How to Foster 'Workable Wondering' to Harness Consumer Insights

The following article is excerpted from Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers, by Gerald Zaltman and Lindsay Zaltman. It is reprinted here with permission of Harvard Business Press.

In our work, we have come to refer to the process of thinking deeply as "workable wondering." Workable wondering involves the use of empirical, rigorous, and relevant information, also called "workable knowledge," to challenge our assumptions and to engage in disciplined imagination.¹

It means more than collecting information. It means thinking deeply about the consumer insights that we have surfaced. It requires reading between the lines and detecting what else is present, well beyond what we already know.²

Some executives evaluate their staffs in terms of this ability. One told us, "It is not just the sense they make out of the information they have, it is how they add value by going beyond what they've got. That is what I look for. Do they dare to imagine?" Another executive said, "It is not what is in front of you that provides real competitive advantage. Competitors may have that, too. It is what you think that no else thinks to think, even when they have the same information."

Regarding their experiences in generating deep insights, every executive underscored the importance of contemplating that which is missing. An executive explained, "The 'Aha!' is in spotting the missing connection between the dots. It's there but no one else sees it until you point it out."

That is what happened when IBM brought out its first personal computer, and when Toyota introduced its Prius amid the craze for sports utility vehicles. Until those introductions, no one imagined a market.

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