The contrarian

“Our landlord is asking us to move our business out of our current facility. We like being here near the center. It keeps us close to both our customers and our employees. We want to build a building suited to our specific needs, but land is very expensive and we will need quite a few square meters. Our idea is to buy a parcel well-located and get the floor space we need by building up – four floors in all. What is your opinion?”

If you want a reason not to do something, ask a few people and you’ll soon find someone who will surely give you the reason you are looking for. It works the same way when you are looking for support for an idea you have. Ask enough people for their opinion and eventually you’ll find someone who says, “Great idea! Go for it!”

Some people are considered wise for simply having a good grasp of conventional wisdom and sharing it with those who have questions. Conventional wisdom is that body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public and/or by experts in a field. It’s the generally accepted belief, opinion, judgment, or prediction about a particular matter.

At the Agathe Center we believe it’s important to share the conventional wisdom about matters such as the one our client, Georgi, asked us about. But we also see a lot of benefit in helping our clients consider the contrarian view – the minority viewpoint. Sometimes, it is more about what’s doable within the given parameters. Conventional wisdom might advise against it, but with good execution and grit, an idea like building a four-story factory building, though not ideal, can work.

We can’t be about delivering the opinion that people want to hear, but we certainly aim to be about helping our clients weigh their decisions in light of the conventional wisdom out there and contrarian positions that might be workable, even brilliant. Maybe that’s a bit contrarian in and of itself?

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