What is the Gorilla in Your Business?

A colleague recently shared a lesson from his time as part of a senior leadership team. He was working across a supply chain within a vertically integrated business comprising raw material , primary and secondary manufacturing, and distribution.  The demanding brief was to reduce inventory by 50%.

As he finished updating the Managing Director, he received an unexpected suggestion. Read a research paper about a gorilla.

The connection to inventory might seem unlikely. The lesson was about where he was directing his attention.

In a 2013 study, researchers asked 24 experienced radiologists to examine chest CT scans for lung nodules. In the final case, they inserted an image of a gorilla approximately 48 times larger than the average nodule. Twenty radiologists missed it. Most of those who missed it had looked directly at its location.

This is inattentional blindness: when attention is concentrated on a particular task, something unexpected can escape notice, even when it is plainly visible. Expertise does not make us immune.

For my colleague, the study prompted a reassessment. He had been concentrating on what he believed were the actionable causes of high inventory. That focus had obscured other, unexpected root causes.

There is a useful question here for business leaders: how confidently have we defined the problem before we start solving it?

Consider a business struggling with excess inventory. The immediate response might be tighter purchasing controls. But what if unreliable planning data or conflicting performance measures are driving purchasing decisions? Similarly, a team missing deadlines may need clearer priorities and decision rights rather than another productivity target.

These are possibilities to investigate. The risk is that a familiar explanation determines which evidence we examine, and which questions we never ask.

An independent external perspective can help broaden that examination. Someone outside the daily operating rhythm can question established assumptions, follow an issue across functional boundaries and ask why an accepted workaround exists.

That perspective is most valuable when combined with the knowledge of people inside the business. External advisers also have blind spots; their contribution comes from testing explanations, listening carefully and bringing different experience to the discussion.

Before your next improvement initiative, pause to ask:

• What have we assumed is causing this problem?
• What evidence would challenge that explanation?
• Who could help us examine it from a different perspective?

At Stoke Consulting, we work alongside business leaders to investigate underlying causes, challenge assumptions and turn findings into practical improvements.

If the same problems keep returning despite sustained effort, talk to us about taking a fresh look. There may be a gorilla you haven’t yet noticed.

To find out more contact Stoke Consulting today.