Tonight's hot tub talk included groans about Kool-Aid drinkers (yeah, we know how to party). You know, the people who are so compelled with blind allegiance to the company they work for, or some brand, that they refuse to see any of its problems.
The worst that I've ever encountered, believe it or not, were not Apple fanboy customers, but Microsoft employees. These are people who wouldn't use anything if an alternative from Redmond were available. To be fair, they're becoming increasingly rare, but when you meet one, you can see why the company spent so much time stumbling around in the dark, and still does in some areas.
This is a completely toxic scenario for any company. It's almost like a bizarro variation on being arrogant. It's impossible to see the most obvious problems when they're right in front of you. What's worse, you get so wrapped up in the company that you're oblivious to what your competition, the market and your customers are up to. Get too many like-minded Kool-Aid drinkers working on the same thing, and disaster is inevitable.
You see it among consumers, too. The Apple nerds are among the worst, sure, but look at the people who align themselves with a particular American car brand, especially in the last decade when all they made was crap.
Just as being self-aware can make you a better person, being aware of what your business does poorly, dispensing with the denial, can have a huge impact on your ability to be successful. I just don't understand why that's not obvious.
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