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MIND TRAP: Following Fads and Fashion

Guest post by: Steve Major

Article Overview: Steve Major discusses the first out of a series of five mind traps that can kill smart decisions - following fads and fashions. He examines the issue of following fashions, business and personal. Sometimes we mindlessly copy what others are doing - we adopt without analysis.

MIND TRAP: Following Fads and Fashion

There are five mind traps that I feel we fall into in making decisions:

1. Following Fads and Fashion

2. When we don't question assumptions

3. Perspective

4. Heuristic Thinking

5. Ignoring the Evidence.

Now this doesn't matter whether it's the decision to launch a new product, to change an existing product or service, or whether it's some other decision that we are faced with in our business. Maybe it is a decision personal or career decision. There are traps that we can fall into that can kill smart decisions.

In this article I will examine the issue of following fashions. No matter whether it is business or personal we can fall into the trap of following fads and fashions. Sometimes we mindlessly copy what others are doing - we adopt without analysis.

I am sure that in a non-business context we've all bought an item of clothing because it's in fashion. We haven't necessarily thought through whether it's the best thing for us. The same applies to business. You see this with the likes of various management programs. They are mindlessly copied and imitated throughout businesses, but people haven't taken the step to do the analysis. You could say that it's inappropriate imitation. There are times when it is right to imitate, but there are times we need to analyse before we adopt.

Sometimes we don't even realise that is a fad either. However if we have heard an idea from other business colleague and then we think "yes that is a good idea" and implement it. We may have fallen into the trap of adopting without the analysis.

The following of fads and fashions can kill smart decisions. We need to be careful of this mind trap no matter what decision we are faced with. Make certain the fashion is for you.

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Article Tags: analysis, business decisions, examine, fads, fashion, making decisions, mind trap, smart decision
Referred by: http://www.dglong.com



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Re: Fashion - Nana, At you choice you may choose to research the fashion industry a bit more. There is obviously a Business side to it as well as a creative side to it. Find out all the types of roles that exist in the industry. Some that come to mind merchandiser, Window dresser, floor plan organizer (someone needs to determine the layout of a retail store to best sell the goods), fashion consultant (Yorkdale mall has fashion consultants that take you around and tell you what looks great on you - you also get a cut from the sales). This is what I've observed from the business side, you may know more. All these roles I've written about will help you grow as a business person and make the contacts in the industry...possible stepping stones. But further more you'll also notice that you need to develop some business acumen possibly tailored to the fashion industry. When I was at Ryerson I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur someday too. I knew I needed some basic business courses to get a foundation to build from. I was in a Tech/Business Major (I'm sure Fashion has something similar - Fashion/Business Major) and then started to create my own minor. Here are some of the courses I took: Marketing, Law, Entrepreneurial, Management, consulting.. and a few more . Also, I'm sure that within the Fashion Major there are also courses you have to take where you can use your creative side and create designs. Typically within a Major there are focuses you can choose - ask the program coordinator. Your next step is to do some research. 1. Visit Commercial retail outlets like H&M, Banana Republic, or jacob. Tell the Manager your doing some research for University and would like to know what types of Corporate roles exist aside from the roles on the retail floor (like sales associates). If she asks you to elaborate then you can use some of the roles I mentioned above. 2. With this information in hand you can visit the Ryerson Fashion department and inquire with the Program Coordinator on what focus within the Fashion Degree would help you the most. In my program there were 5 different focuses within the Tech/Business program. Just a quick aside. A good friend of mine too has a dream of fashion. he want to create a niche fashion line tailored to skinny men (I can't mention the style). He's in Business school but not in the Fashion program... He's in International Business but all his Minor courses are tailored to running a successful business ... similar to the ones I mentioned above for myself. I have no doubt in my mind he'll make it 'cos his vision is that strong.
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