In a world where businesses are constantly looking for the next breakthrough, Scott Bateman, CEO of Kolmeo and a Harvard Business School alum, shared a thought-provoking message: it’s not just about solutions; it’s about asking the right questions.
During a recent talk at Elite Retreat, Mr Bateman captivated the audience with stories that ranged from cleaning bird droppings off the Lincoln Memorial to the meteoric rise of tech giant Nvidia. His big takeaway: the power of inquiry (and how it can change everything), is in your hands.
He kicked off the session with an unexpected problem: bird poop.
“This is the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was built to honour one of the most consequential presidents in American history, Abraham Lincoln. The problem is that it is being absolutely covered by birds,” Mr Bateman explained. But instead of focusing on obvious immediate fixes, he urged the audience to dig deeper.
By using the “Five Whys” method, he got down to the nitty gritty of why the birds were there to begin with:
Why are there so many birds?
- Birds are drawn to the Lincoln Memorial.
Why are they drawn to the Memorial?
- They come to eat the spiders.
Why are there so many spiders?
- The spiders are attracted to insects called midges.
Why are there so many midges?
- The midges swarm around the Memorial at dusk, attracted to the lights.
Why are the lights attracting midges?
- The lights create a breeding-friendly environment for the midges.
The solution: turn off the lights: “By simply turning the light off for one hour before sunset, everything else solves itself,” he said, illustrating how asking deeper questions leads to more effective solutions.
It was a lesson Bateman applied to the business world, where understanding the root of an issue can make or break a company.
One of the key stories Mr Bateman shared was about Nvidia, a company that had been quietly successful but then caught a “megatrend” in Bitcoin and AI, skyrocketing its growth.
“By 2024, that 40 cent share price had grown to $130 per share. A 310,000% increase in growth.”
What does this mean for your business? You need to recognise and capitalise on trends that can propel them forward. It’s not enough to just be good; you have to be aligned with powerful currents driving change.
Untapped opportunities
Mr Bateman also highlighted how competition can stifle growth if businesses are fighting over the same slice of the pie. Using the example of Scripps, an American media network, he showed how they found success in an unlikely area: background TV.
“They built an empire around what they call background TV.”
By focusing on shows people watch passively, while cooking, cleaning, or working, Scripps avoided direct competition with entertainment giants like Netflix and Disney.
The theme of finding untapped opportunities extended into his discussion of Disney’s growth from a single cartoon to a conglomerate of over 220 companies, noting how Disney continually expanded into adjacent markets, from theme parks to merchandise, and even leadership academies. For businesses, the lesson was clear: don’t just settle for one product, look for ways to grow and diversify.
While trends, competition, and investments are crucial, Mr Bateman made it clear that people and culture are the real heart of any business. In one of the most compelling parts of his talk, he recounted the story of the Shinkansen cleaning crew in Japan, once labelled as “losers” in society.
“Families pointed at the cleaners, looked at their children and said, ‘Do a good job, or you’ll end up like these losers.’”
But a new CEO transformed this group into the fastest and most efficient cleaning crew in the world and gave them a sense of purpose.
The cleaning crew became a symbol of excellence, demonstrating how focusing on people can lead to remarkable outcomes in any organisation.
In wrapping up, Mr Bateman encouraged businesses to ask smarter questions. “The power of the genius question is this: Every time you ask a question, there is data with you. In that data, your options and your solutions start to change.”
He also cautioned against blindly following data. “Be data-informed, not data-led.”
