Blog post 19 Invent

INSIGHT 15 | BEHAVIOUR MATTERS

Habits die hard, they say.

Especially those hard-wired into our DNA.

If someone watched how you behave around your idea, what would they see?

Progress, or patterns repeating themselves?

in¹⁵  | Behaviour Matters

Habits die hard… Observation tells a story 

Observational comedy can often be brutal yet it’s that sometimes slightly harsh insight that resonates with the audience and brings the reward of laughter, feeding that all important energy back to the stage.

The process of writing and delivering comedy isn’t much different to designing a product or writing this book. Firstly, it’s important to get all the inspiration out of your head, captured on paper. Then take a step back, search for loose threads, things that don’t quite align, to bring some order to the narrative. Finally, you close the gaps, build the bigger picture, and pitch to the world.

There’s many a comic genius, a collective genii of wit. A few of my favourites transcend into film, illustrating the power of observation, each from their own very unique perspectives.

Eddy Murphy is shout out loud, exaggerating persona in caricatures of real life and amplified in the characters he portrayed.

Be it exploring social prejudice as Billy Ray Valentine in Trading Places (1983) or creating multiple personas as Axel Foley going undercover in Beverley Hills Cop (1984). The 80’s the era of my youth.

Ricky Gervais offers a dry, sharp and cruel critique of human ego, hypocrisy and behavioural discomfort, laid bare for all to see in The Invention of Lying (2009)

Peter Kay reflects situational, observational warmth, grounded in everyday life (I swear he must have grown up in our house). As such he is best suited to TV sitcoms and live shows, and in my view, the most likely to observe a quirk of human behaviour that will lead to a genuine product innovation.

All are masters of observing human behaviour and projecting that in relatable terms, exactly what is required to develop user centric products that connect both functionally and emotionally.

Behaviour reveals unmet needs better than words, often starkly contrasting what people claim, with how they act.

Tom Cruise as Chief John Anderton in Minority Report (2002) was a standout sci-fi film ahead of its time. The notion that someone could be arrested for something they were about to do, is tantamount to your own almost subliminal observations, that first sparked your product idea.

Note to self, when observing behaviour be aware that what people say is irrelevant, it’s what they’re about to do that really matters.