Ignorance is Ignorance
I had occasion recently to advise a small business that they didn’t own their Intellectual Property and followed up my claims with a presentation of detailed written facts. It was one of those diversions I took on account of they happened to be a supplier for one of my other clients and I’d noticed a few anomalies going on with their website. It looked legit enough!
To be fair, before I became Nancy Drew I’d had the heads up from a staff member who’d mentioned that they had a website they couldn’t get into the backend to change their product information. So you know my next question don’t you, ‘why not?’ Famous last question right! More like infamous.
I began to follow a trail of intrigue that stretched from the North Shore of Auckland to the rural lifestyle blocks of Waipukurau. It was a classic case to me of ‘big city’ opportunism and ‘small town’ small business owners not staying on their game. The thing was a mess from the beginning. The inside of the business lacked then and still lacks now processes and systems. That and the fact that the former owner was rather dubious to say the least.
Of the current owners the minor shareholder has a genuine love for the business. The major shareholder wallows in staggering arrogance and ignorance, the likes of which I’d describe as an Eighth Wonder of the World. It’s a blinder! And mostly he is, blind I mean. Blind and unwilling to suck it up and admit he’s taken his eye off the ball.
He was adamant they owned their IP BUT he didn’t know. Semantics is a funny thing. Derived from the Greek word σημαντικός (semantikos) meaning ‘significant’ I’d have thought, knowing a fact for sure might have been ‘significant’ particularly when it’s your business ergo your livelihood on the line. But there’s the difference. His wife is the minor shareholder but she’s in the business full-time. Living and breathing it is a whole other ball game.
Ignorance is a very cool customer. It remains aloof and unwilling to learn a new trick or two and the guy sitting behind the desk in front of me was looking more and more like Jumbo Jnr as the minutes ticked by! Jumbo Jr is a Disney animated semi-anthropomorphic elephant who is cruelly nicknamed Dumbo. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, natural and supernatural phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts.
He’s ridiculed for his big ears, but in fact he is capable of flying by using them as wings. So here’s the thing, Mr small businessman might have been capable of flying too and for longer still if he listens! I was having a hard time shaking the imagery from my mind as I sat in his office.
Meanwhile, the website developer is laughing all the way to the bank since the small business owner likes his stubborn arrogance. I listened to him make a bunch of excuses and watched from my side of his desk as his business slid imperceptibly closer toward the edge. The abyss was there, watching and waiting and he was oblivious to its proximity. I was flabbergast!
A couple of things were happening here. Firstly, he thought he owned the domain name for his dotcom website He does not. The website developer is listed as the registrant, administrative, technical and billing contact. All the ingredients for some smoke and mirrors. That old adage, possession is nine tenths of the law springs quickly to mind! Mr Small Businessman finds this an inconsequential fact. Join me tomorrow, let’s see if ignorance is bliss.
