How much of Blakley’s success is due to her personality and effort and how much to serendipity – being in the right place at the right time?
I would say that 50% of her success is due to her personality because since she was a teenager, she was focused on being successful. She had found resources to keep her motivated and taught herself how to start a business and write a patent for her product. 50% of it was serendipity because her big break came after she herself mailed her Spanx product to Oprah’s stylist and Oprah ended up loving the product. With Oprah being a huge influencer and promoting her product, it was able to become well known.
2. What is attribution theory? Considering attribution theory – how does the theory help you answer question #1 OR does the theory NOT answer question #1?
“Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual’s behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused.” (Robbins & Judge, 2019) This theory helps to answer question #1 because based on Blakely’s behavior growing up and into her adulthood, it shows that it was internally caused. She was always driven to be successful in one way or another. She was always taking risks and when she failed at one thing, she didn’t give up, she just moved on to the next. Based on the case study, one of the factors that made her successful was her consistency.
3. What is hindsight bias? Does hindsight bias affect the factors to which you might attribute Blakley’s success? Why or why not?
Overestimating the ability to predict an outcome that otherwise could not have been predicted is hindsight bias. It doesn’t affect the factors in which I attribute Blakely’s success. One might think that because Blakley was a risk taker and tried so many different avenues to become successful, then one of would’ve had to work for her. Another person could be just as determined and consistent as Blakley and never get that big break like she did. There is no way of knowing if she would have surely become successful with her product or not.
4. What is the three-stage model of creativity? Use the three-stage model of creativity to analyze Blakley’s decision-making. What can you learn from her story that might help you to become a better leader?
Creativity involves three stages which are causes of creative behavior, creative behavior, and creative outcomes (innovation).
-causes of creative behavior
Blakley hated pantyhose and had a hard time finding the right kind of undergarment that would flatter her shape under her clothes. There were already products on the market for women to achieve a certain look under their clothes.
-creative behavior
Blakley wanted to create a product that would give a more desirable look and comfortable feel. She researched every pantyhose patent ever filed to see what she could do differently. She came up with the idea to provide 3 levels of compression to ensure that clothing fit right and create a “flawless finish” (Guerra, 2020) which was different from similar products on the market.
-creative outcome
There was a huge need for Spanx on the market because women are always looking for ways to look their best in their clothing. She sold her product out of department stores, through word of mouth and sending samples out to stylist.
Blakley is quoted as saying, “Everybody has a multimillion-dollar idea inside of them. Edison said, ’Genuis is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.’ The same holds true for innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship.” (Makinson, 2021)
I think that her story can help one to become a better leader by remembering to that it is important to understand how people make decisions, recognizing perceptual biases and decision-making errors that we tend to commit, and to encourage creativity within your team.
References:
Makinson, R. (2021, October 28). How Spanx Founder Sara Blakely Created A Billion-Dollar Brand. CEO Today. Retrieved from https://www.ceotodaymagazine.com/2021/10/how-spanx-founder-sara-blakely-created-a-billion-dollar-brand/
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2019). Organizational Behavior (18th ed.). Pearson.
Guerra, J. (2020, August 14). All Your Questions About Spanx, Answered. InStyle. Retrieved from https://www.instyle.com/how-tos/how-to-wear-spanx-shapewear
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