Monday, March 19, 2007

Things Aren't Always as They Appear

“Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see” is an adage that was drummed into to me growing up. When I saw Forest Gump in 1995, I knew that I couldn’t believe the half of what I saw anymore without discerning if it were really true because of the ability to alter images via a computer.

In spite of experiencing the truth of this expression repeatedly, our human nature is to believe what we hear and see. In the 1930’s, people believed Hitler’s claims to desire peace because that is what they wanted to believe. Present day dictators issue similar statements desiring peace and have people believe them because that is what people hope will happen. Time will tell if it is true or not.

Contrary to what we hear and see, the truth is often times different. Appearances can be deceptive. Two examples illustrate this point.

First, several years ago I spoke at a Bankers conference. Each speaker was given a pen, which I immediately filed into my desk drawer because it didn’t appear special. Toward Christmas, I thought about giving it to a customer as a gift. One day while shopping at an office supply store, I observed the pen under a glass display case. I inquired about its cost believing it to be a few dollars. To my surprise, the Mont Blanc ballpoint cost more than $ 100. Needless to say, I began using the pen and affirmed the lesson about appearances.

Second, on a trip to Nassau in the Bahamas, we took a city tour. While approaching one of the two hilltop forts, which were built to protect the island in the 18th century, I thought that their appearance was odd, but familiar. The guide mentioned that the forts were designed to look like a ship. Since pirates normally attacked at night, the island’s defenders would hang lights in the fort, which made it appear like a vessel at night. The pirates would attack, and as they approached what appeared like a ship, they would crash on the island’s reefs. Then the defenders would storm out of the fort and defeat the pirates. Their deception worked so well that the forts never experienced an actual attack.

Businesses use deceptive appearances to their competitive advantage in many ways. Facades are created similar to the sets on a western movie. On the outside, everything looks substantial. But, behind each door is a vast emptiness. In other words, they are a mile wide and an inch deep.

Weak companies spend fortunes to appear strong in an effort to compete and survive or attract a buyer. To the unsuspecting buyer, they look like their competitors. Often times, the buyer doesn’t realize the difference until the company closes or is acquired by another business.

We need look no further than at our neighborhood electronics store for examples. An entire area of the store displays new generation televisions that look alike to us, which makes us focus on who has the lowest price. Because of the recent influx of new manufacturers, experience tells us that sooner rather than later many of the providers will be gone. The low price that we experienced during our purchase may be of little value if we need warranty repair and the company providing the warranty is no longer in business to honor it.

During the early part of the 20th century, there were more than 600 manufacturers of automobiles in the United States. While most of us don’t remember Hudson, Studebaker, Tucker or Stanley, they were among those companies.

Our hearts wish to believe what we see now, which is what many in the world want to convince us. In reality, we should trust our experience, which tells us that if wishes were horses, we would all be riders.

© 2007 Richard V. Battle