Management Perspectives

 It feels like people around the world have been through a lot in the last few years. A global pandemic, political unrest, international conflict and an energy crisis have dominated the headlines in the media, and it has made consumers and businesses alike face up to how bleak the future might be.

Bleak times can cause people to become reflective and to wonder what it is, exactly, that they are longing for. The answer is simple: Bright, blue skies.

The truth is, customers do not want to listen to their supplier grumbling about their problems. Steve Jobs put it perfectly: “Your customers don’t care about you. They don’t care about your product or service. They care about themselves, their dreams, their goals. Now, they will care much more if you help them reach their goals, and to do that, you must understand their goals, as well as their needs and deepest desires.”

When you are dining in a restaurant, you do not want to listen to the chef complaining that it is hard to find good staff.You are there  to enjoy good food and have a good time. Customers are mainly interested in their own challenges. A company’s job is to help the customer with those challenges and provide value – in the current social and financial environment, we need positivity and a positive impact for our businesses more than ever.

The ‘Top Gun Effect’

In the summer of 2022 our family went to watch Top Gun Maverick. The great thing about the film is the pure feel-good-vibe that the film exudes. From the moment you hear the soundtrack and see Tom Cruise in his leather jacket, you know the film will be great. The

film is set in a military context, yet no one dies and there are no bad guys. The story is totally predictable, the impossible mission is a success and of course Tom is the big hero.

The question is: are people really looking for this kind of feel-good story at present? The answer is emphatically:Yes! Top Gun Maverick was the best reviewed and highest grossing film of 2022. So why not add some ‘Top Gun Effect’ to your customer experience?

The ‘Top Gun Effect’ in practice

When it comes to improving the feel-good factor for your customers, the ‘Top Gun Effect’ is often found in small things.

The Magic Castle Hotel in Los Angeles is a very simple hotel. It is painted pink and has castle-like features, but the rooms are

nothing special and the pool is very small.Yet it is the tenth best-rated hotel in Los Angeles on Trip Advisor. Why? Most reviewers rate it highly because of ‘The Popsicle Hotline’, a red telephone by the pool that allows you to order free ice cream 24 hours a day.

Other examples are the initiatives of JetBlue’s CEO, who will try to relieve boredom for passengers in an airport by personally handing out drinks and donuts or even running a quiz to win free flights.

The ‘Top Gun Effect’ on social media: GAS

Why are TikTok and Snapchat so popular? Because they are more positive and entertaining than other social networks. Anyone who has ever seen kids playing with Snapchat filters or funny TikTok videos knows exactly what I mean.

The objective of creating videos is no longer about the number of views or likes, but about having fun while making the video. Fun and positive social media are on the rise. The new GAS social network, for instance, is enjoying tremendous growth.

The name GAS comes from the phrase ‘gassing someone up’ or ‘boosting their self- confidence’. The concept is very simple: the app invites teenagers to complement each other. The founder of GAS is Nikita Bier who is also the founder of a forerunner app with a similar mission, tbh or ‘to be honest’.

Facebook bought tbh in 2017 but did nothing with it and the concept died a quiet death. ‘The reason I built GAS was because I wanted to bring back what tbh did for so many kids five years ago, which was raise self-esteem and spread positivity,’ says Bier.

The science behind the ‘Top Gun Effect’

Tom Cruise’s character does not doubt for a second that he will succeed. He is confident in his abilities and instincts, and optimistic about his chances of success without being blind

to the dangers of the mission. This positivity ultimately proves to be a driver of his team’s success.

Believe it or not, this ‘Top Gun Effect’ is actually underpinned by science—the

science of optimism. Tom’s character says, ’In uncertain times, I always expect a positive outcome.’ He could have said, ‘If something can go wrong for me, it definitely will.’ Which outlook is closest to your company culture?

Researchers studying optimism have found that your outlook can have major

consequences for your well being. People who tend to be optimistic also tend to be healthier, feel mentally stronger and are often more successful than more pessimistic people.

Optimistic people expect positive things to happen in their lives. Optimism does not mean completely denying negative things or certain risks, but even if there are challenges and difficulties, optimists continue to believe that things will turn out well for them.

A recent Forbes study demonstrated that optimistic employees are 103 per cent more motivated to perform in their jobs. Optimistic employees not only make themselves feel better, they also create a better atmosphere and dynamic that improves the performance of entire teams. An optimistic leader conveys good vibes to their team and builds self- confidence; a pessimistic leader puts a damper on enthusiasm and confidence.

If you want to recruit customer-oriented employees, you could almost conclude that one characteristic is enough: is this person optimistic? Choose optimistic employees to add the ‘Top Gun Effect’ to your customer relationships; the job skills can be learned.

The risk of negative bias

So why is it so difficult for many organisations to stay committed to the ‘Top Gun Effect’? Many people suffer from what is known as the negativity bias.

On a basic level there are five basic human emotions: joy, sadness, envy, fear and anger. Four of the five emotions are negatively charged. No wonder we all complain so much.

The same phenomena happens in our relationships with customers. If 5 per cent of customers respond in a mean way to staff, statistically that is a very small group of

problem cases, but we give so much weight to this group that after a while that five percent can seem to be the average customer.

The danger of the negative bias is that after a while you start tailoring procedures for the five percent, which in a way punishes the 95 per cent. That is the most dangerous risk of being influenced by the negative bias.

Dr Jane McGonigal’s ‘urgent optimism’ concept is based on the hypothesis that if people feel an urgency to solve a problem and are optimistic about their ability to do so, they will succeed. Just when the pilots on Maverick’s team no longer believed in the mission, he used the ‘urgent optimism’ model. He showed it was possible to meet the sky-high demands of the mission, he relieved his team of mental blockage (mental flexibility) and allowed a realistic hope of success to emerge. The team then copied their leader’s behaviour, and this instilled the belief that they would succeed (Future Power).

Maybe you could be the Tom Cruise of your organisation’s customer experience strategy?