Have You a Socialist Economic Calculation or Knowledge Problem?

Socialism bad, Capitalism good. Just in case your media feeds have made that crucial distinction waver for you lately. Put it on a t-shirt.

It's a long time since I touched on these at uni. An all too brief moment on the Austrian School.

The former, original summation of Mises explains how central planning removes the concept of market price leading to disaster as true value is never understood.

The latter, building on this by Hayek, details how the communist command control 'expert' can never replace the hordes of distributed, local ones' know-how of how their area actually works.

I'm no Professor in this, but one relates to fair pricing, in light of costs and value. The other, what those on the ground never get chance to send up the line to avert devastating havoc.

Societal collapse ensues. But not before the hopes and dreams of almost all individuals concerned are trampled by jackboot.

Whatever the veracity of my précis, there's a key Sales insight here.

The very first ever workplace project I ever did was a belter. In a crack computer salesteam. I found a mismatch between what the bosses thought was going on in their world, and what those at the coalface were experiencing.

Proved invaluable. And ever since I've known to ask those doing the work what's happening, and uncover similar discrepancy with those managing it.

Not only a classic of our Sales genre, but also beloved of the Change industry.

It is this Hayek-type expansion that can mistakenly go overlooked.

We all pretty much chase down the "value". Blimey, how can they not see it, hey... When we draw it out the numbers are indisputable and make the signature inevitable, right?

Yet it is the knowledge problem we must (also) overcome. To expose the comparatively unknown issues, bottlenecks, drawbacks, delays, gaps, as lived day to day by those at the sharp end is key.

To show a figure they could better make, often meh. Write large an amount lost, and ears can prick up. But have both what cash is being haemorrhaged, and the chaos from where it disappears and you've true solution sell power.

Most of us sell the calc. Those who win also solve the knowledge problem. The workarounds, bottlenecks and daily frustration that create the number are what generate real urgency and differentiate us. The figure itself is one thing, but revealing the incomplete or distorted information that higher-ups never fully see is what brings the lived friction to life and actually gets that number acted upon.