"Business INTELLECT" and its role in various activities
Jaroslav Kaplan, Philip N. Gurov
BUSINESS INTELLECT
Jaroslav Kaplan
President of the Kaplan Research Company
Founder of the Business IQ project
Jaroslav Kaplan
President of the Kaplan Research Company
Founder of the Business IQ project
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Values and Meanings. 2023. No.2 (84). P. 125-138(In Rus) UDC 101.1:316 https://doi.org/10.24412/2071–6427–2023–2–125–138
Values and Meanings. 2023. No.2 (84). P. 125-138(In Rus) UDC 101.1:316 https://doi.org/10.24412/2071–6427–2023–2–125–138
Abstract
The article examines the content of the concept of business Intellect based on the book by Jaroslav Kaplan "Business incognita: how to expand the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking" in the context of the ideas of modern humanities about various types of Intelligence and their significance in educational, communicative and entrepreneurial human activity. The necessity of transformation of educational and busi- ness processes and the search for new forms of communication, both in the educational process and in other types of social interaction, is substantiated. New methodological approaches to pedagogical and entrepreneurial activity are considered. The comparison of entrepreneurial thinking and critical thinking is carried out. The article also explores the phenomenon of identity choice by the example of branding. The definition of a "category" as a certain framework for the activity within which interaction with consumers takes place is given, and it also explains what the "context of interaction with consumers" is and how it determines the value of a product for the target audience.
The problem of overcoming the limitations of perception of reality in various types of activity is investigated. The concepts of "information bubble" and "aquarium", which Philip Gurov and Jaroslav Kaplan proposed to comprehend similar phenomena in their subject areas: entrepreneurship and communication, are compared. The problem of limited thinking is revealed. The necessity of expanding horizons and developing various types of Intelligence, including critical, creative and editing thinking, is substantiated.
Keywords:
business Intellect, interaction context, critical thinking, filter bubble.
For citation:
Kaplan Jaroslav., Gurov Ph.N. "Business Intellect" and its role in various activities // Values and Meanings. 2023. No.2 (84). P. 125–138 (In Rus).
The article examines the content of the concept of business Intellect based on the book by Jaroslav Kaplan "Business incognita: how to expand the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking" in the context of the ideas of modern humanities about various types of Intelligence and their significance in educational, communicative and entrepreneurial human activity. The necessity of transformation of educational and busi- ness processes and the search for new forms of communication, both in the educational process and in other types of social interaction, is substantiated. New methodological approaches to pedagogical and entrepreneurial activity are considered. The comparison of entrepreneurial thinking and critical thinking is carried out. The article also explores the phenomenon of identity choice by the example of branding. The definition of a "category" as a certain framework for the activity within which interaction with consumers takes place is given, and it also explains what the "context of interaction with consumers" is and how it determines the value of a product for the target audience.
The problem of overcoming the limitations of perception of reality in various types of activity is investigated. The concepts of "information bubble" and "aquarium", which Philip Gurov and Jaroslav Kaplan proposed to comprehend similar phenomena in their subject areas: entrepreneurship and communication, are compared. The problem of limited thinking is revealed. The necessity of expanding horizons and developing various types of Intelligence, including critical, creative and editing thinking, is substantiated.
Keywords:
business Intellect, interaction context, critical thinking, filter bubble.
For citation:
Kaplan Jaroslav., Gurov Ph.N. "Business Intellect" and its role in various activities // Values and Meanings. 2023. No.2 (84). P. 125–138 (In Rus).
Introduction
The terminology "business Intellect " was put forward by Jaroslav Kaplan in his book "Business incognita: How to push the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking", where he proposed an original concept for understanding the specific features of entrepreneurial activity and the perception of the value of products in different consumer markets [12].
Jaroslav Kaplan's approach fits, on the one hand, to the theory of multiple Intelligences developed by Howard Gardner in 1983, and, on the other hand, combines with the ideas of Philip Gurov regarding the conditionality of communicative experience and the need to overcome the closedness of the subject's perception within the so-called "information bubbles". In this article, the authors elaborate on these two aspects and compare entrepreneurial thinking and critical thinking.
The phenomenon of multiple Intelligences
Since Howard Gardner described the eight types of "multiple Intelligences" science has not only recognized that human Intelligence is not a homogeneous entity but a complex, multicomponent phenomenon, but has also added new insights. Gardner determined that "people differ from each other in the parameters of Intelligence, and this significantly affects their learning and work" [2]. [2]. According to his theory of multiple Intelligences, all people possess a number of relatively autonomous cognitive abilities, each of which can be considered a separate Intellect. At the same time, types of Intelligence are not the same as types of thinking. Thinking types are not separate thinking abilities, but rather are broad cognitive activities, skills that can be developed in the course of academic and professional activities [3].
Gardner identified the following eight types of Intelligence: linguistic (word-oriented), logical and mathematical (number-oriented), visual-spatial (image-oriented), musical (receptive to sounds), interpersonal (seeks to communicate), intrapersonal (turned toward self), naturalistic (drawn to nature), and bodily-kinesthetic (oriented toward bodily experiences) [2].
Gardner's discovery triggered a reevaluation of ideas about human beings and their abilities. Taking into account this theory, some pedagogical approaches and educational methods were adjusted. For example, Gardner was the first to suggest that bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence, which is developed through physical, hands-on learning, is no less important than other types. Similarly, intrapersonal Intelligence (the ability to understand oneself, one's inner experiences) and interpersonal (understanding others) are no less important than Intelligence, the level of which is traditionally measured by IQ tests. In general, Gardner opposes the bias in the traditional education system towards logical-verbal forms of Intellect and the corresponding ways of teaching, the scientist also justifies the inappropriateness of the traditional system of assessing knowledge only through this prism. According to his understanding, Intelligence is potential. At the same time, any type of Intelligence can be developed and a certain level of competence can be achieved. Human nature is multidimensional and the educational process should take this into account.
On the basis of determining the leading type of Intelligence in students, teachers can adjust the teaching methodology, make it more personalized and diverse. To date, in the field of humanities there is a tradition to separately identify other specific abilities of human Intelligence. In 2022, S. V. Ivanova conducted a thorough analytical review of scientific, popular science and methodological publications reflecting the topic of emotional Intelligence [10]. The very concept of "emotional Intelligence" was first formulated in 1990 by P. Salovey and J. Mayer. Later, in 1995, another American researcher - Daniel Goleman comprehensively disclosed this concept in his work "Emotional Intelligence" [10]. [10]. Daniel Goleman defined emotional Intelligence as the ability to recognize, control, express emotions and support interpersonal interaction, to show empathy for the sake of achieving personal and professional success [4]. The concept of "physical Intelligence" has also been widely developed in the West [10]. In the domestic field of humanities, in our opinion, the development of the categories of "communicative Intelligence" and "critical thinking" in the studies of G. V. Sorina and I. N. Griftsova deserves special attention [5, 16, 17].
Critical thinking specifics
I.N. Griftsova and G.V. Sorina, in their article "Critical thinking against pseudoscience," note that the twentieth century was the time when "not only the narrative of the problems of reasoning, but also the narrative of the features of thinking and intellectual activity has been changed" [5]. The notions of a subject guided in its activity by different types of thinking became established. Modern definitions of Intelligence do not ignore its creative or social components. The completed turn to the subject corrects educational standards all over the world: university programs include pre-measures on informal logic, and modern teaching methods take into account the multidimensionality of the learning process. At the same time, the events of recent years, in particular the global pandemic, have accelerated the transition of educational and business processes to the online environment and provoked an active search for new forms of communication, both in the educational process and in other types of social interaction. Today, new methodological approaches to pedagogical and entrepreneurial activities are being approved. For example, the methodology of expert analysis of texts (MEAT) developed by G.V. Sorina organizes the process of collective interaction in the learning process in a new way [18]. MEAT develops communicative, critical and creative thinking of the interaction participants when working with textual material. Today this methodology is also successfully applied in communication management and business processes [8].
Educational programs introduce academic disciplines focused on the development of critical thinking. For example, within the framework of the academic discipline "informal logic" students learn to build such models of reasoning, which take into account the subject, reasoning, having a certain worldview, values, preferences and desires.
I.N. Griftsova and G.V. Sorina in the review analytical article "Critical thinking against pseudoscience", note that "the idea of critical thinking [...] was in demand when in the twentieth century society realized that the radical changes that are constantly taking place in the world require from a person flexibility of thinking, the ability to quickly perceive and analytically evaluate information, to conduct situational analysis, to make decisions that can radically change his life" [5] [5]. It is important that critical thinking is a tool for both intellectual and moral development of personality. It is these characteristics, in our opinion, that bring the concepts of critical thinking and business Intellect closer together. We believe that in entrepreneurial activity a person most often faces "such situations for which there are no rules, and to make decisions it is necessary to be able to "think better", i.e. to be able to analyze, ask questions, propose and reject hypotheses, evaluate their own and others' theses and arguments, understand that a true statement is almost always limited by certain conditions of truth, implicit assumptions, etc." [5]. [5]. A specific type of Intelligence - business Intellect - corresponds to these parameters.
What is business Intellect
As a result of many years of research into the specifics of entrepreneurial activity, Jaroslav Kaplan formulated the concepts of entrepreneurial thinking and business Intellect.
Business Intellect is a specific type of Intelligence of an entrepreneur, which is directly related to his ability to set and solve tasks arising in the course of entrepreneurial activity. The central object of such tasks, which the author designates by the term "entrepreneurial tasks", is consumers' perception of the value of products. The perceived value of a particular product is a certain advantage that, in the opinion of the consumer himself, he will get from the fact that he will take possession of this product and not any other [12, p. 24]. In this sense, the entrepreneur needs to find such a "place" in the market where there is a maximum perceived value for his products. Such a "place" in the market is not a place in the physical universe, but a place in the space of consumers' meanings. According to Jaroslav Kaplan, the basic principle of entrepreneurial thinking is that in his activities an entrepreneur always faces creative tasks that have several development scenarios and require two-way interaction with consumers. This logic requires entrepreneurs to make a complete paradigm shift in their business thinking. The focus should be placed on the "interaction" first, and only then on the "product" or "consumers.” This fundamentally changes the approach to entrepreneurship, focusing on the search for interactions that will maximize the perceived value of products in a particular context of interaction with consumers. In his analysis of entrepreneurship, Kaplan shifts the focus from the final product and its target audience to the area of interaction that occurs in the entrepreneurial process between the entrepreneur (product producer or service provider) and consumers. It is this relationship or "connection" between the entrepreneur and consumers that forms the perceived value of the product or service to consumers. Thus, in his study of entrepreneurial activity, Kaplan identifies the importance of the context of interaction. [12, с. 183].
On his behalf, Philip Gurov, analyzing the tools of marketing promotion in the book "PR of IT-companies: Russian practice" [7], came to the idea of the importance of establishing trust communication, as well as the need to build and manage professional communities. In the course of further research, F.N. Gurov together with G.V. Sorina developed a "program for detecting identity imposition in the Internet space" [14] [14]. In particular, they determined that the phenomenon of attributing identity predicates is most clearly manifested in the framework of branding - the process of creating and developing a brand and its identity. According to the classic definition of brand identity: "Brand identity is the unique semantic content of the brand: the core values, attributes and associations that the company (brand owner) wants to evoke in the consumer - the consumers' target perception of the brand image as a whole, which should be achieved. Brand identity helps to establish a relationship between the brand and the consumer by offering values that define functional, emotional benefits or opportunities for self-expression. Bridging the gap between the brand identity and its actually perceived image by consumers is the content of the branding process" [1]. As the associative series linking a brand to an individual is formed, the process of brand identification with the individual's personality takes place. "The consumer's identity begins to be associated with a particular brand: 'She only uses Chanel No. 5', 'She only wears...'". In the course of the analysis, the results of which were published by the authors in the article "Identity Forcing. How is it possible?", G.V. Sorina and F.N. Gurov came to the conclusion that the brand contributes to the formation of an emotionally attractive image of a person, has a symbolic value for the perception of a person, for attributing a certain identity to him/her" [15, p. 43] [15, p. 43].
Jaroslav Kaplan also emphasizes that in any entrepreneurial activity the most important is the context of interaction with consumers, which will determine for consumers the value of the product, which was put into the product by the entrepreneur. First of all, the entrepreneur needs to describe the interaction space itself. In his book "Business incognita: how to expand the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking" he gives the example of the famous American coffee chain "Starbucks". Coffee shops of this chain form the so-called "third place" in the urban space - a place for meetings and recreation outside of the workplace and home. This is what forms the main consumer value of the product of this chain.
Only after the circle of meanings, within which the entrepreneur and consumers will interact, has been defined, it becomes possible to choose the target audience. Jaroslav Kaplan believes that the product of entrepreneurial activity appears at the intersection of two questions "what is important?" with "to whom is it important?" [12]. [12].
Answering the question of what makes consumers buy the products of very expensive luxury brands, Kaplan concludes that by buying Rolex watches, consumers "acquire a sense of exclusivity, which translates to a sense of success and enjoyment of life. The watch's ability to tell time accurately probably ranks last on the list of benefits people desire when purchasing these watches. Most people think of Rolex not as a watch, but as an object of luxury, status, and reward for their success" [12, с. 183].
Thus, the same product can be placed in the customers’ "space of attention" in different ways: from "just a watch" to "the feeling of ownership". In such a case it turns out, from Kaplan's point of view, that consumer value to the product is attributed by the buyer, client, customer.
The same product forms a multiple categorization of its most important characteristics: "entrance ticket to high society", "reputation", "demonstration of success", "pleasure of ownership", " friends' envy", "girls' attention", "partners' respect" and others. Having defined its category, within which the interaction between the entrepreneur and consumers will then take place, it is possible to further trace the dynamics of the development of consumer value of the product. Consumer evaluation criteria can be transformed over time. For today's youth, the element of broadcasting success may no longer be the Rolex watch itself, but its virtual digital copy in the Metauniverse [12, p. 183].
Thus, for modern marketing and public relations, as well as for entrepreneurial activity, the starting point of activity is the context of interaction in a particular business system "entrepreneur-product-consumer", the formation of relationships and the establishment of strong ties for the long-term reproduction of such interaction.
Broadening the horizon
Another point of intersection in which the authors of the article agreed, conducting two independent studies, is the idea of the need to overcome limited thinking.
Jaroslav Kaplan, in his allegorical tale "The Odyssey of Goshio the Goldfish," uses the metaphor of an aquarium to describe the situation of an entrepreneur's confinement within his vision of a narrow market segment. Being inside such an aquarium, the entrepreneur is unable to see the phenomena, facts and events that take place outside his aquarium- outside in the unconstrained space of the market. This perspective of observation cuts off the entrepreneur's ability to observe and perceive his environment, to receive, process and apply knowledge about the market [13].
F.N. Gurov, studying the specifics of online communications, came to similar conclusions about the existence of a kind of personal "information bubble" around the subject of online communication, preventing the formation of a holistic picture of reality.
The information bubble is a set of information data that do not allow the subject to see other points of view and close him/her in a certain social space, including various forms of Internet space, preventing the subject from leaving the available space and entering another [6].
The information bubble of filters turns out to be the same kind of aquarium limiting the sphere of interaction of the subject of communication in the decentralized sea of information. Since a person's judgments are usually conditioned by the sphere of his/her interests, cultural background and social status, modern digital algorithms are configured in such a way that they filter out all the data coming to a person, the effect of the limited perceived picture of the world only intensifies over time. The accumulated layer of digital data becomes almost impenetrable to information that does not fit into our habitual way of thinking. This disadvantage cannot be compensated only by technical means of internal organization of online interactions. Overcoming information filter bubbles requires an integrated approach and the inclusion of different types of thinking. The context of interaction is also of great importance here. The fact is that cognitively the subjects of online communication face the same problems as the participants of ordinary live communication. All online interactions are embedded in context. A subject speaking on the Web cannot always foresee the results of interpretation of his/her statement, application of principles and values favored by subjects of another community (worldview, political or any other), based on his/her local field of vision and cultural context. This situation is aggravated by the fact that modern people have formed a habit of compulsive perception of information, so-called "clip" thinking. While in order to overcome the information bubbles of filters and to be able to take into account the heterogeneous context of communication, it is necessary to develop the skills of working with information, as well as the ability to critically and creatively comprehend it. In his dissertation research, F.N. Gurov proposed the concept of "assembly' thinking" as an antithesis to the so-called "clip" thinking.
"Assembly" thinking is characterized by emotional and semantic correlation of parts of separate fragments of information reality into a single composition. In this case, the user has a stronger subjective position, he/she independently conducts a comparative analysis of information sources and formulates an information picture of the world based on predetermined goals. The quality of editing becomes an indicator of the subject's worldview, which consists in searching for reliable facts and comparing heterogeneous information messages. Ideally, the process of building a personal information picture of the world in a user with montage thinking is reduced to reducing the discreteness of the overall composition, which should meet the requirement of logical consistency and establish stable links in the semantic multiplicity [6].
Conclusion
According to Jaroslav Kaplan, the ability to "extend" the walls of the aquarium and, correspondingly, to increase one's "angle of view" depends mainly on the chosen point of view on the problems of activity and the level of understanding of the environment outside one's "aquarium" [13]. Jaroslav Kaplan believes that in the modern world the concept of entrepreneurship is more and more connected with the concept of creativity. [12]. A real artist, as well as a real entrepreneur, is the source of new ideas, new thoughts and new meanings. In the very phenomenon of creativity lies the creation of something new, something that did not exist before. A well-developed business Intellect allows you to look at an old problem from a new angle. This brings entrepreneurial activity closer to the creative act as it is. Each following creative activity draws a new line from all the previous ones.
From this perspective, the concept of "category" reflects the space of all meanings for some given point of reference of value. It is a set of concepts that are situated together in one common meaning space. This is the basic idea of business Intellect - to find new meanings and values for its current and future consumers. Kaplan considers the source of uncertainty in human life and activity to be the phenomenon of limited worldview: "we are forced to recognize the whole 'picture of life' only by the not-so-large fragment that we can directly observe, realize and understand" [13]. Kaplan is convinced that any entrepreneurial activity is based entirely on the worldview of the entrepreneur himself.
The success achieved depends largely on the entrepreneur's ability to critically analyze the context of interaction between all participants in the entrepreneurial activity. Another important point is the ability to reject incorrect beliefs and false assumptions prevailing at a given historical moment, which, in the end, is the essence of critical thinking. F.N. Gurov, in his dissertation research, devoted to the transformation of modern society under the influence of information and communication technologies, came to similar conclusions: overcoming "information bubbles" is possible only with considerable intellectual effort. Going beyond the "information bubble" or "aquarium" is only possible due to the request of the subject of activity. The realization of such a request in practical application requires a high level of communicative Intelligence, business Intellect and critical thinking.
The terminology "business Intellect " was put forward by Jaroslav Kaplan in his book "Business incognita: How to push the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking", where he proposed an original concept for understanding the specific features of entrepreneurial activity and the perception of the value of products in different consumer markets [12].
Jaroslav Kaplan's approach fits, on the one hand, to the theory of multiple Intelligences developed by Howard Gardner in 1983, and, on the other hand, combines with the ideas of Philip Gurov regarding the conditionality of communicative experience and the need to overcome the closedness of the subject's perception within the so-called "information bubbles". In this article, the authors elaborate on these two aspects and compare entrepreneurial thinking and critical thinking.
The phenomenon of multiple Intelligences
Since Howard Gardner described the eight types of "multiple Intelligences" science has not only recognized that human Intelligence is not a homogeneous entity but a complex, multicomponent phenomenon, but has also added new insights. Gardner determined that "people differ from each other in the parameters of Intelligence, and this significantly affects their learning and work" [2]. [2]. According to his theory of multiple Intelligences, all people possess a number of relatively autonomous cognitive abilities, each of which can be considered a separate Intellect. At the same time, types of Intelligence are not the same as types of thinking. Thinking types are not separate thinking abilities, but rather are broad cognitive activities, skills that can be developed in the course of academic and professional activities [3].
Gardner identified the following eight types of Intelligence: linguistic (word-oriented), logical and mathematical (number-oriented), visual-spatial (image-oriented), musical (receptive to sounds), interpersonal (seeks to communicate), intrapersonal (turned toward self), naturalistic (drawn to nature), and bodily-kinesthetic (oriented toward bodily experiences) [2].
Gardner's discovery triggered a reevaluation of ideas about human beings and their abilities. Taking into account this theory, some pedagogical approaches and educational methods were adjusted. For example, Gardner was the first to suggest that bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence, which is developed through physical, hands-on learning, is no less important than other types. Similarly, intrapersonal Intelligence (the ability to understand oneself, one's inner experiences) and interpersonal (understanding others) are no less important than Intelligence, the level of which is traditionally measured by IQ tests. In general, Gardner opposes the bias in the traditional education system towards logical-verbal forms of Intellect and the corresponding ways of teaching, the scientist also justifies the inappropriateness of the traditional system of assessing knowledge only through this prism. According to his understanding, Intelligence is potential. At the same time, any type of Intelligence can be developed and a certain level of competence can be achieved. Human nature is multidimensional and the educational process should take this into account.
On the basis of determining the leading type of Intelligence in students, teachers can adjust the teaching methodology, make it more personalized and diverse. To date, in the field of humanities there is a tradition to separately identify other specific abilities of human Intelligence. In 2022, S. V. Ivanova conducted a thorough analytical review of scientific, popular science and methodological publications reflecting the topic of emotional Intelligence [10]. The very concept of "emotional Intelligence" was first formulated in 1990 by P. Salovey and J. Mayer. Later, in 1995, another American researcher - Daniel Goleman comprehensively disclosed this concept in his work "Emotional Intelligence" [10]. [10]. Daniel Goleman defined emotional Intelligence as the ability to recognize, control, express emotions and support interpersonal interaction, to show empathy for the sake of achieving personal and professional success [4]. The concept of "physical Intelligence" has also been widely developed in the West [10]. In the domestic field of humanities, in our opinion, the development of the categories of "communicative Intelligence" and "critical thinking" in the studies of G. V. Sorina and I. N. Griftsova deserves special attention [5, 16, 17].
Critical thinking specifics
I.N. Griftsova and G.V. Sorina, in their article "Critical thinking against pseudoscience," note that the twentieth century was the time when "not only the narrative of the problems of reasoning, but also the narrative of the features of thinking and intellectual activity has been changed" [5]. The notions of a subject guided in its activity by different types of thinking became established. Modern definitions of Intelligence do not ignore its creative or social components. The completed turn to the subject corrects educational standards all over the world: university programs include pre-measures on informal logic, and modern teaching methods take into account the multidimensionality of the learning process. At the same time, the events of recent years, in particular the global pandemic, have accelerated the transition of educational and business processes to the online environment and provoked an active search for new forms of communication, both in the educational process and in other types of social interaction. Today, new methodological approaches to pedagogical and entrepreneurial activities are being approved. For example, the methodology of expert analysis of texts (MEAT) developed by G.V. Sorina organizes the process of collective interaction in the learning process in a new way [18]. MEAT develops communicative, critical and creative thinking of the interaction participants when working with textual material. Today this methodology is also successfully applied in communication management and business processes [8].
Educational programs introduce academic disciplines focused on the development of critical thinking. For example, within the framework of the academic discipline "informal logic" students learn to build such models of reasoning, which take into account the subject, reasoning, having a certain worldview, values, preferences and desires.
I.N. Griftsova and G.V. Sorina in the review analytical article "Critical thinking against pseudoscience", note that "the idea of critical thinking [...] was in demand when in the twentieth century society realized that the radical changes that are constantly taking place in the world require from a person flexibility of thinking, the ability to quickly perceive and analytically evaluate information, to conduct situational analysis, to make decisions that can radically change his life" [5] [5]. It is important that critical thinking is a tool for both intellectual and moral development of personality. It is these characteristics, in our opinion, that bring the concepts of critical thinking and business Intellect closer together. We believe that in entrepreneurial activity a person most often faces "such situations for which there are no rules, and to make decisions it is necessary to be able to "think better", i.e. to be able to analyze, ask questions, propose and reject hypotheses, evaluate their own and others' theses and arguments, understand that a true statement is almost always limited by certain conditions of truth, implicit assumptions, etc." [5]. [5]. A specific type of Intelligence - business Intellect - corresponds to these parameters.
What is business Intellect
As a result of many years of research into the specifics of entrepreneurial activity, Jaroslav Kaplan formulated the concepts of entrepreneurial thinking and business Intellect.
Business Intellect is a specific type of Intelligence of an entrepreneur, which is directly related to his ability to set and solve tasks arising in the course of entrepreneurial activity. The central object of such tasks, which the author designates by the term "entrepreneurial tasks", is consumers' perception of the value of products. The perceived value of a particular product is a certain advantage that, in the opinion of the consumer himself, he will get from the fact that he will take possession of this product and not any other [12, p. 24]. In this sense, the entrepreneur needs to find such a "place" in the market where there is a maximum perceived value for his products. Such a "place" in the market is not a place in the physical universe, but a place in the space of consumers' meanings. According to Jaroslav Kaplan, the basic principle of entrepreneurial thinking is that in his activities an entrepreneur always faces creative tasks that have several development scenarios and require two-way interaction with consumers. This logic requires entrepreneurs to make a complete paradigm shift in their business thinking. The focus should be placed on the "interaction" first, and only then on the "product" or "consumers.” This fundamentally changes the approach to entrepreneurship, focusing on the search for interactions that will maximize the perceived value of products in a particular context of interaction with consumers. In his analysis of entrepreneurship, Kaplan shifts the focus from the final product and its target audience to the area of interaction that occurs in the entrepreneurial process between the entrepreneur (product producer or service provider) and consumers. It is this relationship or "connection" between the entrepreneur and consumers that forms the perceived value of the product or service to consumers. Thus, in his study of entrepreneurial activity, Kaplan identifies the importance of the context of interaction. [12, с. 183].
On his behalf, Philip Gurov, analyzing the tools of marketing promotion in the book "PR of IT-companies: Russian practice" [7], came to the idea of the importance of establishing trust communication, as well as the need to build and manage professional communities. In the course of further research, F.N. Gurov together with G.V. Sorina developed a "program for detecting identity imposition in the Internet space" [14] [14]. In particular, they determined that the phenomenon of attributing identity predicates is most clearly manifested in the framework of branding - the process of creating and developing a brand and its identity. According to the classic definition of brand identity: "Brand identity is the unique semantic content of the brand: the core values, attributes and associations that the company (brand owner) wants to evoke in the consumer - the consumers' target perception of the brand image as a whole, which should be achieved. Brand identity helps to establish a relationship between the brand and the consumer by offering values that define functional, emotional benefits or opportunities for self-expression. Bridging the gap between the brand identity and its actually perceived image by consumers is the content of the branding process" [1]. As the associative series linking a brand to an individual is formed, the process of brand identification with the individual's personality takes place. "The consumer's identity begins to be associated with a particular brand: 'She only uses Chanel No. 5', 'She only wears...'". In the course of the analysis, the results of which were published by the authors in the article "Identity Forcing. How is it possible?", G.V. Sorina and F.N. Gurov came to the conclusion that the brand contributes to the formation of an emotionally attractive image of a person, has a symbolic value for the perception of a person, for attributing a certain identity to him/her" [15, p. 43] [15, p. 43].
Jaroslav Kaplan also emphasizes that in any entrepreneurial activity the most important is the context of interaction with consumers, which will determine for consumers the value of the product, which was put into the product by the entrepreneur. First of all, the entrepreneur needs to describe the interaction space itself. In his book "Business incognita: how to expand the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking" he gives the example of the famous American coffee chain "Starbucks". Coffee shops of this chain form the so-called "third place" in the urban space - a place for meetings and recreation outside of the workplace and home. This is what forms the main consumer value of the product of this chain.
Only after the circle of meanings, within which the entrepreneur and consumers will interact, has been defined, it becomes possible to choose the target audience. Jaroslav Kaplan believes that the product of entrepreneurial activity appears at the intersection of two questions "what is important?" with "to whom is it important?" [12]. [12].
Answering the question of what makes consumers buy the products of very expensive luxury brands, Kaplan concludes that by buying Rolex watches, consumers "acquire a sense of exclusivity, which translates to a sense of success and enjoyment of life. The watch's ability to tell time accurately probably ranks last on the list of benefits people desire when purchasing these watches. Most people think of Rolex not as a watch, but as an object of luxury, status, and reward for their success" [12, с. 183].
Thus, the same product can be placed in the customers’ "space of attention" in different ways: from "just a watch" to "the feeling of ownership". In such a case it turns out, from Kaplan's point of view, that consumer value to the product is attributed by the buyer, client, customer.
The same product forms a multiple categorization of its most important characteristics: "entrance ticket to high society", "reputation", "demonstration of success", "pleasure of ownership", " friends' envy", "girls' attention", "partners' respect" and others. Having defined its category, within which the interaction between the entrepreneur and consumers will then take place, it is possible to further trace the dynamics of the development of consumer value of the product. Consumer evaluation criteria can be transformed over time. For today's youth, the element of broadcasting success may no longer be the Rolex watch itself, but its virtual digital copy in the Metauniverse [12, p. 183].
Thus, for modern marketing and public relations, as well as for entrepreneurial activity, the starting point of activity is the context of interaction in a particular business system "entrepreneur-product-consumer", the formation of relationships and the establishment of strong ties for the long-term reproduction of such interaction.
Broadening the horizon
Another point of intersection in which the authors of the article agreed, conducting two independent studies, is the idea of the need to overcome limited thinking.
Jaroslav Kaplan, in his allegorical tale "The Odyssey of Goshio the Goldfish," uses the metaphor of an aquarium to describe the situation of an entrepreneur's confinement within his vision of a narrow market segment. Being inside such an aquarium, the entrepreneur is unable to see the phenomena, facts and events that take place outside his aquarium- outside in the unconstrained space of the market. This perspective of observation cuts off the entrepreneur's ability to observe and perceive his environment, to receive, process and apply knowledge about the market [13].
F.N. Gurov, studying the specifics of online communications, came to similar conclusions about the existence of a kind of personal "information bubble" around the subject of online communication, preventing the formation of a holistic picture of reality.
The information bubble is a set of information data that do not allow the subject to see other points of view and close him/her in a certain social space, including various forms of Internet space, preventing the subject from leaving the available space and entering another [6].
The information bubble of filters turns out to be the same kind of aquarium limiting the sphere of interaction of the subject of communication in the decentralized sea of information. Since a person's judgments are usually conditioned by the sphere of his/her interests, cultural background and social status, modern digital algorithms are configured in such a way that they filter out all the data coming to a person, the effect of the limited perceived picture of the world only intensifies over time. The accumulated layer of digital data becomes almost impenetrable to information that does not fit into our habitual way of thinking. This disadvantage cannot be compensated only by technical means of internal organization of online interactions. Overcoming information filter bubbles requires an integrated approach and the inclusion of different types of thinking. The context of interaction is also of great importance here. The fact is that cognitively the subjects of online communication face the same problems as the participants of ordinary live communication. All online interactions are embedded in context. A subject speaking on the Web cannot always foresee the results of interpretation of his/her statement, application of principles and values favored by subjects of another community (worldview, political or any other), based on his/her local field of vision and cultural context. This situation is aggravated by the fact that modern people have formed a habit of compulsive perception of information, so-called "clip" thinking. While in order to overcome the information bubbles of filters and to be able to take into account the heterogeneous context of communication, it is necessary to develop the skills of working with information, as well as the ability to critically and creatively comprehend it. In his dissertation research, F.N. Gurov proposed the concept of "assembly' thinking" as an antithesis to the so-called "clip" thinking.
"Assembly" thinking is characterized by emotional and semantic correlation of parts of separate fragments of information reality into a single composition. In this case, the user has a stronger subjective position, he/she independently conducts a comparative analysis of information sources and formulates an information picture of the world based on predetermined goals. The quality of editing becomes an indicator of the subject's worldview, which consists in searching for reliable facts and comparing heterogeneous information messages. Ideally, the process of building a personal information picture of the world in a user with montage thinking is reduced to reducing the discreteness of the overall composition, which should meet the requirement of logical consistency and establish stable links in the semantic multiplicity [6].
Conclusion
According to Jaroslav Kaplan, the ability to "extend" the walls of the aquarium and, correspondingly, to increase one's "angle of view" depends mainly on the chosen point of view on the problems of activity and the level of understanding of the environment outside one's "aquarium" [13]. Jaroslav Kaplan believes that in the modern world the concept of entrepreneurship is more and more connected with the concept of creativity. [12]. A real artist, as well as a real entrepreneur, is the source of new ideas, new thoughts and new meanings. In the very phenomenon of creativity lies the creation of something new, something that did not exist before. A well-developed business Intellect allows you to look at an old problem from a new angle. This brings entrepreneurial activity closer to the creative act as it is. Each following creative activity draws a new line from all the previous ones.
From this perspective, the concept of "category" reflects the space of all meanings for some given point of reference of value. It is a set of concepts that are situated together in one common meaning space. This is the basic idea of business Intellect - to find new meanings and values for its current and future consumers. Kaplan considers the source of uncertainty in human life and activity to be the phenomenon of limited worldview: "we are forced to recognize the whole 'picture of life' only by the not-so-large fragment that we can directly observe, realize and understand" [13]. Kaplan is convinced that any entrepreneurial activity is based entirely on the worldview of the entrepreneur himself.
The success achieved depends largely on the entrepreneur's ability to critically analyze the context of interaction between all participants in the entrepreneurial activity. Another important point is the ability to reject incorrect beliefs and false assumptions prevailing at a given historical moment, which, in the end, is the essence of critical thinking. F.N. Gurov, in his dissertation research, devoted to the transformation of modern society under the influence of information and communication technologies, came to similar conclusions: overcoming "information bubbles" is possible only with considerable intellectual effort. Going beyond the "information bubble" or "aquarium" is only possible due to the request of the subject of activity. The realization of such a request in practical application requires a high level of communicative Intelligence, business Intellect and critical thinking.
Jaroslav Kaplan
Author of the book "Business Incognita. How to push the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking". Expert in the field of sustainable development of organizations and discovering new sources of growth. Developer of the methodology of contextual market research. Member of the International Association of Strategic and Competitive Intellect Professionals SCIP (USA).
Blog: https://www.kaplanresearch.pro/eng
In this light (yet profound) business fable a very magical and sincerely nice goldfish, Goshio, navigates her aquarium and the seas of the Paraquarian world beyond. The heroine's journey is an allegory of the entrepreneurial world (and of life) – based on the author's own research journey to circumnavigate the fascinating World of Entrepreneurship. www.goshio.com
Contact:
E-mail: work@kaplan4research.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jaroslavs-kaplans-11255b
Author of the book "Business Incognita. How to push the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking". Expert in the field of sustainable development of organizations and discovering new sources of growth. Developer of the methodology of contextual market research. Member of the International Association of Strategic and Competitive Intellect Professionals SCIP (USA).
Blog: https://www.kaplanresearch.pro/eng
In this light (yet profound) business fable a very magical and sincerely nice goldfish, Goshio, navigates her aquarium and the seas of the Paraquarian world beyond. The heroine's journey is an allegory of the entrepreneurial world (and of life) – based on the author's own research journey to circumnavigate the fascinating World of Entrepreneurship. www.goshio.com
Contact:
E-mail: work@kaplan4research.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jaroslavs-kaplans-11255b
References
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1. Aaker D., Joachimsteiler E. Brand leadership: a new concept of branding. M.: Grebennikov Publishing House.2003. 380с.
2. Gardner G. The Structure of the Mind: Theory of Multiple Intellect. M.: "Williams", 2007. 512 p.
3. Gardner G. Thinking of the Future: Five types of Intellect leading to success in life. Moscow: Alpina Publisher, 2015. 168 p.
4. Goleman D. Emotional Intellect M.: AST, 2008. 234 p.
5. Griftsova I.N., Sorina G.V. Critical thinking against pseudoscience // Man. Vol. 33. № 4. 2022.P. 7-30.
6. Gurov F.N. Informatization of modern society: philosophical and methodological analysis: Cand. philos. sciences: 5.7.6. Moscow: Bauman Moscow State Technical University, 2021. 195 p.
7. Gurov F.N. PR IT-companies: Russian practice. M.: Alpina Publisher. 2016. 160 p.
8. Gurov F.N., Inozemtseva E.V., Sorina G.V. Methodology of expert text analysis in the system of corporate communications // Russian school of public relations: almanac. Vyp. 23. 2021. P. 63-76.
9. Druzhinin A.M., Inozemtseva E.V., Gurov F.N. Overcoming the "information bubble": problem statement, methodology, analytical reading // Values and meanings.2022. № 3(79). P. 96-110.
10. Dale K., Peyton P. Physical Intellect: how to hear your body and manage emotions. M.: Alpina Publisher. 2022. 532 p.
11. Ivanova S.V. Emotional Intellect: what is it? (analytical review of the literature on emotional Intellect in pedagogical aspect) // Values and Meanings. 2022. № 4 (80). P. 6-53.
12. Kaplan J. Business incognita: how to expand the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking. Moscow: Alpina Publisher, 2022. 256 p.
13. Kaplan J. Odyssey Goshio - goldfish [Electronic resource]. URL: http://goshio.com (date of address: 13.12.2022).
14. Sorina G.V., Gurov F.N. Program of revealing the imposition of identity in the Internet space. Certificate of state registration of computer program No. 2022664283 from 27.07.2022. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://istina.msu.ru/ certificates/480377870/ (date of address: 11.12.2022).
15. Sorina G.V., Gurov F.N. Compulsion to Identity. How is it possible? // Vestnik Voronezh State University, series Philosophy. Voronezh: FGBOU "Voronezh State University". № 3. P. 39-48.
16. Sorina G.V. Critical thinking: history and modern status // Vestnik of Moscow University. Series 7: Philosophy. 2003. № 6. P. 97-110.
17. Sorina G.V., Koreneva A.Yu. Communicative Intellect: generalizability and public relations // Russian PR: trends and drivers. Vyp. 13. Publishing house of St. Petersburg Economic University, 2021. P. 172-178.
18. Sorina G.V. Metodology of expert text analysis (MEAT) in the educational process. Moscow: FGBNU "Institute of Education Development Strategy of the Russian Academy of Education", 2017. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www.sorina/ metodologiya-ekspertnogo-analiza-teksta-meat-v-obrazovatelnom-processe/chitat-onlayn/ (date of reference: 08.12.2022).