Business Fads and Their Value

By now most of us are aware of business fads, especially in training and management. An idea or method becomes a fad within a particular social group when many in the group adopt it for a time, and then let it go. Fads usually grow rapidly in popularity, and they're often identified as fads only after their popularity peaks.

The term fad is usually a term of disdain. Once we identify a fad, we tend to dismiss it. But for ideas and methods, faddishness doesn't necessarily imply absence of value because widespread adoption often indicates real intrinsic value.

Because dismissing something just because it's a fad could be a mistake, it's useful to understand the source of value for ideas and methods that become fads.

Fads are specific to groups

Widespread adoption within a group can give an idea or method the properties of a fad, even if it isn't adopted globally. For instance, Silly Bandz® are a fad among the young, but many adults don't even know what Silly Bandz are.

We each belong to numerous groups — our own organizations, our industries, cultures, demographic slices, and more. All are capable of fad behavior.

Widespread adoption can degrade value

If the idea or method confers advantage on adopters, early adopters benefit, but once it achieves fad status, advantages can vanish. For instance, mirroring is a communication technique that helps users build rapport with others. But when the user's communication partner recognizes the use of mirroring, a feeling of being manipulated can result.

Early rejecters of a fad can gain advantage, just as early adopters can, if they're among the first to curtail investment when the fad no longer provides advantages.

Widespread rejection can restore value

Once an idea or Early adopters of a fad benefit,
but once the fad achieves fad
status, advantages can vanishmethod achieves fad status, its use can wane, and people sometimes forget it. Thereafter, new members of the group might never have learned about the fad. If the value of the fad declined as a result of widespread use, its value can then return.

Fads that have been passé long enough can confer significant advantages on early re-adopters.

If you adopt a fad unknowingly, you might wrongly conclude that it's useless

Those who adopt an idea or method near its peak of popularity or later might wrongly conclude that it has little value. If the value to adopters arises from being among the minority who use it, and users are the majority, their experience will suggest that it has little value, when in fact, the idea or method might actually be very valuable when users are a minority.

Before adopting an idea method, determine the source of its value. Is value inherent, or is value determined by what others do?

Next time we'll consider some of the less-often-appreciated costs of business fads.  Next in this series  Top    Next Issue

Is your organization embroiled in Change? Are you managing a change effort that faces rampant cynicism, passive non-cooperation, or maybe even outright revolt? Read 101 Tips for Managing Change to learn how to survive, how to plan and how to execute change efforts to inspire real, passionate support. Order Now!

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:

Coincidences Do Happen

When we notice similarities between events, or possible patterns of events, we often attribute meaning to them beyond what we can prove. Sometimes we guess right, and sometimes not. How can we improve our guesses?

Illusory Incentives

Although the theory of incentives at work is changing rapidly, its goal generally remains helping employers obtain more output at lower cost. Here are some neglected effects that tend to limit the chances of achieving that goal.

Indicators of Lock-In: I

In group decision-making, lock-in occurs when the group persists in adhering to its chosen course even though superior alternatives exist. Lock-in can be disastrous for problem-solving organizations. What are some common indicators of lock-in?

Speak for Influence

Among the factors that determine the influence of contributions in meetings are the content of the contribution and how it fits into the conversation. Most of the time, we focus too much on content and not enough on fit.

The Myth of Difficult People

Many books and Web sites offer advice for dealing with difficult people. There are indeed some difficult people, but are they as numerous as these books and Web sites would have us believe? I think not.

See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming December 18: The Trap of Beautiful Language

As we assess the validity of others' statements, we risk making a characteristically human error — we confuse the beauty of their language with the reliability of its meaning. We're easily thrown off by alliteration, anaphora, epistrophe, and chiasmus. Available here and by RSS on December 18.

And on December 25: Disjoint Awareness

In collaborations, awareness of how our own work might interfere with the work of others is essential. Unless our awareness of others' work — and their awareness of ours — matches reality, the collaboration's objective is at risk. Available here and by RSS on December 25.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenmhXARWRMUvVyOdHlner@ChacxgDmtwOKrxnripPCoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Public seminars

The Power Affect: How We Express Our Personal Power

Many people who possess real organizational power have a characteristic demeanor. It's the way they project their presence. I call this the power affect. Some people — call them power pretenders — adopt the power affect well before they attain significant organizational power. Unfortunately for their colleagues, and for their organizations, power pretenders can attain organizational power out of proportion to their merit or abilities. Understanding the power affect is therefore important for anyone who aims to attain power, or anyone who works with power pretenders. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.