MedTech + Mindset Newsletter #005

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This week we talk about Priming and Being an Experiment of One.

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1. The Power of Priming

Insight from Natanya Wachtel-Jones

Let's do a little experiment. Answer these questions:

• What is the color of snow?
• What is the color of a wedding dress?
• What do cows drink?

To the last question...

Most people would answer: milk.

But that wouldn’t be correct. The right answer is water.

So, why were you so quick to respond? Thinking of ‘milk’ for the answer is a complicated process that was executed without your awareness to cause this response.

By answering white to the first two questions, your brain was searching for objects and concepts associated with the color white.

This process, where an idea causes other ideas to be triggered, is called associative activation.

On top of that, since you learned long ago that the word ‘milk’ is associated with the word ‘cow,’ your brain went into autopilot mode and answered quickly and automatically...

even if the answer wasn’t correct.

All these elements were linked either with their properties or their context. As a result, the response of ‘milk’ was coherent with the rest of the ideas.

This process is largely automatic and produces an effortless response.

As Daniel Kahneman points out in his book, “Thinking Fast and Slow”, our ideas are grouped into categories. Elements are organized with their properties. Causes are linked to their effects.

Can you see the pattern here?

In our opening questions, the response ‘white’ to the first two questions affected the response to the last question. This is priming.

The idea ‘white’ primed the idea milk.

But the priming didn't stop there. The primed ideas also--made you prime unconsciously--many related ideas such as animals and other white objects.

Priming is predominantly an automatic and unconscious process. It triggers emotions and actions.

How can we take advantage of it in our Medtech strategy?

Healthcare is often about bringing different people together – patients, providers, caregivers – to improve health. That involves an idea of collaboration.

If you want collaboration, prime warm emotions to create a sense of urgency and set an expiration date and time for the offer.

Other ways to incorporate the effects of priming: Adjust the background and the words you use on your presentation or website. Based on what images and words you use, users will pay more attention to those relevant or related features of your product or service.

If you prime the comfort that your solutions provide, customers will spend more time looking at those features and benefits. So to benefit from priming, pay special attention to the small details and make sure those messages aligned with your priming are the first to be displayed.

TL;DR

• A great deal of thinking happens without your awareness.
• The ideas and emotions that are produced during this process affect your subsequent perceptions and actions.
• Priming is when you are exposed to one subtle cue or idea that affects your subsequent ideas and actions and responses.
• In healthcare marketing, you can employ priming by incorporating backgrounds and words specifically chosen to elicit attention, emotions, and actions around collaboration, and then reinforcing it with messaging that shows how your product delivers on this promise.

2. An Experiment of One

Insight from Kevin Kermes

A few years back, I decided I wanted to run an Ultramarathon. 50 miles, to be exact.

I'd done my fair share of endurance "events" in the Army and a few after I got out...

but this was a BHAG (big, hairy audacious goal).

 While I learned a lot about the sport (and even more about myself) during the event, there were countless lessons and insights I gathered in the training leading up to the run...

and I wanted to share one of them today that I see constantly in both my clients and myself.

 The lead-up...

 The military taught me a lot of preparation. Two things that I leaned into a lot as I committed to this 50-mile race:

1) Train as you fight.

2) Learn from those who came before you

 "Train as you fight" meant always preparing for a run (whether it was 3 or 30 miles) like I, would on race day. Every. Single. Detail.

 One of the most impactful decisions was to NEVER run with music.

 Since the event was USATF (USA Track & Field) sanctioned event, personal listening devices were not allowed.

 "Train as you fight" means if it ain't happening race day, it ain't happening ever.

 The byproduct of that commitment meant countless hours at all times or day/night in various weather conditions...

 alone with my thoughts. Alone with me.

 And a funny thing happens when YOU have nowhere to hide from YOU.

 Couple that with pain and fatigue during long runs...

 and you start seeing through the stories you tell yourself VERY quickly.

 You are literally too tired to put up with your own B.S..

 Things get real, fast.

 It was the most beautiful, unintended gift that this experience gave me.

 And, while I haven't run an ultra since, it certainly was one of the many entry points leading me to do transformational work shoulder-to-shoulder with clients and colleagues.

 That's actually not the insight I felt called to share with you today though.

 The one I've been sitting with comes from #2:

 "Learn from those who came before you."

 Early on, I was introduced to a listserv run by Dartmouth which was dedicated to Ultramarathons.

 (I checked it this morning and it has since been archived)

 It was an amazing community of those in the sport sharing everything from training plans, recovery suggestions, equipment reviews, relationship advice and more.

 It was a community all about giving and supporting one another. Frankly, it was apropos of what I found the entire Ultra community to be for me: crazy supportive.

 And, almost every single post ended with the came caveat for the preceding "advice:"

 "I am an experiment of one."

 For me, it continues to serve as a constant reminder that other people's advice is based on their experiences...

 their experiments.

 In most cases, those posting presented what they did, their rationale behind their choices, and the outcomes (good, bad, and indifferent).

 No one was selling a "way" or a "path."

 Again, simply what they experienced and how they arrived there, with the intent of helping others...

 plus the reminder that they are "an experiment of one."

 It's a qualifier that reminds me of a few things:

• Own my decisions. I'm the primary one who gets to live with them.
• Seek no gurus.
• Insights over agreement - always.
• NO ONE is better qualified to BE me than ME.

There's a wide gap between BE-ing the person seeking someone to solve problems FOR us...

versus committing to BE-ing the person looking to solve the problem WITH someone else...

AND that person showing up to do the same.

I'm curious...what's coming up for you?

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