Whether it’s in the context of business or in the context of dating, everyone is human. And human relationship dynamics ring true across all relationships.
One such dynamic is the “principle of least interest.” The authors Jevan Soo, management and human capital consultant and a research associate at Harvard Business School, and Thomas J. DeLong, management and organizational behavior professor at Harvard Business School, explain the principle of least interest in their Forbes article:
“The ‘principle of least interest,’ developed by sociologist Willard Willer from his studies of dating relationships among college undergraduates in the early 20th century, explains that how we feel about a relationship with another person depends on our perceptions of fairness or level of investment in that relationship. The party who holds the most power in that relationship is the one who is (or appears) least invested or interested. The power of ‘least interest’ stems from an ability to exploit that difference in interest during various interactions, ranging from negotiations over the purchase of something desirable, to convincing your boss to give you a raise, to landing a date for Saturday night.”
Under this power dynamic, individuals claw for power in business and personal relationships to offset perceived imbalances. It becomes really insightful when you see the behaviors people undergo in pursuing the power of “least interest.”
To achieve the power of least interest, individuals put on a mask of indifference to “win.”
Needless to say, the principle of least interest is an unproductive power game. Before, it was the default stance of companies.
Company’s power of least interest is weaker. It no longer deals with a set of isolated customers that hold a power position.
Thanks to the internet, that no longer works because individuals can band together and assert themselves as a group.
Consumers hold the power, not the company. At any point, consumers can choose to ignore a company. With all the content and competition out there, no one is starved for choice.
