The ‘Invisible Gorilla’ explains man’s frailty

The secret behind this is what Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Daniel Kahneman (1934-2024) says in his 2011 book Thinking, Fast and Slow. He claimed: “We’re blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We’re not designed to know how little we know.”

Kahneman’s thesis was preceded by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, famous for their 1999 The Invisible Gorilla Experiment. It proves how people who concentrate on one thing can easily overlook, if not ignore, another equally important opportunity.

YouTube has several versions of the experiment that demonstrate the same effect. A typical demonstration includes several students passing a basketball among themselves. The viewers are asked to count the number of times the players in white shirts pass the ball.

If you concentrate on counting, you will tend to miss a person in a gorilla suit walking and beating his chest inside where the action is. This phenomenon is known as inattentional blindness.

Paul Bloom, writing for The New York Times, says in “What We Miss” (2010) that this experiment “is a striking demonstration of the zero-sum nature of attention. When you direct your mental spotlight to the basketball passes, it leaves the rest of the world in darkness.”

Even when looking straight at the gorilla, you’ll frequently not see it, because it’s not what you’re looking for. In some experiments, it’s not about the gorilla, but the changing color of the background curtain.

The Invisible Gorilla Experiment explains the frailty of human nature. We concentrate more on what we have on our desk (or plate) and hope to get it over with flying colors with our respective bosses, at least as a form of wishful thinking. So, we tend to unwittingly ignore other opportunities if only for us to keep our eyes on our next work assignment or daily bread.

Gorillas everywhere

Let’s say your company is raking in cash. It becomes nothing if everyone’s obsessing over revenue without noticing the costs leaking out the back door. It’s done by some managers who scoff at lean thinking and kaizen practices. They’re too busy counting basketball passes (read: quarterly earnings) to notice the gorilla tap-dancing on their expense report.

Waste, inefficiency, missed opportunities – these are the metaphorical gorillas. They don’t even need a costume to go unnoticed. They’re invisible because we’re not trained to see them. And yet, we hear people asking you with a cliché: “Why sweat the small stuff?”

Well, because the small stuff adds up. And unless you’re working for the banking industry, losing coins isn’t part of your business model. This means looking at the amount of waste they produce that adversely affects their revenue. That’s the reason why a $300 billion company like Toyota treats a misplaced bolt today as a safety risk or a costly delay tomorrow, among other important things.

Treating small problems seriously reinforces a culture of attentiveness and discipline. When everyone acts and thinks like it, we can cure our blindness by proximity, not only in terms of saving money but in treating it as a safety and quality issue more than anything.

American political philosopher Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was right when he said: “Beware of little expenses. A small leak can sink a great ship.” At times, the cliché “why sweat the small stuff” has its value. If it’s not worth it, we’ll have to let it go. That’s assuming we know the value. But what if we don’t know what we’re missing?

What can we do?

The Invisible Gorilla Experiment mocks our self-confidence or whatever is left of it.

We all like to think we’re observant and aware, but not until we realize that the experiment exposes how easily we can miss even absurdly obvious things. It’s a bit like walking and bumping our head into a lamppost while texting.

In summary, take time to understand the whole situation. There are many things that we can do as long as we’ve an open mind. The fact that we live in both the visible and invisible worlds has many implications for our corporate life. That’s why we need to be reminded of the following practical solutions:

Zoom out of the comfort zone. Stop obsessing over the task on top of your work desk, even if they’re giving you a lot of money. Chances are, you’re missing a lot more than that.

Ask unpopular questions. Why are we doing it this way? What’s the real cost of this process? If no one rolls their eyes at your challenge, you’re not trying hard enough.

Assign a devil’s advocate. Make it an important role in the team. Rotate the role. Give everyone the chance to challenge the bad system and its logic.

Embrace the details. The devil is everywhere. So is profit, efficiency and that promotion, if not the much-needed revenue you’re eyeing.

Don’t let your brain’s spotlight turn you into the star of your blind spot. The gorilla isn’t the problem – it’s what it represents: the obvious thing everyone’s ignoring. So, the next time you’re laser-focused on a report, a target, or a deadline, pause. Look elsewhere. There just might be a gorilla in the room – and, unlike in the video, this one might be holding your bigger profit.

Rey Elbo is a quality and productivity enthusiast. Got a wonderful business story? Send it to [email protected] or DM him on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, or through reyelbo.com. Anonymity guaranteed – even if your idea does not involve an invisible gorilla.