The “HIPPO” Story

You may have read Ronny’s paper or heard Avinash’s talk about the HiPPO - (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion), but there is more to the story than a fancy acronym for Africa’s most dangerous animal - and your meeting’s biggest foe.

It has become analyst lore because of the great image that it imparts and because of the message it delivers. I was there when this term was created - December 2005 - in an office in San Diego.

The term came about when trying to make a decision, and the HiPPO said that in the absence of anything else, the highest paid opinion in the room got to make the decision.

This is a very powerful statement from the very person who is going to make the decision - “In the absence of data and analysis, HiPPOs rule”

Avinash points out in this post that:

“Very few people, HiPPO’s included, can argue with a customer’s voice, the customer afterall is the queen / king”

And he is absolutely correct, but it goes beyond that - HiPPOs thrive if there is no available information to help make a decision.

Think about what data you would need in order to make a decision - get the data, do the analysis, and figure out the story to tell to help everyone understand the customer.

Make it a point to deliver data with insights and opinions to help create action within your organization and help reduce the amount of HiPPO sightings.