Hundredth Monkey and The Paradigm Shift To The New.
Hundredth Monkey and The Paradigm Shift To The New.
In 1952 on an island called Koshima off the coast of Japan, scientists arrived to observe the habits of
macaque monkeys who were the sole inhabitants of this island. The monkeys were living in harmony, the
exclusive inhabitants of the island, on a diet of roots, berries, nuts and seeds. One day, one of the
monkeys (let’s call her Imo) was scurrying deep in the earth and happened on a sweet potato. Normally
the practice would be to eat it unwashed. Monkeys liked the taste, but found the dirt and sand unpalatable.
However this time, Imo washed the potato. Before long, her family had included the practice of washing
the sweet potato as part of their daily routine. After a few months, the whole island population of monkeys
was scurrying beneath the earth, searching for sweet potatoes and washing them before eating. This is
where it gets interesting.
A sister island quite some kilometres away was also inhabited solely by monkeys. They too started
incorporating washed sweet potatoes in their diet. Now how did this happen? Monkeys didn’t swim to the
first island and see what their neighbours were up to. Nor did birds land and inform the monkeys of this
sensational new addition to their diet. So what’s the answer?
Some scientists seem to think that it was caused by morphic resonance, conveying a collective, instinctive
and pooled memory; each animal (or individual) both draws upon and contributes to the collective
memory of the species.
In other words, when enough members of a population incorporate a pattern of thinking or behaviour into
their lives, then suddenly there is a quantum leap in consciousness and those habits are inbred into the
system, so to speak.
If you equate this observation to the human population, there is cause to believe that society is moving to a
higher level of consciousness, awareness and sophistication. Consumers are saying “no” to being
constantly sold to by advertising agencies. Consumers are saying “no” to being lied to – witness the rise of
price comparison sites, price aggregators like Groupon and the enactment of the Sarbannes Oxley Act
which forces companies to tell the truth on their balance sheet. Consumers are saying no to big
government and to big business, preferring to buy locally where they know the provenance of the product
or they insist on organic, craft type products when they buy online – witness the meteoric rise of shopping
sites like etsy.
The rise of vlogs, podcasts, email, digital diaries, personal video recorders, SMS and the digital
convergence of telecoms and media are providing a powerful voice for consumers to say this is what we
want, or not. The balance of power is shifting inexorably towards the end user. Companies and their
agencies have to recognise this paradigm shift that is taking place and move with it, or be superseded by
more self-actualised brands and communication channels. Witness the rise of social media influencers like
Chiara Ferragni whose 13m Instagram followers trust her fashion forecasts –or if you want real clout, then
how about Katy Perry who has a total following of 219 million, 55 million of which come from
Instagram.
The times they are a changing. Witness the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and the demise of entrenched
leadership across the world, the pointing of fingers, or mice at bankers, companies or even nations who
don’t tell the truth or who don’t act responsibly in the real interests of their citizens or investors. On the
one hand you have the extreme of Trump and ‘fake news’ and on the other, the global millennials,
Generation X’ers and baby boomers voting with their money for a different way that is more truthful,
meaningful and honest. The age of authenticity is among us and we would do well to listen to its message
of believability, truth and honesty as it appeals to the greater good. We’re at the threshold of the collapse
of the ‘Old’ and the embracing of the ‘New’. What’s yours called?
Communication of the brand, given the fragmentation of media has to reside at the centre of customer
interaction, which means your staff need to communicate your brand and act as brand ambassadors - not
just by paying lip service, but by truly enrolling in the vision ‘thing’ and expressing its values through
their everyday contact with the customer. It’s not about the money anymore; sure it’s important and will
always be so, but more than this, people want something to believe in and trust, and if they don’t believe
in you, why should they believe in your brand?