Understanding the Job — Transcript

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1. 0:10Hi, my name is Klay Christensen and I'm
2. 0:12a professor at the Harvard Business
3. 0:14[Music]
4. 0:19School. I brought with me a set of
5. 0:22puzzles all related to innovation.
6. 0:30We decided that the way we teach
7. 0:31marketing is at the core of what makes
8. 0:35motivation difficult to achieve. The
9. 0:38most helpful way we've thought of it so
10. 0:40far is that we actually hire products to
11. 0:43do things for us. And understanding what
12. 0:48job we have to do in our lives for which
13. 0:50we would hire a product is really the
14. 0:53key to cracking this problem of
15. 0:55motivating customers to buy what we're
16. 0:58offering. So I wanted just to tell you a
17. 1:01story about a project we did for one of
18. 1:03the big fast food
19. 1:05restaurants. They were trying to goose
20. 1:07up the sales of their milkshakes. They
21. 1:09had just studied this problem up the
22. 1:11gazoo. They brought in customers who fit
23. 1:13the profile of the quintessential
24. 1:15milkshake consumer and they'd give them
25. 1:18samples and ask, "Could you tell us how
26. 1:20we can improve our milkshake so you'd
27. 1:21buy more of them? Do you want it
28. 1:23chocolatier, cheaper, chunkier,
29. 1:25chewier?" They get very clear feedback.
30. 1:28They would then improve the milkshake on
31. 1:30those dimensions and it had no impact on
32. 1:32sales or profits whatsoever.
33. 1:35So one of our colleagues went in with a
34. 1:37different question on his mind and that
35. 1:39was I wonder what job arises in people's
36. 1:43lives that caused them to come to this
37. 1:45restaurant to hire a
38. 1:47milkshake. So we stood in a restaurant
39. 1:50for 18 hours one day and just took very
40. 1:53careful data. What time did they buy
41. 1:55these milkshakes? What were they
42. 1:56wearing? Were they alone? Did they buy
43. 1:59other food with it? Did they eat it in
44. 2:01the restaurant or drive off with it? It
45. 2:03turned out that nearly half of the
46. 2:05milkshakes were sold before 8:00 in the
47. 2:07morning. The people who bought them were
48. 2:10always alone. It was the only thing they
49. 2:12bought and they all got in the car and
50. 2:14drove off with it. So to figure out what
51. 2:17job they were trying to hire it to do,
52. 2:19we came back the next day and stood
53. 2:21outside the restaurant so we could
54. 2:23confront these folks as they left
55. 2:25milkshake in hand. and in language that
56. 2:27they could understand. We essentially
57. 2:29asked, "Excuse me, please, but I got to
58. 2:32sort this puzzle out. What job were you
59. 2:34trying to do for yourself that caused
60. 2:36you to come here and hire that
61. 2:38milkshake?" And they'd struggle to
62. 2:40answer. So, we'd then help them by
63. 2:41asking other questions like, "Well,
64. 2:44think about the last time you were in
65. 2:46the same situation needing to get the
66. 2:48same job done, but you didn't come here
67. 2:50to hire a milkshake. What did you hire?"
68. 2:53And then as we put all of their answers
69. 2:55together, it became clear that they all
70. 2:57had the same job to do in the morning.
71. 3:00And that is they had a long and boring
72. 3:02drive to work. And they just needed
73. 3:05something to do while they drove to keep
74. 3:07the commute interesting. One hand had to
75. 3:09be on the wheel, but somebody had given
76. 3:11them another hand. And there wasn't
77. 3:12anything in it. And they just needed
78. 3:14something to do while they
79. 3:16drove. They weren't hungry yet, but they
80. 3:19knew they'd be hungry by 10:00. So, they
81. 3:21also wanted something that would just
82. 3:23down there and stay for that morning.
83. 3:26Good question. What do I hire when I do
84. 3:28this job? You know, I've never framed
85. 3:29the question that way before, but last
86. 3:32Friday, I hired a banana to do the job.
87. 3:35Take my word for it. Never hire bananas.
88. 3:37They're gone in 3 minutes. You're hungry
89. 3:39by
90. 3:407:30. If you promise not to tell my
91. 3:43wife, I probably hire donuts twice a
92. 3:45week. But they don't do it well either.
93. 3:47They're gone fast. They crumb all over
94. 3:49my clothes. to get my fingers gooey.
95. 3:52Sometimes I hire bagels, but as you
96. 3:54know, they're so dry and tasteless. Then
97. 3:56I have to steer the car with my knees
98. 3:58while I'm putting jam on them, and then
99. 4:00if the phone rings, we got a
100. 4:02crisis. I remember I hired a Snickers
101. 4:04bar once, but ah, I felt so guilty. I've
102. 4:07never hired Snickers again.
103. 4:10Let me tell you, when I come here and
104. 4:11hire this milkshake, it is so viscous
105. 4:15that it easily takes me 20 minutes to
106. 4:18suck it up that thin little straw. Who
107. 4:20cares what the ingredients are? I don't.
108. 4:23All I know is I'm full all morning and
109. 4:25it fits right here in my cup holder.
110. 4:27Well, it turns out that the milkshake
111. 4:29does the job better than any of the
112. 4:31compet competitors, which in the
113. 4:34customer's minds are not Burger King
114. 4:36milkshakes, but it's bananas, donuts,
115. 4:39bagels, Snickers bars, coffee, and so
116. 4:41on. But I hope you can see how if you
117. 4:44understand the job, how to improve the
118. 4:47product becomes just obvious.