The 10% Rule

I heard somewhere that (as a rule) people can only accept about a 10% change in the way they do anything that they do habitually. What I mean by that is that if people use a particular device to accomplish a goal, don't replace that device with something radically different and expect everyone to accept and embrace that new technology, no matter how much better it might be. Acceptance is such a difficult thing to achieve for the "new" that we must surround our solutions with the comfortable and familiar for our ideas and creations to take hold in the minds of others. Here are a couple of examples that I think illustrate the 10% rule.

The iconic Ipod. For years, people have listened to music on portable music players from radios, to tape players to CD players and finally to music players with hard drives. What changed here was the way people received the content. Apple did two things beautifully. They created a simple on-line store that people with virtually no computer literacy could access and buy music that they liked. The second was they made it cheap. Every song was a dollar. To the average person, what's a dollar? I'll give it a try. It was a small change to move from CDs to disc drives, but what a huge difference it ended up making to popular culture and technology.

Hybrid cars. I can drive a car. I pretty much know what a car is. Now tell me I have to run my car on something other than gasoline, like Ethanol 85, or natural gas, or electricity or hydrogen. All of these technologies require a massive rethinking of our current infrastructure and also will cause the consumer that purchases any of these products to make some pretty large changes in their routines to account for the refilling of their cars. The net result of any of these technologies will be a very slow adoption rate and the most likely result will ultimately be failure. However, a hybrid car requires no lifestyle change whatsoever, does not require me to understand it, and saves me money. Bingo. A very small change (at least to me and my own life. I am sure from a technological viewpoint, the change is probably much closer to 50-60%) with an obvious tangible reward (better gas mileage) and some less tangible rewards, like preserving the environment. That is a winning combination.

As we look to solving problems in third world countries, we start with the simplest of circ**stances , and we have to build on what is there. Most of the needs seem to be infrastructure related. This is based on a few factors. Lack of funds. Lack of expert knowledge and ultimately a lack of stable governments. If we could identify a few areas of reasonable stability within Africa, perhaps we could move on to the other two components.

The next one to tackle would be specific expertise. I think this is probably the easiest one to solve. We have the largest and wealthiest generation in the history of mankind (obviously, I am speaking of the baby boomers here) that are just hitting their 60's. I am sure that some are very excited about the prospect of getting in some well-deserved R&R. However, I think a large percentage of them are, more than anything, looking for meaning in their lives. These people also have means. I would wager that a huge number of them would pay for their own transport, lodging etc., to have the opportunity to give back. Not only would they have the opportunity to do something truly meaningful with their lives, they could also teach and train an entire generation what they spent an entire lifetime themselves learning and perfecting. Plumbers, electricians, engineers, mechanics, nurses, doctors, farmers. You name it, we have some of the best of all of them, probably in the world. And the people would love it. Spend some time in a foreign land with some spectacular scenery, and nourish your soul in the process.


And how do you get people to sign up? How do you sell it? Get an ornery older woman in a pair of khaki trousers and hiking boots and here is her line, "Old Folks Homes... F*** 'em. (might have to bleep that part, which would be kind of funny actually) "I'm going to Africa. Meet you there."

Then you have an an older man come on and say something like "Golf is for wussies. I'm going someplace WILLLD!"

Old people (well, a lot of older people) have incredible patience and they can't wait to show people they they still have value. What better way to show it than to teach others your own lifelong talent. We can call them Teaching vacations or Instructional Sightseeing. I think it could be a hit. Bill Gates can be the spokesperson, although I doubt he could teach anyone in Africa anything terribly useful.

That leaves us with our last problem. Cash. The bane of existence. Well, guess what? With all these 60-somethings running off to Africa (or other places that need help of course. Haiti comes to mind) people back in the states are going to start hearing about these problems from people they actually know, and that have actually been there. Its one thing to see it on TV. Its another thing to get hit in the face with the abject need these people have, live and in person, or to hear about it from someone who has been there. As I stated before, the baby-boomers are the wealthiest generation in the history of this planet. They aren't all wealthy but the types of people that I think would be most interested in these types of programs are the people that did pretty well in their own lives and are now looking for a way to give back. The money might be right in the pockets of those who are most interested in finding a good place to put it. It seems like an elegant solution. Perhaps a bit naive and simple, but most good ideas are pretty simple.

That's a lot more than I intended to write about. Hopefully, it wasn't too long-winded or lame. I, however, enjoyed it immensely.

Ciao,
The Dan