Each and every week the Square Holes team are deep in the bowels of a number of projects, working to mine all of the insights that we can to help grow businesses and support thriving cities.

These insights are used by businesses and organisations to innovate their offerings, move into new markets, track their impact and hone their products and output. Each week we will be sharing a broad insight that we have learnt for you to use in your own work.

Let us know what you find valuable!

Jason: Best plan B is Plan A

My eldest daughter (of two) just finished her university degree, and is going well in getting a great job. I’m super pleased her diligence (and intelligence) has paid off.

It got me thinking around the commonly used phrase “there’s always a Plan B.”

While well-intended, this message can sometimes dilute the commitment needed to truly pursue Plan A, the ultimately better path.

Much of our education research sees parents surprisingly setting low bars for their kids. Often migrant families are quite the opposite living in a place of opportunity. In this era of low housing affordability and high competition for good jobs, parents often use lines in our research like “it was OK for me, so it will be OK for them,” with no sense that times are actually harder than back in the day. Parents often also don’t want their kids doing hard subjects, or to even work hard at school. The rise of home schooling may be good meaning, but often (definitely not always) is more about helicopter parenting, setting their children up for a life of dependence and never leaving home. Real optionality doesn’t come from having multiple fallback routes mapped out in advance; it comes from the discipline, effort, and capability developed while striving toward a primary goal. Hard work builds confidence, competence, and the momentum that opens doors, builds resilience and capabilities in life and career – far more effectively than leaning on backup plans too early. In business, the same truth is clear. Big hairy audacious goals don’t come with alternative routes; they act as north stars that focus energy, drive higher standards, and sharpen decision-making. Their power comes from commitment, not contingency. Perhaps in education and life we need more of this. Adaptability matters, but so does wholehearted effort.

The best Plan B is the strength you gain by fully committing to Plan A.

Dylan: The what and the why

With the plethora of mixed-mode approaches (qualitative and quantitative) we undertake with our research, survey findings and focus group insights often align, creating a strong unified story across the two modes of data collection. But sometimes they don’t and how do we rationalise this? My general thinking is that whilst it can be confusing to understand at first, the difference in findings isn’t always a contradiction, rather a reminder they tap into different layers of thinking. Surveys capture quick, instinctive, top-of-mind reactions, helping quantify which ideas have the strongest immediate appeal for example. Focus groups on the other hand slow people down, adding context and conversation that surface the deeper emotions, meanings and narratives behind those reactions. When findings diverge, it usually reflects these different cognitive processes rather than a real conflict. Used together, they give a fuller picture: surveys show what people choose at scale, and focus groups reveal why those choices matter.

Mahalia: The nostalgia generation

The topic this week of Royalists gently skirted around another a topic of keen interest for me, which is the use of nostalgia marketing for Millennials. Nostalgia is often a coping mechanism for uncertainty, a way to reconnect with a sense of stability – which particularly makes sense for Millennials who grew up in a time of rapid technological change. This phenomena is particularly eloquently explained in the Blind Boy podcast episode, ‘Barbie and Mattel as Millennial Pavlovian Conditioning’. It explains why we are experiencing so many reboots in film – with titles like Freakier Friday, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Practical Magic 2 and My Best Friend’s Wedding Sequel either out or in the works. These cultural touchstones create a sense of comfort in a world of burnout, anxiety and stress.

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