Fairy tales aren't just for children
It is difficult to imagine fairy tales and leadership in the same sentence.
Real-life conflict is layered with complexity. Fairy tales, however, are not. The great thing about fairy tales is that kids of any age can jump right in and benefit from reading and discussing them. No matter how old we are, we can all take something away from a good fairy tale. And fairy tales provide universal insights into human behaviour, reminding us of the dangers of leadership and various ways in which executives can derail.
In modern versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks eats three bowls of porridge and lies on the three beds – with the third one in each case, being “just right” (a concept now known as the Goldilocks Principle). Let’s forget about the fact that Goldilocks trespassed in the homes of the three bears, ate (partly or otherwise) their dinner and violated the private space of baby bear by making his bed her own. What we do know is how the story ended…when Goldilocks, despite being discovered escaped without incident.
What most of us don’t know though is that Goldilocks wasn’t just hungry and tired; she was conducting a master class in human psychology. In the story, Goldilocks is a master of comparison: some things are too hard, too soft, too hot, or too cold while other things are just right!
Consider how the Goldilocks Principal applies to a pricing strategy. Pricing in the hospitality market is critical. It is a mistake to start overpriced and have to backtrack by reducing it. Pricing is never a done subject, you have to be very delicate with your starting price, and those starting prices will let you know how the market’s responding. For example, some Hilton hotels when rolling out a new breakfast requirement let the team try it out first. It’s all about getting it just right. Don’t leave your customers’ ‘just right’ to chance.
The Goldilocks effect is relevant when explaining behavioural science to pricing strategy, where humans, when making purchasing decisions, instinctively tend to avoid extremes in favour of options that are ‘just right’. Think about the last time you ordered wine in a restaurant. Did the cheapest bottle make you uncertain of its quality? Did the most expensive one feel excessively too much? Somewhere in-between probably felt like a safe, smart choice that balanced quality with value and not least of all - affordability. That’s the Goldilocks effect.
We spend nearly one-third of our lives in bed, so a comfortable bed that allows for maximum rest is one of the most important elements of a bedroom – be it at home or in a hotel. Like Goldilocks who falls asleep in the ‘just right’ bed, some of us are relieved when we find the perfect bed –one so comfortable that it allows for maximum rest. Getting to that ‘just right’ moment insofar as a bed goes happens in different ways for all of us.
Consensus is subtler. The bed has to feel right to couples, it must be perfect to people who sleep on their back like a pharaoh and please people who cocoon themselves diagonally. It cannot be too firm or too soft, too deep or too thin. It must be the emperor of mattresses.
Combining the Goldilocks Principal with replicating some of the secrets of the hospitality industry will for certain help one attain the sweet slumber of sleep usually reserved for only luxury hotels. Be advised though that it is a far cry from testing three beds. For instance, the Equinox hotels selection process for their in-room beds includes going through 22 different mattresses before settling down on a final choice. That is indeed a far cry from Goldilocks who tested only three beds, and would definitely have led to “burnout” if in a revised version, she was called upon to test 22 beds.
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Mystery Guest Auditor, Ex-Hotelier
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