While a very important part of the Principles of Applied Stupidity concerns overcoming the dark elements of fear and shame regarding “looking stupid,” in terms of percentages, that is actually a very small part.
Most of the Principles of Applied Stupidity are actually concerned with basic, if somewhat unorthodox, people skills.
They can be used whether you are the leader or the led, the manager or the managed, or in individual endeavors. Since the principles depart from, or are even diametrically opposed to, the standard “smart” way of doing things and/or the conventional wisdom, I didn’t know what else to call them . . . except, Principles of Applied Stupidity.
Just to give you a quick example, let’s consider the wonderful advantages of making mistakes.
I realize that your viscera may have just recoiled at the preceding statement, as you were no doubt taught throughout your school experience that mistakes were universally bad things. But consider the following little story:
One night I was having a drink with a guy at my health club. This fellow happened to own a car dealership. Having had one too many, he told me a very interesting little story. He said whenever a new customer came in and bought a new car from him, after the deal was concluded, he would wait two weeks, at which time he would call this new customer and say, “I’m so sorry, I’m calling to tell you we made a terrible mistake. We overcharged you on your final invoice by $27.50, and of course we’ll be mailing a check for that amount today. Thank you again for your business.”
Being rather young and naïve at the time, I could not understand this at all. Mistakes are bad enough, but… to admit to making a mistake? Heresy. Blasphemy. And to admit to mistake that you had not actually made?? I just didn’t get it.
To this he calmly replied, “by sending them that check for that tiny little amount, I made these people think that I was the most honest car salesman on the planet. They became a lifetime return customers because they believed I was trustworthy.”
Wow… how many people think of car dealers as honest and trustworthy? But this guy achieved that effect… by claiming to do something wrong. The art and science of making mistakes on purpose is very much a part of the overall science of the principles of applied stupidity. But even that is just a small part of the overall.
Another quick example: I was always taught in school that authority figures, like teachers and the principal, were all superior and infallible. And so when I became a manager I felt that it was expected of me to become superior and infallible in all ways. But consistently, the most successful and effective conductors I played for did the exact opposite. By feigning incompetence, they inspired superior effort on the part of the team. Granted, the really really competent ones did well too, but they were always second-best.
Those are just two quick examples of how the principles of applied stupidity can be applied in virtually any cooperative or individual endeavor. I realize it may sound strange at first, but this stuff really does work. I sincerely hope you’ll consider giving an opportunity to explain them in greater detail to the members of your organization.
© Justin Locke
“I run across so-called ‘marketing experts’ who spend months of time and millions of dollars producing slick television commercials that nobody remembers. So why is it that “stupid people” can make a homemade video and put it onto YouTube for free and get a million hits? The well-paid smarty-pants trumped by the unschooled? What the heck is going on here? Justin Locke knows about the enormous power of stupidity. He’ll open your eyes to a new way of thinking, and he does it in an engaging style with tons of examples. I love 'Principles of Applied Stupidity'.”
— David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR (now published in 24 languages)
