What?
Hedgehogs, what are they? They aren’t just small creatures with spines on their back. Hedgehogs are the simple thinkers of the world. They take in complex ideas and simplify them to more manageable tasks. On the other hand, there are foxes. Foxes are the over thinkers. They see complex problems and seem to be very scatterbrained and take on multiple angles at once. (Collins, 2001, p. 91) Be a hedgehog.
So What?
Why does understanding our world point of view matter? Well, simply put, it’s how we better interact with the people around us, but also how we interact with the world. Mark Bragg from Medium states “You begin to realize that there is more than one way to view a problem, which means there is probably more than one solution…” (Bragg, 2019) You may be asking yourself; doesn’t this contradict being a hedgehog? Isn’t viewing the world at multiple angles make me a fox? Not necessarily. Mark continues with “…Complex problems can often become clear and what you think are simple solutions reveal a complexity you hadn’t thought of.” (Bragg, 2019) As a hedgehog thinker you are to take complex problems and not make the problem simple, but rather make the solution and the path to the solution simple. The hedgehog concept is also about finding what you’re good at and sticking to it. Mindtools states 3 steps you can take to find your or your organizations hedgehog concept. “Understanding what your people are truly passionate about, identifying what the organization does better than anyone else, determining where it’s good at generating revenue.” (The Mind Tools Content Team) These 3 steps can help you take a bunch of ideas and skills and melt them down to one great one.
Now What
How can I take this hedgehog concept and incorporate into my life? How can I create my own personal hedgehog concept? Its very similar to how you would with an organization. Ashly Guberman from Primary Goals talks about finding our purpose, authenticity, and career. In more defined terms, what you’re passionate about, what you’re great at, and what drives your economic engine. (Guberman, 2016). How will I take these concepts into my life? I am a creator. I post videos on Tiktok. I started on the app in 2018, creating comedic videos for fun. As the app has grown and same with my page, I have found it hard to keep myself relevant on the app. While I do have 1.1 million followers, playing with an algorithm can be hard. After typing this paper, I hope to implement the hedgehog concept into my online career. I hope to continue to create comedic videos but to find a niche that I love but also that continues with relevancy over time. While applying a niche can be hard on social media, with trends continuously changing every day. I hope to find my found niche in these trends. Being a hedgehog can be hard while being a public figure, there are foxes who will find ways to play the algorithm. But while the fox can figure out the algorithm, it creates sloppy work for a pretty penny. While this works in the short run, in the long run the hedgehog is doing great, passion filled work that with persistence that will grow exponentially and create more than just a pretty penny overtime. I hope to continue to grow and be a hedgehog on social media.
References:
Bragg, M. (2019, July 4). Perspective and leadership. Medium. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from https://medium.com/swlh/perspective-and-leadership-cd0dce5d50f1.
Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap … and others don’t (1st ed.). New York, NY: HarperBusiness.
Guberman, A. (2016, March 8). A personal hedgehog concept. Primary Goals. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from https://primarygoals.com/personal-hedgehog-concept/.
The Mind Tools Content Team. (n.d.). The hedgehog concept: Using the power of simplicity to succeed. Strategy Tools From MindTools.com. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/hedgehog-concept.htm.
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