. He believed that media exposure and product awareness would bring him the success he wanted. The product's failure was a significant blow to Google, marking one of the company's biggest product failures ever.

In 2016, Samsung rushed to release the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 without thorough testing of the battery. Despite known issues, Samsung chose to ignore potential safety risks. Ultimately, Samsung executed a recall of the product, resulting in significant financial losses and damage to its reputation.

The startup Quibi, a mobile streaming service provider, shut down after a short period despite a significant investment of $1.8 billion. Following the product launch, the company maintained its expensive pricing model, ignored user feedback about inconvenient video lengths, and had a limited content library. Its sudden closure within a year demonstrated the consequences of disregarding market data and user preferences.

...and there are so many more examples. Companies find themselves in moments of crisis, failure, and sometimes even dissolution simply because they failed to listen, understand, analyze, and think differently when the information or feedback was available and at their disposal.

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to be a fly on the wall. To be there in the meeting rooms, in sessions where someone said something, where a critical piece of information was thrown into the air, and there was someone present who didn’t pick up the baton, completely missed the opportunity that, in hindsight, turned out to be the lifeline that went unnoticed. One could think of many different forms of such meetings. Sometimes, someone might even explain afterward that there was a discussion, things were said, and simply the wrong decision was made. But sometimes, we have to admit the truth: these meetings are the ultimate stage for willful ignorance.

A quote from Ben Horowitz, managing partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which he co-founded in 2009, describes the role of a product manager as follows –

“A good product manager is the CEO of the product…Product managers must know the market, the product, the product line and the competition extremely well and operate from a strong basis of knowledge and confidence….”

When you consider all the fronts product managers are dealing with, the odds of them succeeding "big-time" are, by definition, not 100%. It's essentially the multiplication of the chances of succeeding in direct management or managing interfaces across a series of multiple fronts – [technological advancement] x [competitive analysis] x [user experience and product usability] x [market trends] x [customer feedback] x [regulatory and compliance issues] x [design] x [working with development teams] x [anything else...]. If their performance is at 90% on just two of these fronts, the overall quality of product management drops to 81%. (90% performance across three fronts drops to 72%, and across four fronts to 65%).

When product managers are dealing with so many fronts, it's no surprise that sometimes they choose willful ignorance—or, unfortunately, find themselves working with partners who, under pressure, make the same choice. Look, when it comes to good managers or good product managers, none of them want to be in a state of willful ignorance, nor do they actually intend to behave that way. If they could, they would act and choose to manage in the “right” and rational way. But the hourglass is always running, time pressure is constant, business demands are relentless, and the workload is endless. All these factors take their toll. Work overload, information overflow, and the need to make decisions under pressure and uncertainty sometimes create a perfect Petri dish for cultivating willful ignorance.

Do we have symptoms? Have you heard yourself or colleagues at work expressing any of the following statements?

* "I'm not really sure this is what users want, and I doubt we're taking it seriously enough."

* "I'm worried our product won't meet market expectations, but I haven't seen any action taken to address it."

* "I tried sharing some data that contradicts our current approach, but it seems like it wasn't considered."

* "I feel like I'm not getting enough information to make good decisions or focus on the right things."

* "I'm afraid I don't have enough influence on the product."

* "I raised concerns about the expected costs of the product, but it seems they aren't worried about it."

* "I'm not sure we're allowed to use this open-source license, but no one seems to be asking right now."

If you've heard statements like these or similar ones, a red flag should go up – a warning sign of willful ignorance. When I present these questions to my coachees or to an audience, people often start asking themselves whether they act this way, or if the work environment they operate in behaves like this. "Is it me, or is it them?"

Want to check? (Careful, there's a willful ignorance trap within the question itself). Try to critically assess your own behavior and honestly answer the following questions:

* Am I trying to avoid receiving information or feedback that might challenge my assumptions or decisions?

* Am I trying to justify decisions based on insufficient data or weak evidence?

* Am I withholding information from others because it "strategically or politically" works for me right now?

* Am I afraid to challenge the company’s assumptions, avoiding tough questions that could shake confidence?

* Am I avoiding conversations or discussions that could expose me to information that contradicts my opinion?

* Do I find myself acting according to a code of behavior that encourages conformity?

* Do I sometimes "skip" important information because I don’t have time to deal with it?

* Am I avoiding asking customers or users the tough questions?

* Do I prefer to avoid additional information to prevent making the situation more complicated?

* Am I afraid of being held accountable if I accidentally learn too much?

* Am I shielding myself from information to remain objective?

These questions can reveal whether willful ignorance might be influencing your decisions or environment.

A single "YES" answer here is enough to prompt a deeper inquiry into what's really going on. Challenge yourself to explore the reasons you might be avoiding information or data. As you can imagine, in personal coaching and guidance, I encounter obstacles or mindsets rooted in willful ignorance—behaviors like those outlined in the questions. The good news is that it's possible to create change both in self-perception and in the surrounding environment.