Unnecessary Obstacles
You will create unnecessary obstacles, just be aware of them and when you ought to get them out of the way.
I’ve mentioned it once or twice before, but one of my favourite books of all time is Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal.
There’s a lot to cover, and I could write another 50 articles inspired by her, but today I want to talk about unnecessary obstacles.
In Reality is Broken, she shares a perfect definition of what a game is, from Bernard Suits:
Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.
This definition is so perfect because it applies to every game or sport you can imagine. Ping pong is fun because of the obstacles: you can only use a small bat, the ball is especially bouncy, there’s a net and two halves of the table, you’re playing against someone equally motivated to win. It wouldn’t be fun if you were just throwing a ball at a table.
But I think it equally applies to starting up a business.
This is especially felt by social entrepreneurs, who by their very nature have opted in to an additional obstacle by committing to make their business socially responsible.
Most entrepreneurs don’t even realise this. It seems so true to them that they would do things the way they see the world.
If your values dictate that you are environmentally responsible then you probably can’t imagine running a business which has values of any other kind.
But it isn’t essential, it is an obstacle you’re adding.
You might not see it this way, you might think it has to be done that way, but just look at the way your competitors are — there is another way.
The definition of a business is “an organisation or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional activities”.
(My apologies for doing two “the definition of” bits in one post, I feel like a terrible lecturer.)
Anything you add to that is an unnecessary obstacle. Even if you don’t think you have a choice.
Right now, starting a business that is anything but environmentally or socially responsible might sound abhorrent, but it is an added obstacle to your success.
That said, the unnecessary obstacle might just be the thing that defines you.
The Right Thing To Do
This isn’t an article about morals, and the right or wrong way to do things.
This is about surviving in business to achieve the maximum amount of impact.
I used to have a sign up in the coworking space at ICE with three little words on it: “Make it Easy”.
It was inspired by two things: firstly I was listening to a lot of We Are Scientists back then, and secondly (and probably more pertinent to this piece) it was to remind me to keep things simple.
There’s an elegance to simple that gets lost when it is done well. It’s a cliché in sports, but equally in music, art, architecture, so many fields. When things are done simply, they look effortless, they look like anyone could do it.
Doing the trick shot, or the complicated routine looks impressive, but in sport as in life it often all counts just the same as lumping it in or a scrappy goal-line tap-in.
The simpler you can make your life, and the way you run your business, the more directly you can act. It can also make it — potentially — less risky.
The Make it Easy poster was to remind me to not over-complicate. Like the lesson about avoiding long words to try to act like you’re smarter than you are, we often get caught in a trap of trying to make something more sophisticated than it needs to be.
Whether it was how we explained what we did, how we communicated with the world, how we enabled people to engage with us, or just how I went about my day-to-day.
If your social mission is important to you, then you need to make sure the business succeeds. That might not mean that you do everything perfectly every time, but that you keep going. Keeping things simple is a big part of that.
The Cost of Doing Business
But don’t ignore the fact that sometimes unnecessary obstacles might just define you.
The extra time, effort, investment, and upskilling required to run your business with the unnecessary obstacle in the mix might make it more difficult, but that added cost can be the differentiator.
It can be what sets you apart when your customer or target audience is looking for companies that are willing to take on the bigger challenges.
Take a company like TOMS. By committing to its original policy of “buy one, give one” it was creating a lot of work for itself.
But it was such a simple obstacle to communicate (even shorter than “buy one, give one” was BOGO) that people understood it in a heartbeat and it made them the go-to supplier of lightweight espadrilles.
Similarly there are companies like Innocent Drinks, who launched with a mission to create “natural, delicious drinks that do good for the planet”. They committed to creating smoothies entirely from fresh fruit, and fresh fruit only. No concentrates, no preservatives.
This obstacle meant their product would be more expensive, and potentially have a shorter shelf life, which would be two things that would make them less competitive in the market — but they succeeded.
These two companies are examples (and there are many others) of those which have identified and committed to an unnecessary obstacle which has led to their initial success.
If your obstacle resonates with others that think it is an important obstacle to tackle, then you can build a loyal following.
If you’re in a competitive market, and you know who your target customer is — without sounding too cynical — you can commit to your unnecessary obstacle knowing that it is worth the sacrifice and extra manoeuvring required to make it succeed.
The Rest of the TOMS Story
Back to Toms.
Their mission was so simple that it was a no-brainer. Why would this not make sense, you buy a pair of shoes and then someone in need gets a pair. You feel good buying them, you feel good wearing them and showing everyone how thoughtful you are, and you feel good going to bed at night knowing that some poor and needy person has been saved by your generosity.
Only it didn’t quite work out like that.
The TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie summed it up about as well as it can be summed up when he said “giving is hard”.
TOMS were criticised for damaging sustainable footwear industries in nations that had unstable economies, they hadn’t identified who the beneficiaries should be, and they hadn’t even assessed whether giving them a pair of espadrilles would really help.
This unnecessary obstacle became a big, big problem, and in 2019 they almost went bust, after trying to give away more than 95 million pairs of shoes since launching.
Nowadays, TOMS doesn’t do buy one, give one. Instead they pledge 30% of profits to grassroots organisations doing good, not half as catchy or memetic.
You might also note that Innocent Drinks has since been bought out by Coca Cola.
Leaping the Hurdle
TOMS is a household name because it made the obstacle front and centre of its identity. Its commitment to this obstacle almost destroyed it, but was also the source of all of its success.
Identify your obstacle, decide whether you accept it and recognise when you need to move it out of the way in the name of long-term survival and lasting impact.
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