I keep seeing new value items for customers being offered by behemoth corporations, to help during the COVID times. What is funny to me, is the perception I need to actively disregard when things are ‘normal’ is the unwritten rules generated by corporations about how a part of society functions. Michel Foucault had an interesting theory on governmentality and responsibilization where he basically explained that within society there are unwritten rules that are generated by non-government (i.e. non law enforcing) entities. (The reason we have laws in our societies, is because we allow government to enact and enforce laws that uphold general normalcy in society, and in a democracy we vote in a person who best represents our world view to add or change laws based on moral, legal, and sometimes emotional changes that society uses to grow from.) But in non-governmental agencies, organizations entities, etc. there are also rules, that may parallel governmental and societal laws, but they are there to keep things in line as well. For example, corporate culture in many industries dictate that there is a code of conduct, how to dress, what etiquette one ought to abide by while in the office. Occasionally these ‘rules’ are changed or broken or adapted, for example, there may be a casual Friday dress code, but again it is part of the rules of the place. (I’ll digress for a moment, that the fact there are informal rules that we accept and follow all the time, is a very powerful undercurrent of society and affects people all the time, whether consciously or unconsciously. These rules can be harnessed to do amazing things, such as drive social good- a phenomenon that is occurring quite often during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
I’m telling you all this, because the thought was triggered by the many promotional emails I am seeing now. In ‘normal’ economic times one would never think that such a ‘lucrative’ (in terms of value to customer) promotion would ever be offered. Primarily because these unprecedented economic times changes value for consumers, and therefore the economic fallout from a changing consumer market. But what it showed me, is that any human, managing any company at any time has the ability, to generate value for customers that may be “too good to be true…” and the only reason why this doesn’t happen is because of the unspoken or self-generated rules of industries to fix prices such that value remains at stasis to the consumer.
I guess the summary lesson is that we humans create our experiences, and make that the reality.