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!

Mahalia: The food chain

I currently have a friend staying with me who is visiting from Philadelphia, USA. This is their first time in the country, so we have been having some very broad, in-depth conversations about our two nations and the similarities and differences. Australia has always been labelled ‘the lucky country’, but it’s important to ask, lucky for whom? We are a country of many advantages, both in resources, lifestyle and vistas. But those advantages are currently only servicing a select few. As overseas powers and the media seek to sow the seeds of division, it’s a good time to remind ourselves who is sitting at the top of the food chain and what systems allow them to remain there.

Dylan: Reducing friction

I’ve been reflecting on the COM-B model a bit this week with a few of our recent projects – the idea that behaviour is shaped by capability, opportunity, and motivation, not just willpower alone. It’s a simple framework, but it explains a lot. People can genuinely want to do something, but if they don’t have the skills, the time, the right environment, or social support around them, the behaviour often doesn’t stick. It’s shaped my thinking that behaviour change is usually less about “convincing people” and more about reducing friction and creating the conditions that make the behaviour easier to do in reality.

Jason: Victim mentality

It is easy to be a victim. A statement that others are more fortunate than we are, or have an unfair advantage. I can recall media coverage a couple of years ago around the Voice Referendum, with people asking why they should get a voice, an advantage over ourselves? The world’s oldest living culture, with major measurable disadvantages, was viewed by some as undeserving. In our research, we often see that on the surface “everything” is okay, but you scratch slightly below and there is true disadvantage, among both younger and older people. Sadly, often the most disadvantaged in society are also the quietest.

It can seem that everyone nowadays is a victim. My financial situation or how my brain works is not necessarily a disadvantage. Often, it is simply part of being human. Shock horror, you may actually be normal.

Meanwhile, the true victims are at risk of being forgotten. At a time when NDIS and other support systems are under pressure, small businesses are failing at increasing rates, housing stress remains high, and education gaps still prevail, there may be time for a rethink.

The challenge for government can be to not just listen to the loudest “I AM A VICTIM” voices (who may not actually be disadvantaged, but instead have inflated expectations or entitlement), and instead make a genuine effort to find the true victims, socio-economically or otherwise, and work towards meaningful solutions.

Not every frustration is oppression. Not every unmet expectation is a disadvantage.

The data is often very clear about where the disadvantage lies, but when everyone says they are a victim, it becomes difficult to help everyone.

Square Holes is a cultural insight studio.

We design mixed method explorations of people and culture beyond the category,  uncovering the patterns, tensions and shifts shaping behaviour to inform strategy, inspire innovation and enable confident decisions. Our studio model brings together the right mix of thinkers, researchers and specialists for each exploration. If you’re navigating change, entering a new market, or seeking deeper understanding of people and culture, let’s start a conversation >