There’s a kind of Matrix effect going on. There’s a bunch of people living in a world that doesn’t exist, and they don’t understand why things don’t add-up, constantly taken by surprise and dismayed at bad outcomes.

If you think the world is one way, and it actually turns out that it’s another, things are likely to go very badly for you.

My neighbours keep some chickens. The chickens aren’t pets, but the chickens don’t know that. Every day the they feed the chickens and the chickens think it’s great. And then occasionally a chicken is feeding them, and that’s not so great for the chicken. To those chickens it seems very much like the world is one way, and it turns out badly.

I come hear people bemoaning how bad business is, and yet I know others in precisely the same industry who are thriving. What’s going on?

The winners are playing a new game, and those who haven’t figured it out are living in an outdated reality, a chopping block they can’t see waiting just round the corner.

The world has changed. No matter what the marketing guys put on the package, there are no unique products anymore. There’s another person doing what you do just down the street. Great service is now minimum acceptable kind of service, and a 5 star rating is a hygiene factor. The product and service economy is an old game. Sure, someone will come out and throw some seeds out for you, but you’re basically just waiting around waiting for the chopping block.

The winners are already playing a new game. The experience economy. How do you make your customers feel? Can you zig-zag? Are you remarkable?

Or are you a chicken?