The Limits of Listening

Understanding the bouba/kiki effect.

Dr. Lawrence J. Stybel and Maryanne Peabody

KEY POINTS
  • Most new ideas fail because leaders assume stakeholders can verbally describe their needs.
  • The bouba/kiki effect was first described in 1929 and has implications for leadership.
  • The bouba/kiki effect explains failures at Amazon and Ford Motor Company.
  • There are ways to use the bouba/kiki effect as a leadership tool.

Ninety percent of new ventures fail (Patel, 2015). The top reason is that founders spend time and money producing products/services that are not wanted.

The easy explanation is entrepreneurial narrow-vision. The bouba/kiki effect suggests a more complex reason: Potential customers know what they want but they cannot articulate it. The dilemma is reflected in Henry Ford’s classic statement: “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said, ‘a faster horse.’”

The bouba/kiki effect has implications for all leaders.

Stakeholder Voice Is a Starting Point.

Ellen DiResta is the founder of Pearl Partners of Boston, Massachusetts. She works with clients to help them launch new ventures. DiResta argues that companies tend to overfocus on product features and underfocus on customer experiences. Voice of the customer research is one source of information. But it is only one source. DiResta states this caution applies to external and internal customers.

In 1929, Gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Kohler asked subjects to draw the sounds “kiki” and “bouba.” Most could not comply. This may be because participants were being asked to use their cerebral cortex. On the other hand, when presented with two visual images, most subjects could easily identify one figure as kiki and the other as bouba. This is because the visual sense was dominant. People can also easily differentiate kiki and bouba in taste and color (Shukla, 2016).

Asking stakeholders to verbally express their values is only starting point. Use the information to develop prototypes and not final products. Be willing to adapt your model based on stakeholder experiences.

An Example

A client of DiResta’s asked potential customers what they wanted in the equipment the client’s company was making. Customers were engaged in developing cell and gene therapy. Customers verbally stated they wanted equipment that would help simplify their work.

A prototype was introduced allowing customers to produce results with fewer steps. But after experiencing the product, participants were not delighted. As the procedures got easier, customer apprehension about missing important information increased.

In other words, the simple process they verbally articulated was not what they had wanted. This is the bouba/kiki paradox.

The Leader as Advocate

Leadership coach and board member John Ela sees examples of bouba/kiki “everywhere.” For him the classic example is Ford Motor Company’s Edsel:

“… a heavily researched concept car that failed in the market. It did have many of the features the market said it wanted. It turned Ford into a laughing stock.” (Ela, 2023

The challenge for leaders is to become customer advocates. Customers can be external or internal. Focus on understanding the experience from multiple sensory perspectives. Build prototypes and be willing to adapt with stakeholders’ experience.

Ela suggests that the failure of stakeholders to positively respond to your market research should not be labeled “failure.” Call it “bouba/kiki.”

Another bouba/kiki example is Amazon’s Alexa. The original concept was to get customers to buy more by allowing voice commands—make ordering simple. Customers found that their mobile devices provide visual clarity, something Alexa does not do. Instead of increasing purchasing options for customers, Alexa tends to be used for rudimentary tasks like checking on the weather or turning music on.

Bouba/kiki warns leaders to avoid falling in love with your products/services. Be wary of what your stakeholders tell you while respecting their comments. Be sensitive that many have limited verbal ability to articulate their real needs.

References

E. Diresta. Personal Conversation, 2022.

J. Ela. Personal Conversation, 2023.

N. Patel. “90% of Startups Will Fail.” Forbes, 2015,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2015/01/16/90-of-startups-will-fail-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-10/?sh=5899de316679

A.Shukla. “The Kiki-Bouba Paradigm: where senses meet and greet.” Cognitive Psychologist, September 2016, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aditya-Shukla-7/publication/316092…