Revolution Factory | Empowering Agents of Change

Empowering Agents of Change

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Dark Nudges

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*Have you ever seen a sale online for a product, decided to click on that product, and when you got to the checkout page, the price seemed to change with no reason why it was different from when you first saw it advertised? 

*Have you recently been told to accept except the default cookies of a website, but when you try to change the preferences, it is unclear what to do?

*Have you ever looked something up on Google and then ads for relative content that keeps following you around the internet, including into your Facebook feed. 

These are three examples of dark nudges. Dark nudges are a subset of digital nudges. They are instances that incite to incite action by a user using technological design elements and/or data that may deceive, coerce, confuse or manipulate the user. Nudges create minor changes to an environment (digital or otherwise) as a way to guide individuals towards a predefined choice usually defined by whoever designed the nudge (Thaler & Sunstein, 2009). In their original concept, Nudges were meant to maintain freedom of choice or “libertarian paternalism.” However, as nudges have moved online, the concept of libertarian paternalism has become nothing more than a false promise from those who nudge individuals. Sunstein (2015) argues that there is no way to maintain the freedom of choice because the nature of digital environments, such as your Instagram feed or your shopping experience on Amazon, is inherently designed to guide your choices.

What makes dark nudges so dangerous is that 1) you might not see them (may use big data), and 2) nudges are designed to overload the critical thinking system of your brain to trigger an automated response. This is usually done by combining common digital nudges with ones that may manipulate, confuse, or coercive an individual to make a decision that may not be in their best interest.

Why am I telling you this?

I have been spending much of my time as a researcher focused on digital nudges and dark nudges. However, there is much that we do not know yet regarding the long-term cognitive effects that they may have on us.

What can you do about it?

Recently, Consumer Reports has begun collecting tips from users so that they can start to advocate for individuals’ digital rights. If you come across a sketchy design pattern or dark nudge, report it: Darkpatternstipline.org.

The trap of satisfaction

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I recently heard an exec say to his team, “The products good enough to go to market, and we need to get it to market.”

In times like these, satisfaction is a trap

There are times when people will create a product or service that doesn’t solve a problem. Yet, they are satisfied enough with the product and will push it into the market anyway.

There are times when people will pass something off as “innovative” or “new” when really they just copied it from someone else to give the perception of innovation.

Satisfaction is a trap we all fall into one time or another. If Edison had been satisfied, then he would not have spent day in and day out on his hands and knees changing out filament after filament until he was able to bring his vision to life.

For me, the biggest hurdle is the lack of commitment to something bigger than ourselves. It is up to us to want something different and be willing to explore it; to not be satisfied with what we have; to push our stakeholders (and our shareholders) to not create an environment of hyperbolic discounting, but to create space for a more substantial reward. One that everyone can say, “I was a part of this.” One where people are truly satisfied.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

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It is effortless to come into a conversation and feel like you need to have all the answers. It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a startup, part of a team in a larger organization, or even talking to your partner. Part of our roles, and I would argue that it is also our responsibility to know what we don’t know.

Seek to Understand: It is not the answers that will drive the decision-making. What drives decision-making is having the foresight to ask the right questions at the right time. That is why seeking to understand what we don’t know is so vital in order to obtain the correct information or knowledge to more forward.

Know That No One Really Knows: Many times, we answer a question with only a minimal amount of information or just through the assumptions we have. The thing is, we are not alone. Many folks do this each day and many times a day. Consider ways to mitigate that. Whether it is testing those assumptions or realizing collectively that the future isn’t here yet and that a unified path forward is really your starting point, be honest with what you don’t know and create a critical way to identifying what it is that you need to know.

Can we help you with anything? Feel free to contact us. We are happy to help.

The Paths We Create

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Ja-Nae in Copenhagen

Stepping around the remainder of snow and ice, I came across old railroad tracks. They were hidden from my normal path yet these tracks had been there for years. I decided to follow what remained of the tracks and found myself on an amazing jaunt through woods I had never been before. I realized a few things:

💡The paths we create don’t have to be new. There is a time to explore new frontiers; to do something different, but then there are times to walk down a path that was forged by our ancestors and served them well. Though old, though different than before, those ghosts have a lot to teach us.

💡We abandon paths too quickly without seeing what they have to offer. I could have very easily looked at those tracks and headed back down my normal route. Instead, I committed to seeing where this new path would take me.

💡We never create paths alone. We walk several paths that are interwoven by our footsteps through time. Some are walked with others for a long leg of the journey, while other parts bring new hands to hold along the way. And some are meant solely for us. But however we walk, this is our creation. These are our decisions, our triumphs, our failures, and our frontiers to explore. I look forward to creating this next leg of the path with you.

How To Make Change During This Uncertain Time

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On March 11, The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) declared the novel coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic. Every nation and every individual will be affected by this global health crisis. Whether it is being personally infected by the virus, having a friend or family member infected, or suffering from the social and economic fallout, we are literally all in this together. 

Scientists are still learning about the virus and governments and healthcare workers are struggling to fight it. But we must all do our part. There are three broad areas in which we can all play a vital role:

Social Isolation: 

All of us must embrace social distancing, but it’s really physical distancing that we’re engaged in. We must stay socially connected to fend off isolation and depression, both in ourselves and in fellow members of our community.  

Mutual Aid:

Many of our community members are going to find themselves in need of food, medicine, and other basic supplies while staying healthy and safe at home. By forming and joining local mutual aid groups, we can coordinate a full spectrum of volunteer activities. 

Neighborhood Pod: 

It’s not enough to help the people we know need the help. We must proactively reach out to our most vulnerable members so that they can communicate their needs to us. This is best facilitated through a structured neighborhood pod. 

Now is the time to come together as both a global community and a local community.

Learn how to activate your community by visiting the Revolution Factory’s  Activate Network!

Lessons From Other Companies Navigating Uncertainty

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We are navigating uncertainty. This is not the first time that Boston has been on lockdown. The eery part is not knowing what is coming next or when things will pass. I had that same feeling during the 2008 recession. I was an opera singer whose gigs (and the companies I was working with at the time) vanished like a puff of smoke. Since then, my team at Revolution Factory and I have been working with executives to figure out not only A) what is next, but instead B) create the future that you want and a system to support it. Here are three lessons from those clients:

  1. Most companies have not built up their resilience: We live in a small connected world where disruptions will continue to become more frequent. CEO, executives, and managers who have scenarios planned for different futures find that they are less surprised when disruptions or black swan events hit because they have already begun to operationalize for it. The problem is, many executives actually do not know how to properly scenario plan for the future and create an operational strategy to support them. There are a select few that realize that weakness and do seek help before the company suffers.
  2. Those companies who are focused get it done: When companies bring me in, many of them suffer from FOMO. They are also chasing the next shiny thing as a silver bullet and not focused on their long-term core business and the product cycles that accompany them. That is why we see so much “incremental innovation.” Companies like to tinker with their core product but not in a way that creates sustainable value for the product and the core customer it serves. However, those companies whom we work with on a long-term plan to support the life-cycle of their core products while they work on the future core business are the ones who get it done and do not waste resources.
  3. Companies who play the short-term game die: After we ride this out, we will see many companies disappear. Why? Because they are only focused on the interim and instead of how our current environment can support their long-term growth. The companies we work have understood the value of long-term planning so that they can garner traction even during turbulent times.

What has your company done in the past? How are you handling this now? Join the conversation or reach out to me if your company needs help navigating uncertainty.