Generalized Knowledge

By Ramesh Akkineni

Bob Cialdini writes this about Knowledge

In the advertising industry, there is a story about a frozen foods executive who was looking to hire an ad agency and, in the process, was interviewing one particular prospect.
"Do you have experience in selling frozen food?" the executive asked.
"Yes," said the ad agency representative.
"How about frozen vegetables?"
"Yes, several types."
"Spinach?"
"Yes," claimed the agency representative, "we successfully advertised spinach for another client several years ago."
Now leaning forward in his seat, his voice strained in anticipation, the executive asked, "Whole leaf or chopped? "
The story illustrates one of our central contentions: Although highly specialized knowledge in a narrow arena can be valuable, surely, it would be more valuable to possess a broader expertise than that—expertise in the fundamental, cross-situational laws of human behavior. Even in just the commercial domain, knowing the laws that regulate human responding would allow for the construction of effective appeals across a wide spectrum of circumstances—retail or wholesale, products or services, advertising or sales, whole leaf or chopped.

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