Ignorance can be bliss

Much of what we learn, we stumble across. Often, it is not the result of a conscious intent or an explicit question, but comes from simply noticing something and acting on it. 

For example, a year ago, when we were talking to people about the possibility of participating in the beta-test, we noticed that one of them winced when we mentioned his title (he was a CEO). It was slight and fleeting - something he embodied, not something he said - but we noticed it. So we decided that when we started, we would avoid titles in the introduction. In fact, not just titles, but all mention of the company, industry or sector people worked in. We might have done this anyway, but that little piece of noticing convinced us. 

This turns out to have been extremely fruitful. It has allowed people to get to know each other for who they are not what they do. They describe it as a release, they don’t feel constrained or confined by their occupation or role. It also short circuits some of the inhibitions people might otherwise have (“She’s an Ambassador, oh cripes…”) and makes status games less likely. By the time people find out what others do, they have already formed a human connection, so the relationships aren’t coloured it in the same way. 

Nor do they always discover what others do, which can sometimes it can be funny. In one exercise a participant spoke at length about olive groves, soil and microbes. The others were a bit bemused, wondering why he had chosen that metaphor. What they didn’t know, was that he was being very literal. With his brother, he runs Two Fields Zakros a producer of organic olive oil.  

This is a pattern in Yellow - what works is often down to what isn’t there, not what is. 

And it turns out that sometimes ignorance, can indeed be bliss.